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WVU, Top-Ranked KU to Meet Tonight
January 11, 2016 05:36 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – If you like exciting, high-level, down-to-the-wire, major college basketball then the WVU Coliseum is where you want to be on Tuesday night when top-ranked Kansas and No. 11 West Virginia hook up.
The last three times these two have played the games have been doozies.
Last year in Lawrence, the Jayhawks came back from 18 points down to knock off 20th-ranked West Virginia, 76-69, in overtime.
KU was 0-for-15 from 3, turned the ball over 16 times, was out-rebounded by 12, including 21-8 on the offensive glass, but was still able to win by making 34-of-43 at the free throw line.
In Morgantown, Juwan Staten’s driving layup with four seconds left gave West Virginia a 62-61 upset victory over the eighth-rated Jayhawks.
After Staten’s basket, Kansas immediately got the ball down the floor to Perry Ellis, who missed a layup that would have won it for KU. A hustling Staten was able to bother Ellis just enough to cause him to miss his game-winning shot attempt.
And then two years ago in Morgantown, West Virginia got a season-best 22 points from freshman forward Devin Williams to upset eighth-ranked Kansas, 92-86, at the Coliseum.
Williams made his first seven field goal attempts of the game while also pulling down a team-best 13 rebounds.
Kansas coach Bill Self was forced to use all of his timeouts before the first media break of the second half as West Virginia built a commanding 25-point lead. One-and-done freshman forward Andrew Wiggins caught fire, scoring 14 straight points during one stretch in the second half and finishing with 41 as Kansas made a game of it. It was one of the finest performances ever by an opposing player in the 46-year history of the Coliseum.
On Tuesday night, you can expect more of the same from two outstanding teams looking to pad their postseason credentials.
After losing by six to Michigan State earlier this year, Kansas has run off 13 straight victories to reach No. 1 in the polls two weeks ago. The Jayhawks are coming off an exceptional week last week by defeating second-ranked Oklahoma in triple overtime, in Lawrence, and then disposing of much-improved Texas Tech, 69-59, in Lubbock last Saturday night.
Kansas (14-1, 3-0) has everything a team needs to reach the Final Four – size, depth, experience, playmakers, good shooting and outstanding coaching – led by Perry Ellis’ 16.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Then-freshman forward Devin Williams scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in West Virginia's 92-86 victory over eighth-ranked Kansas at the WVU Coliseum in 2014 (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo).
Williams shows averages of 14.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game to pace West Virginia. The junior is shooting 54 percent from the floor and 73.7 percent from the free throw line while collecting six double-doubles so far for the season.
Junior guard Wayne Seldon Jr. is giving the Jayhawks 15.5 points and 3.6 boards per outing, junior guard Frank Mason II shows averages of 13.5 points and 5.5 assists while sophomore guard Devonte’ Graham is contributing 10.7 points and 3.3 assists per game.
Kansas is averaging 88 points per game and has topped 100 points or more four times, including two out of its last three games.
West Virginia (14-1, 3-0) is quite comfortable playing at that pace, the Mountaineers averaging 86 points per game and outscoring their opponents by an average of 22.6 points per contest.
Sophomore guard Jevon Carter is coming off a 16-point performance in West Virginia’s 17-point victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon and is averaging 12.7 points per game. Junior guard Jaysean Paige earned his first start of the season against the Cowboys in place of regular guard Daxter Miles Jr., hobbled by a sore ankle injured in practice last week, and shows averages of 12.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
Huggins said during his postgame radio show on Saturday that he would be very surprised if Miles Jr, averaging 12.1 points per game, would not be ready to go on Tuesday.
Senior forward Jonathan Holton has also been playing well of late, producing averages of 9.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game including a 15-point, nine-board performance in the Oklahoma State win.
Tuesday night’s game against Kansas, coupled with Saturday’s road tilt at No. 2 Oklahoma, provides a platform for West Virginia to enhance its national profile.
Earlier this year against 10th-ranked Virginia in New York City, the Mountaineers got off to a great start before fading midway through the second half. The 16-point loss to the Cavaliers remains the lone blemish for West Virginia so far this season.
A 7 p.m. tip is slated for Tuesday’s game, to be televised nationally on ESPN2 (Brent Musburger, Fran Fraschilla and Holly Rowe).
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s coverage begins at 6 p.m. with the pregame show leading into regular game coverage at 6:30 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online through leanStream and the mobile app TuneIn.
There are some tickets still remaining and those can be purchased through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by calling toll-free 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
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