MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - While President Barack Obama was making his final State of the Union address tonight, Bob Huggins' 11th-ranked Mountaineer basketball team was also making their statement to the nation … hey, America, we play some pretty good hoops here in Morgantown, West Virginia.
West Virginia got 26 points from super-sub Jaysean Paige and a workman-like 17 points and 12 rebounds from junior forward Devin Williams to knock off top-ranked Kansas, 74-63, in snowy Morgantown Tuesday night.
It was WVU's first win over college basketball’s No. 1-ranked team since defeating UNLV on February 27, 1983, and the 11-point victory also matched the biggest ever margin against No. 1 when WVU defeated top-ranked North Carolina 75-64 in Lexington, Kentucky on December 21, 1957 with a guy named Jerry West playing for the Mountaineers.
Somewhere, you can bet Mr. Clutch is smiling.
Perhaps even Bob Huggins might crack a smile or two after the effort his team gave him tonight.
Huggins can certainly appreciate the way this basketball game was won tonight - with sheer grit and determination. How else can you explain a winning team hitting just 19 of its 57 field goal attempts to beat the No. 1-ranked basketball team in the country so comfortably?
If not for some late missed free throws and blown chip-shot shot attempts close to the rim, the winning margin likely would have approached 20.
That’s how much effort West Virginia put forth tonight – and how ineffective Kansas was offensively.
West Virginia’s offense was certainly on point whenever Paige had the ball, the senior guard hitting 6-of-13 from the floor – mostly on drives to the basket – and knocking down a career-high 14 free throws. Paige had 17 of his game-high scoring total in the first half when the Mountaineers began to take control of the game.
Paige was most effective during a three-minute stretch late in the first half when he scored eight straight points to help the Mountaineers build their halftime lead to eight.
Twice, the guard was able to get second-chance baskets off of Jonathan Holton offensive rebounds; he made two more from the line and then added a drive to the basket to give the Mountaineers a 29-23 advantage with 3:56 remaining.
Later, more Paige free throws built West Virginia’s lead to 10, 36-26, with 50 seconds remaining before Devonte’ Graham got a triple to go down right after Daxter Miles Jr.’s foul shot to make it an eight-point game at the break.
In the second half, Kansas (14-2, 3-1) made a run to get the deficit to four, 43-39, on a pair of Perry Ellis free throws.
But then it was Paige who once again answered, scoring a driving layup ahead of Tarik Phillip’s basket to push WVU’s lead back to eight, 47-39.
The cold-shooting Jayhawks, the nation’s No. 2-ranked scoring team entering tonight’s contest, could never string together enough baskets to chip away at WVU’s double-digit advantage.
“We tried to run them off the line,” explained Huggins of his team’s defensive strategy tonight. “We didn’t do a very good job early. I thought we did a better job as the game wore on. We gave some at the end – it’s hard when you end up with your power forward on a point guard a lot of times, your point guard on the center and all of that. That’s why we’ve got to have ball pressure and make them scramble a little bit so we can get back to the guys we’re supposed to be guarding.”
The closest KU could get over the remaining five minutes was seven, 70-63, with 49 seconds on the clock.
“The game, in a nutshell, is that they were so much more aggressive and quicker,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. “They were way more athletic than we were and played above the rim. We didn’t do any of that. They beat us off the bounce whenever they wanted to and exposed our perimeter defense.
“There were a lot of things that we didn’t do well, but if we just talk about how poorly we played it takes away the credit that West Virginia deserves for really getting after us and causing us to play that way.”
After Lagerald Vick’s three with 49 seconds to go, Phillip made a pair of free throws at the other end of the floor and then Paige punctuated things with a slam dunk to close the lid on tonight’s game.
Ellis led Kansas with 21, while Frank Mason III scored 12 and Wayne Seldon Jr. contributed 11. The Jayhawks have lost the last three times they have played in Morgantown.
Jaysean Paige scores two of his game-high 26 points during Tuesday night's 11-point victory over top-ranked Kansas (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo).
“There’s nothing about Morgantown,” said Self. “It’s more about how their team played against our team.”
Jevon Carter also reached double figures with 10 for West Virginia, now 15-1 for the first time since the Mountaineers started the 1982 season 24-1.
West Virginia’s other victory against No. 1 took place in Charleston, West Virginia, on February 7, 1966 when Bucky Waters’ crew upset Duke, 94-90, at the Civic Center.
As for Huggins, tonight’s win was just his second ever versus No. 1, the other coming against Duke in the 1991 Alaska Shootout. By the way, Huggins also tied Lute Olson for 10th on college basketball’s all-time victory list with 780.
WVU students, among the 12,097 who traveled treacherous road conditions to make tonight’s game, rushed the court afterward to celebrate the first win over No. 1 in 33 years. They remained on the court for several minutes after the game, singing and dancing to prerecorded music piped in over the public address system.
“(Having) 12,000 people to show up here, on this night, is unbelievable,” said Huggins. “That’s fighting through some things. I know there were people still coming in the second half, and I know it’s hard for you guys to get here. It was hard for me to get here. It would have been very easy for people to just go watch it on TV, so I’m very appreciative of those 12,000 (who made it to the game).”
West Virginia will have little time to celebrate tonight’s victory, however, as a meeting against No. 2 Oklahoma in Norman is looming on Saturday. That game will tip off at 4 p.m. EST and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
