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No. 9 WVU Faces K-State Tuesday Night
January 25, 2016 01:17 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - While those of us along the East Coast were digging ourselves out of a major winter snow storm, the West Virginia University men’s basketball team also managed to dig themselves out of a big hole in Lubbock, Texas last Saturday afternoon.
The Mountaineers (16-3, 5-2), now ranked ninth this week after going 1-1 last week, were trailing the Red Raiders by four with 1:10 remaining before they went on an 8-0 run – all eight points coming from Tarik Phillip - enabling WVU to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, 80-76.
Phillip scored 20 points off the bench against the Red Raiders to help West Virginia capture its third road win in conference play this season.
The Mountaineers’ first Big 12 road win happened three weeks ago in Manhattan, Kansas, on January 2, and Phillip also played a big role in that victory as well.
Phillip scored 14 points off the bench on six-of-eight shooting, including a short jumper with 4.5 seconds left in the second overtime to give WVU a hard-fought 87-83 victory over the Wildcats.
"He's a great competitor," said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. "He puts himself in positions to make plays and fortunately most of them work out because he takes chances."
Guard Jaysean Paige made major contributions at K-State as well, just as he did on Saturday at Texas Tech. Paige scored a game-high 25 points against the Wildcats on nine-of-17 shooting, while also grabbing a team-best seven rebounds, including four on the offensive glass.
Against Texas Tech, Paige came to the rescue once again with a team-high 22 points, eight of those coming from the free throw line on nine attempts. Paige has now taken over the team lead in scoring with an average of 13.6 points per game, the senior shooting 49.2 percent from the floor and making a team-best 29 threes.
Forward Devin Williams shows averages of 13.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, but the junior continues to struggle to stay on the floor. He only played 15 minutes in a two-point road loss at second-ranked Oklahoma on January 16, and he managed to log just 16 minutes of court time in Saturday’s win over Texas Tech, scoring just five points and four rebounds.
He is averaging just 21.3 minutes per game in West Virginia’s seven Big 12 contests so far this season, and consequently, his overall numbers are suffering because of it.
Williams is averaging 10 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in league play so far this season, down from the 11.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game he averaged in 26.8 minutes of action last season in Big 12 games.
Williams played 25 minutes (out of a possible 50 minutes) at Kansas State earlier this month and finished the game with seven points and five rebounds.
Guard Daxter Miles Jr. recovered from a poor shooting night in the mid-week loss to Texas last Wednesday by scoring 11 against Texas Tech, and it was his big three when West Virginia was trailing by five with two minutes left in the game that began the Mountaineers’ game-winning run.
Sophomore guard Jevon Carter is averaging 11.3 points and a team-best 3.2 assists per game, while hitting 35.4 percent of his three-point tries.
Jonathan Holton, who scored 13 points and six rebounds against Texas Tech, is averaging 9.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.
Kansas State (12-7, 2-5) captured its second Big 12 win of the year on Saturday with an impressive 89-73 triumph over Oklahoma State. The Wildcats shot a sizzling 57.7 percent from the floor, including 52.9 percent from three, and got double-digit scoring efforts from all five starters.
Guards Kamau Stokes and Justin Edwards scored 13 points each, guard Wesley Iwundu and forward Dean Wade tallied 12, and forward Stephen Hurt added 11 against the Cowboys.
Iwundu had 16 and Stokes scored 15 the first time Kansas State played West Virginia, but it was Barry Brown’s 20 points off the bench that led the Wildcats that afternoon. Brown contributed a team-best nine points off the bench on Saturday against Oklahoma State – his season average.
Iwundu (12.6 ppg.), Edwards (12.1 ppg.), Wade (10.4 ppg.) and Stokes (10.1 ppg.) are each averaging double figures.
West Virginia scratched out a four-point victory against K-State last year at the Coliseum; three years ago the Wildcats won a buzzer-beater against West Virginia, 65-64, in Morgantown.
The Mountaineers have a 5-4 advantage in the overall series, including winning four straight against the Wildcats heading into Tuesday night’s game, which will be televised nationally on ESPNEWS.
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s coverage begins at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online through leanStream and the mobile app TuneIn.
Tickets remain for Tuesday night’s game against K-State, which will tip at 7 p.m. Those can be purchased by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
Following last weekend’s action, West Virginia is in a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 standings with Kansas, Oklahoma and Baylor.
The Jayhawks play at Iowa State tonight.
In addition to West Virginia’s game against Kansas State on Tuesday night, Oklahoma plays at Texas Tech and TCU takes on Texas in Austin.
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