Paige-Main-2916.jpg
Two Top 10 Teams to Battle Tonight in Lawrence
February 09, 2016 12:23 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - All eyes will be on Lawrence, Kansas tonight when 10th-ranked West Virginia and No. 6 Kansas hook up for a second time this year with a share of first place in the best basketball conference in America on the line.
The Mountaineers (19-4, 8-2) are currently a half game up on Kansas (19-4, 7-3) and Oklahoma in the Big 12 standings, the Sooners keeping pace with their come-from-behind, 63-60 victory over Texas in Norman on Monday night.
A West Virginia victory tonight would keep the Mountaineers a full game ahead of Oklahoma with the rematch coming up 11 days from now in Morgantown, and would give them a two-game advantage over the Jayhawks in the loss column with less than a month of regular season play remaining.
But getting a victory in Lawrence is never easy. Kansas has won 37 straight in Allen Field House, including a 76-69 overtime triumph against West Virginia last year when the Jayhawks were able to overcome an 18-point first half deficit. Kansas shot 43 free throws, making 34, in that game on 31 fouls committed by West Virginia.
Considering the Mountaineers are committing nearly 24 fouls per game, it’s likely Kansas will get a lot of free throw opportunities tonight.
Kansas will also be a highly motivated basketball team. Nearly a month ago, the then-No. 1-rated Jayhawks lost 74-63 in Morgantown, Kansas shooting just 41.7 percent from the floor and turning the basketball over 22 times.
It’s hard to imagine Kansas duplicating that performance again tonight on its home floor.
“They’re very good and they’re extremely well coached,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “We’ve had pretty good games. I think even the year before was a good game until maybe the last three or four minutes (a Kansas 83-69 victory in Lawrence in 2014). Hopefully we can be competitive again.”
Tony Caridi visits with associate head coach Larry Harrison to get his keys to tonight's game against sixth-ranked Kansas.
West Virginia guard Jaysean Paige scored 26 points - 14 of those coming from the free throw line - while junior forward Devin Williams contributed 17 points and 12 boards in West Virginia’s 11-point win in Morgantown.
When Williams has been able to stay on the floor he’s been one of the most effective low-post players in the conference. In the four Big 12 games Williams has played at least 25 minutes, he is averaging a robust 15.2 points and 12 rebounds per game.
But, in the six games he has been saddled with foul trouble and played fewer than 25 minutes, Williams is averaging only eight points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
He scored 17 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in last Tuesday night’s win at Iowa State and followed that up with a 16-point, seven-rebound effort on Saturday night against Baylor. Not coincidentally, Williams played 30 minutes in the Iowa State game and 35 against Baylor.
Paige (14.2 ppg.) is another West Virginia player that has been extremely effective when he’s been able to stay on the floor. In fact, the senior guard has scored 326 points in only 483 minutes of action this year, which averages out to nearly 0.7 points per minute.
If you project Paige’s scoring rate over a 40-minute game that would equate to 27 points per contest, putting him on par with All-Americans Jerry West, Rod Hundley and Wil Robinson as the most proficient scorers in school history.
Unfortunately, Paige’s propensity to foul (he also leads the team with 69) has kept him from generating even bigger offensive numbers this season. Earlier this week, Paige was recognized for a second time as the Big 12’s player of the week.
“Jaysean consistently is one of the first guys in here before practice working on his game and he’s one of the last ones to leave after practice,” said Huggins. “He’s shot the ball better because he’s worked hard at shooting the ball. I think because he’s shot the ball better it’s also opened up his ability to drive the ball.”
Huggins indicated Monday morning on his weekly media teleconference that he doesn’t expect forward Jonathan Holton to be available for tonight’s game; Holton was suspended indefinitely prior to the Florida game for violating team rules.
Junior forward Nathan Adrian has played well in his place in the starting lineup, the Morgantown resident scoring 10 points in the loss at Florida and contributing 11 points and a team-best nine rebounds in last Saturday’s win against Baylor.
“Nate Adrian has gotten better,” said Huggins. “I think the time Nate has been in the starting lineup he is shooting the ball a whole lot better and he’s just playing with so much more confidence.”
Adrian only scored five points against Iowa State, but he hit a big three with two minutes left to ignite West Virginia’s big comeback win over the Cyclones in Ames.
WVU also got a big boost on Saturday from guard Daxter Miles Jr. when he scored a season-high 20 points against Baylor, the sophomore hitting six of eight from the floor including four of five from three.
West Virginia will need a similar effort tonight from Miles Jr. if it hopes to knock off Kansas.
The Jayhawks have righted their ship following their three recent league road losses at West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Iowa State. Since then, Kansas beat Kentucky in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge and downed Kansas State and TCU in succession in conference play.
Senior forward Perry Ellis has scored 19 points or more in four of his last five games, including a 23-point, 10-rebound effort at TCU. Ellis, who scored a team-best 21 points in the West Virginia loss, is the only player in the Big 12 to rank in the top seven in scoring (third) and rebounding (seventh) this season.
Ellis shows averages of 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game heading into tonight’s game.
Kansas is also getting 14.5 points and 2.7 assists per game from junior guard Wayne Seldon Jr., and 13 points and 4.7 assists per game from junior point guard Frank Mason Jr.
Devonte’ Graham, a 6-foot-2-inch, 175-pound sophomore from Raleigh, North Carolina, is averaging 10.7 points and 3.7 assists per game.
Tonight’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2 (Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale).
The Mountaineers Sports Network from IMG’s coverage begins at 6 p.m. with the pregame show on stations throughout West Virginia and online via leanStream and the mobile app WVU Gameday.
Briefly: West Virginia’s Bob Huggins is coaching his 300th game at WVU tonight … only Gale Catlett (720) has coached more games as WVU’s men’s basketball coach … West Virginia is No. 10 in the latest RPI … The Mountaineers’ 8-2 league record is their best since the 2010 Final Four team started 8-2 in the Big East … West Virginia’s recent wins over No. 14 Iowa State and No. 15 Baylor are its first back-to-back victories over top 15 teams since the 1957-58 season when the Mountaineers defeated No. 5 Kentucky and No. 1 North Carolina in the Kentucky Invitational … The last time West Virginia beat three ranked teams in succession also happened in 1957 when WVU topped No. 19 Richmond, No. 5 Kentucky and No. 1 North Carolina … The Mountaineers have now been nationally ranked for 55 weeks under Huggins, just five weeks shy of Fred Schaus’ school-best 60 weeks spent in the national ranking from 1955-60 … Huggins is two wins shy of tying Lefty Driesell for ninth place in all-time victories with 786 … Junior forward Devin Williams is now 23 points away from becoming West Virginia’s 50th 1,000-point scorer … West Virginia continues to lead the country in steals and forced turnovers … WVU is 14-1 this season and 35-1 since last season when holding its opponents to 69 points or less.
College Basketball Crown Recap
Thursday, April 16
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
Sunday, April 05
Ross Hodge, Treysen Eaglestaff & Brenen Lorient | Creighton Postgame
Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Thursday, April 02
