Saturday, January 27
Morgantown, W.Va.
7:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
16-5
76
vs
83
Kentucky
16-5
1
2
F
Kentucky
33
50
83
West Virginia
48
28
76
Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Mountaineers Unable to Hold Lead, Fall to Kentucky
January 27, 2018 10:07 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Kevin Knox scored 34 points to lead Kentucky to an 83-76 victory over seventh-ranked West Virginia here tonight at the WVU Coliseum, sending a season-high crowd of 15,835 home disappointed.
Nineteen of Knox's game-high 34 came in the second half to help the Wildcats overcome a 17-point deficit with 17 minutes remaining.
"We got out-manned," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.
After scoring 48 first half points, the Mountaineers (16-5) were held to just 28 in the second half and lost for the third time this year when leading a game by a double digit margin. West Virginia led Texas Tech by 11 with 13 minutes to go before falling, 72-71, in Lubbock.
The Mountaineers had Kansas down by 16 in the first half and had a double-figure lead in the second half before falling 71-66 to the Jayhawks in Morgantown.
And then tonight, West Virginia had UK down 54-37 following Sagaba Konate's jumper with 17 minutes to go.
Then came the scoring drought, which has happened often lately during this recent five-game stretch that has seen West Virginia lose four of its last five since Jan. 13.
After Konate's basket, Jevon Carter missed a layup; Lamont West made a turnover; Teddy Allen missed a layup; Esa Ahmad turned it over; Carter missed twice and then Ahmad couldn't get a layup to go down before Maciej Bender finally tipped in Ahmad's miss.
By then, the WVU lead had dwindled to four, 56-52, on Nick Richards' layup.
"Plain and simple we quit running offense," Huggins said.
A missed Chase Harler 3 preceded Knox's layup to make it a two-point game, 56-54. Kentucky tied it on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's jumper with 11:28 remaining, and the lead was completely gone when Knox threw down a dunk with 10:39 to go.
Now trailing by four, 62-58, the Mountaineers answered with an 8-0 run keyed by two contested James Bolden 3s from well beyond the arc, but Kentucky got all of it back at the free throw line from Richards - four of 18 the Wildcats made from the line in the second half and 23 they made for the night.
The game was tied three more times at 68, 70 and 74 before Knox was left wide open on the opposite wing to hit a 3 with 1:10 left.
"The whole thing in the second half was 'don't' leave Knox,'" Huggins said. "I don't care if they go dunk it, don't leave Knox. We had a senior give up that 3 and that was the back-breaker, in my mind."
Konate was fouled at the other end with 46 seconds left by Richards, but he couldn't get the front end of his one-and-one to go down and a Richards follow-up dunk moments later made it a five-point game with 29 seconds to go.
The Wildcats then locked up their 16th win of the season at the line with four more free throws.
"We kept them off the free throw line in the first half and then in the second half they shoot 18 free throws and go 18-of-18 in the second half," Huggins said.
Rebounding also played a critical role in tonight's loss for the Mountaineers, particularly in the second half when Konate picked up his fourth foul at the 9:35 mark. When he finally returned to the floor seven minutes later, with Ahmad and Wesley Harris joining him, WVU was trailing by four.
Kentucky outrebounded West Virginia 29-13 in the second half and was particularly effective on the offensive glass where it got 18 of its 26 second-chance points, most of those coming with Konate watching from the bench.
"We were up one rebound at halftime and we got outrebounded by 16 in the second half," Huggins said. "You can't win."
The Wildcats did a better job in the second half against WVU's pressure, too, turning the ball over just five times after committing 11 miscues in the first half.
Hamidou Diallo was the only other Kentucky player to reach double figures with 13.
West Virginia, which shot just 32.4 percent in the second half, got 26 from Jevon Carter (18 of those coming in the first half) and 17 off the bench from Bolden.
"Obviously, Beetle has got to play more and some of those other guys have got to play less or not at all," Huggins said. "You've got to contribute something. You don't have to score, but you've got to contribute something."
Konate contributed 13 points and seven blocks when he was on the floor.
The loss to Kentucky tonight drops West Virginia's record to 1-4 in Big 12/SEC Challenge games. The Wildcats, making just their second appearance at the Coliseum since 1970, have won both times in this building and are now 16-5 all-time in games played against the Mountaineers.
Wildcat coach John Calipari has won his last three against West Virginia as well as his last three at the Coliseum dating back to his days coaching Massachusetts when the two teams were in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
West Virginia returns to Big 12 play on Wednesday night at Iowa State, which dropped a 68-45 decision to Tennessee earlier tonight.
That game will be televised on ESPNU and will tip off at 7 p.m.
Nineteen of Knox's game-high 34 came in the second half to help the Wildcats overcome a 17-point deficit with 17 minutes remaining.
"We got out-manned," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.
After scoring 48 first half points, the Mountaineers (16-5) were held to just 28 in the second half and lost for the third time this year when leading a game by a double digit margin. West Virginia led Texas Tech by 11 with 13 minutes to go before falling, 72-71, in Lubbock.
The Mountaineers had Kansas down by 16 in the first half and had a double-figure lead in the second half before falling 71-66 to the Jayhawks in Morgantown.
And then tonight, West Virginia had UK down 54-37 following Sagaba Konate's jumper with 17 minutes to go.
Then came the scoring drought, which has happened often lately during this recent five-game stretch that has seen West Virginia lose four of its last five since Jan. 13.
After Konate's basket, Jevon Carter missed a layup; Lamont West made a turnover; Teddy Allen missed a layup; Esa Ahmad turned it over; Carter missed twice and then Ahmad couldn't get a layup to go down before Maciej Bender finally tipped in Ahmad's miss.
By then, the WVU lead had dwindled to four, 56-52, on Nick Richards' layup.
"Plain and simple we quit running offense," Huggins said.
A missed Chase Harler 3 preceded Knox's layup to make it a two-point game, 56-54. Kentucky tied it on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's jumper with 11:28 remaining, and the lead was completely gone when Knox threw down a dunk with 10:39 to go.
Now trailing by four, 62-58, the Mountaineers answered with an 8-0 run keyed by two contested James Bolden 3s from well beyond the arc, but Kentucky got all of it back at the free throw line from Richards - four of 18 the Wildcats made from the line in the second half and 23 they made for the night.
The game was tied three more times at 68, 70 and 74 before Knox was left wide open on the opposite wing to hit a 3 with 1:10 left.
"The whole thing in the second half was 'don't' leave Knox,'" Huggins said. "I don't care if they go dunk it, don't leave Knox. We had a senior give up that 3 and that was the back-breaker, in my mind."
Konate was fouled at the other end with 46 seconds left by Richards, but he couldn't get the front end of his one-and-one to go down and a Richards follow-up dunk moments later made it a five-point game with 29 seconds to go.
The Wildcats then locked up their 16th win of the season at the line with four more free throws.
"We kept them off the free throw line in the first half and then in the second half they shoot 18 free throws and go 18-of-18 in the second half," Huggins said.
Rebounding also played a critical role in tonight's loss for the Mountaineers, particularly in the second half when Konate picked up his fourth foul at the 9:35 mark. When he finally returned to the floor seven minutes later, with Ahmad and Wesley Harris joining him, WVU was trailing by four.
Kentucky outrebounded West Virginia 29-13 in the second half and was particularly effective on the offensive glass where it got 18 of its 26 second-chance points, most of those coming with Konate watching from the bench.
"We were up one rebound at halftime and we got outrebounded by 16 in the second half," Huggins said. "You can't win."
The Wildcats did a better job in the second half against WVU's pressure, too, turning the ball over just five times after committing 11 miscues in the first half.
Hamidou Diallo was the only other Kentucky player to reach double figures with 13.
West Virginia, which shot just 32.4 percent in the second half, got 26 from Jevon Carter (18 of those coming in the first half) and 17 off the bench from Bolden.
"Obviously, Beetle has got to play more and some of those other guys have got to play less or not at all," Huggins said. "You've got to contribute something. You don't have to score, but you've got to contribute something."
Konate contributed 13 points and seven blocks when he was on the floor.
The loss to Kentucky tonight drops West Virginia's record to 1-4 in Big 12/SEC Challenge games. The Wildcats, making just their second appearance at the Coliseum since 1970, have won both times in this building and are now 16-5 all-time in games played against the Mountaineers.
Wildcat coach John Calipari has won his last three against West Virginia as well as his last three at the Coliseum dating back to his days coaching Massachusetts when the two teams were in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
West Virginia returns to Big 12 play on Wednesday night at Iowa State, which dropped a 68-45 decision to Tennessee earlier tonight.
That game will be televised on ESPNU and will tip off at 7 p.m.
Team Stats
UK
WVU
FG%
.448
.397
3FG%
.444
.417
FT%
.793
.667
RB
49
34
TO
16
6
STL
1
6
Game Leaders
Pts
26
FGM
9
3FGM
4
FTM
4
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
5
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
F
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