Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No. 6 Kansas got 23 points from Ochai Agbaji and 19 points and 11 rebounds from David McCormack to hold off West Virginia 71-58 in Saturday night Big 12 basketball at the WVU Coliseum.
McCormack scored 19 and grabbed 15 rebounds the first time these two teams met in Lawrence last month in an 85-59 win. Agbaji was also exceptional the first time around with 20 points on 4-of-8 shooting from 3.
The Jayhawks, which led by as many as 11 in the first half of tonight's game, saw their lead whittled to one with 12:58 to go on a
Taz Sherman 3. After that, West Virginia made just three field goals for the remainder of the game – a
Sean McNeil jumper at 8:43, a McNeil 3 at 4:38 and a Sherman 3 at 2:13.
"It's hard to win when you don't make layups," West Virginia coach
Bob Huggins said afterward. "We had opportunities, but we're looking everywhere but the rim.
"The layup thing just blows my mind how we can't make a layup. It's unfathomable that you can't make a layup at this stage of your career," Huggins said.
A capacity crowd of more than 14,000 was into the game when Sherman's triple capped a 13-2 Mountaineer run. But five of West Virginia's next six possessions consisted of a McNeil missed 3, a
Malik Curry turnover inbounding the ball that resulted in a Joseph Yesufu layup, a
Gabe Osabuohien missed layup, a Sherman turnover that led an Agbaji breakaway dunk and a missed
Jalen Bridges 3.
"I thought the (Yesufu) steal when we just threw it inbounds and we weren't paying attention hurt us," Huggins said.
WVU shot just 26% in the second half in what has become a yearlong theme for the Mountaineers, which drop to 14-12, 3-10.
For the game, West Virginia connected on only 19 of its 68 field goal attempts for 27.9% despite its hustle and effort leading to 16 more shot attempts than the Jayhawks. Kansas was an efficient 48.1% shooting and also cashed in at the free throw line by connecting on 18 of 22, including 13 of 16 in the second half.
Jalen Wilson contributed 10 points and 11 rebounds for Kansas, now 21-4, 11-2. KU finished the game outrebounding West Virginia 49-32 after holding a 2-to-1 edge on the glass in the first half.
McNeil finished with 18 points and Sherman contributed 16 for the Mountaineers. WVU's four primary inside players combined to score just 4 points tonight.
"People can say the offense is this but I think we're making steps in the right direction," McNeil said. "The way teams guard me and Taz now we probably take some bad shots, but we're kind of forced to take some bad shots."
West Virginia tried 30 3s, hitting nine, while Kansas attempted only 11 and made three.
"The good thing is we've got five more games and they're winnable, so we've got stop worrying about this one and get ready," Huggins said. "We're going to practice tomorrow at noon and then get on a plane and fly out to play games on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday next week. That's three games in six games is not going to be easy, but I think it gives guys opportunities to show whether they can do it or not."
"We've got five left to go and the goal is to get all five," McNeil added.
WVU will play at TCU on Monday night, and then remain on the road to play at Iowa State on Wednesday. A tough week concludes next Saturday with a game against No. 20 Texas at the Coliseum.
