MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Another challenging Big 12 game awaits West Virginia when the Mountaineers take on third-ranked Kansas Saturday afternoon inside the WVU Coliseum.
 
West Virginia, now 6-11 and 1-3, is coming off a 77-63 loss at 15^th-ranked Oklahoma on Wednesday night. West Virginia's leading scorer, RaeQuan Battle, had another tough outing in conference play with just 12 points on 4 of 13 shooting against frequent double teams.
 
"He digressed from the previous game and he's just trying to help in any way that he can," West Virginia coach Josh Eilert said. "We've got to get (the ball) out of his hands. He's got to understand that we've got the advantage on the backside if we can get it out of his hands and he's got to make the right pass."
 
Meanwhile, the Jayhawks improved to 15-2 and 3-1 following Tuesday night's 90-66 win at Oklahoma State. Hunter Dickinson, a 7-foot-2 transfer from Michigan, led the way with 21 points on 9 of 14 shooting. Dickson and 6-foot-7 former Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar give the Jayhawks one of the best one-two scoring punches in the country.
 
McCullar, now a senior, is averaging a team-best 19.8 points per game while leading the Jayhawks in 3-point field goals (26) and free throws (94). McCullar has gone to the line an average of 6 ½ times per game and is making 84.7% of his attempts.
 
Dickinson, a former DeMatha High product from Alexandria, Virginia, was the No. 1-rated transfer portal prospect last spring and is playing like it for the Jayhawks. He's averaging 19.3 points and 11.7 rebounds per game while shooting an impressive 60.7% from the floor. The senior is averaging 21.8 points and 9.0 rebounds in four conference games so far this year.
 
KJ Adams, a 6-foot-7 junior forward, contributed 16 in the Oklahoma State victory and is averaging 12.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Adams was the conference's Most Improved Player last year after boosting his scoring average from a point per game as a freshman to 10.6 points per game last year.
 
The remainder of the starting lineup features 6-foot-9 freshman Johnny Furphy from Melbourne, Australia, and 6-foot-2 senior guard Dajuan Harris from Columbia, Missouri.
 
Key reserves are 6-foot-3 freshman guard Elmarko Jackson, 6-foot-10 senior forward Parker Braun, 6-foot-4 senior guard Nicolas Timberlake and 6-foot-4 freshman guard Jamari McDowell.
 
Michael Jankovich, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, also got into the game during Tuesday night's blowout victory at Oklahoma State.

"They are a very complete team," Eilert said. "At every position they play their positions very well and they play their roles very well. I wouldn't say they are an extremely deep team - I think they go eight or nine at the most - but they've got some really great pieces there.

"It's a typical Kansas team. They run in transition, pound the ball in low in the paint looking for the high-low and they've got the dudes to do it," Eilert added.
 
Kansas has just two losses, to Marquette on Nov. 21 and at UCF on Jan. 10.
 
Central Florida was able to defeat Kansas by keeping the Jayhawks off the foul line (6 of 11), limiting their second-chance opportunities and holding them to just 31.8% shooting in the second half (7 of 22).
 
The Marquette and Central Florida games were the only two times this year Kansas has scored fewer than 69 points in a game.
 
Kansas is averaging 79.2 points per game; the Jayhawks are shooting 50.9% overall as a team and are outrebounding their opponents by an average of 5.9 boards per contest.
 
Kansas defeated Kentucky 89-84 on Nov. 14, topped Tennessee 69-60 on Nov. 22, outlasted Connecticut 69-65 on Dec. 1, defeated Missouri 73-64 on Dec. 9, beat Indiana 75-71 on Dec. 16 and won quality conference games against TCU on Jan. 6 and against Oklahoma on Jan. 13.
 
The Jayhawks are currently 11^th in the most recent NCAA NET rankings with four Quad I wins.
 
Saturday's contest will be Kansas' 12^th appearance at the WVU Coliseum where the Jayhawks have won two in a row and six of 11 matchups.
 
West Virginia's last victory over Kansas at home came on Feb. 6, 2021, a 91-79 triumph.
 
The game will tip off at 4 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN+. Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi begins at 3 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
 
Tickets remain and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.