Hawking Points: Everything Goes WVU's Way in Upset Win

The Jayhawks couldn't overcome the Mountaineers' hot shooting on the road.

The Kansas Jayhawks’ road success didn’t last very long. West Virginia played the game of its life in a 90-85 upset win on Saturday.

Key Plays

Johnny Furphy thrives at the beginning of the game. After a turnover and foul to start the game for Kansas, Furphy drains a three after a few misses for Kansas’ first points. Then after a KJ Adams missed free throw, Furphy grabbed the offensive board and kicked it out for a Kevin McCullar three to go up 7-2. Kerr Kriisa hit a three to stop the run but then Furphy nailed his second three on the next possession. He wasn’t done yet. Furphy hit another three from the corner on a feed from Adams. Kansas started 4-4 from three and Furphy had nine quick points.

West Virginia, who only hit 30.3% of its threes coming into the game, started the game 4-5 from deep and tied the game at 15. A McCullar and-one and Adams dunk gave KU a bit of a lead before Kriisa hit his third three of the game and WVU’s fifth of the game. Then Akok Akok hit just his fourth three of the year for WVU’s sixth of the game.

McCullar picked up his second foul 10 minutes into the half and KU down 25-24. Nick Timberlake came in for McCullar and hit his first three attempt to give the Jayahwks the lead. After WVU tied it, Timberlake took it himself and finished off the glass. Two more threes – eight in the first 13 minutes – gave WVU a 33-31 lead. Dickinson threw it home and WVU couldn’t miss again, going 9-11 from three and taking a 37-33 lead.

Raequan Battle made every shot he took and scored his 17th point of the half before Dickinson made an and-one to cut the deficit to three. Two Timberlake free throws cut it to one despite WVU shooting 59% from the field in the first 16 minutes. A missed WVU three – yes, it happened – led to a Timberlake outlet to Dajuan Harris for the lay in and lead. The Mountaineers answered and then Timberlake hit his second three. He got a steal on the next possession and took it all the way for a layup and his 12th point of the game. Kansas led 47-43 when West Virginia called a timeout with 1:53 to play. It was a 12-2 Kansas run.

West Virginia tied it at 47 before a turnaround jumper by McCullar gave Kansas another lead. WVU tied it but Dickinson’s shot was blocked on the way down for a goaltend with 4.7 seconds left. KU fouled WVU with 1.1 seconds left and both free throws tied it at the half at 51.

The Mountaineers struck first in the second half as Kansas turned it over three times in two minutes. The Jayhawks couldn’t do anything offensively but two McCullar charge draws kept it close. An Adams dunk gave KU its first points of the half.

Battle picked up his third foul with 15:53 left in the game and a team-high 17 points and Adams immediately slammed it home to tie the game. Harris stole the ball on the next possession and found McCullar for the layup to take the lead 57-55. But WVU continued to be hot from three, making its 10th to get the lead back before Furphy dunked it on a pass from Dickinson.

The teams traded baskets for the next four minutes, with the Mountaineers continuing to make threes at a rate that is not this team’s identity. WVU went up three and Elmarko Jackson hit a jumper for his first points of the game. After Dickinson let WVU get an offensive rebound, the Mountaineers hit another three to go up 72-68. McCullar drove to the basket to cut it to two but that didn’t last long as WVU scored five straight to go up 77-70.

The three-point drought ended with a big shot by McCullar – the first KU three of the second half – to cut the lead to three. But WVU easily answered. Dickinson missed the front of a one-and-one but Adams finished on the next possession. Harris picked Kriisa’s pocket on the next possession and Furphy found McCullar to cut WVU’s lead to one. KU forced a late shot and on the other end Adams was fouled. He made the first of a one-and-one and then made the second to give the Jayhawks an 81-80 lead.

Patrick Suemnick made an impossible shot over Dickinson that gave the Mountaineers the lead. Furphy missed a three but West Virginia turned it over but then McCullar turned it over right back. Kansas gave up three offensive boards and fouled WVU again, with free throws making it a four-point game. WVU fouled Furphy to put him at the line with 28 seconds left. Furphy made both. Jackson was called for a ridiculous foul as WVU was nearing getting the ball across half court in time and instead of having the ball down two, Kriisa made two free throws to go up four.

McCullar nailed a must-have three with 11.9 seconds left to put Kansas down one. The refs reviewed the shot and it was instead ruled a two. WVU made both free throws with 10 left and then Dickinson threw it away to seal the fate.

Eye-Catching Stat Lines

To say the offense was an anomaly for West Virginia is an understatement. WVU shot 30% from three and 47% from two coming into the game. In the first half, the Mountaineers made 64.3% of their threes and 59.3% of their field goals overall. Kansas, meanwhile, made 50% of its threes and 61.3% of its field goals.

West Virginia finished the game making 12-21 from deep, shooting 51.8% from the field, and knocking down 21-25 free throws. Kansas shot a respectable 54% from the field but just 7-22 from three and 14-18 from the line. 

McCullar led the Jayhawks with 24 points to go with four rebounds and five assists. Dickinson ended with 19, five, and five, while Adams had 11, four boards, and three assists. Harris only had four points but five assists and five steals. 

Areas of Improvement

Most of West Virginia’s red-hot offense was more about unprecedented luck than it was bad defense. But one area that wasn’t good was Dickinson’s rebounding. Dickinson got bullied too much by smaller opponents to not have a big rebounding game. The rebounding issues extended to Furphy and then other members of the tema late in the game, giving West Virginia so many more chances to win.

The other problem is Kansas’ outside shooting is just not consistent enough. After making their first four threes, the Jayhawks made just two of their next 15 threes and missed the first eight in the second half.

Takeaways

You just can’t lose on the road against UCF and West Virginia. That being said, these were not equal games. West Virginia will not play that well for the rest of the year, but there were some similar characteristics of the opponent just wanting it more than Kansas. Hard to win the conference if you can’t close these games out.