West Virginia Upsets No. 3 Kansas

West Virginia shoots over 50% from the field to knock off third-ranked Kansas

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (7-11, 2-3) upset the third-ranked Kansas Jayhawks (15-3, 3-2) Saturday evening 91-85. Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. led all scorers with 14 points, while WVU guard RaeQuan Battle led the Mountaineers with 20 points and forward Pat Suemnick hit a career-high 20 points. 

The Jayhawks jumped out to an early 13-6 advantage behind three threes from guard Johnny Furphy, but the Mountaineers answered with three consecutive threes from a guards Kobe Johnson, Kerr Kriisa and Seth Wilson as part of a 9-2 run to tie the game at 15 at the 13:46 mark of the first half. 

West Virginia held its largest lead of the first half of six, 41-35, with 4:20 left in the half, following a tough contested jumper by guard RaeQuan Battle for two of his 17 first half points to lead all scorers at the break. 

Kansas shot 61.3% from the field in the first half but West Virginia was not far behind, shooting a 59.3% from the floor and the game went into halftime tied at 51. 

West Virginia guard RaeQuan Battle hits a jumper of Kansas guard Dajuan Harris / Christopher Hall - Sports Illustrated: FanNation - Mountaineers Now

An offensive rebound by Battle to open the second half led to a bucket by forward Akok Akok and forward Pat Suemnick followed with a drive to the basket for 55-51 but Kansas quickly answered with a 6-0 spurt to grab the early second half lead.  

West Virginia maintained its momentum after Suemnick grabbed the offensive rebound, kicked it out to Battle for a three as the Mountaineers held a four-point lead with 8:31 left to play in the game.

Battle followed with a bucket and the foul to capture the Mountaineers largest lead of the game of seven with just under seven minutes left to play. 

The Jayhawks reclaimed the lead with just over two minutes remaining in the game after a 6-0 run capped off by a pair of free throws from KJ Adams Jr. 

Suemnick answered on the ensuing possession to put the Mountaineers on top and three free throws from Quinn Slazinki stretched the lead to four with 30 seconds left in the game. 

After a long two from Kevin McCullar Jr. cut the WVU lead to two, Noah Farrakhan hit two free throws and Kerr Kriisa swiped the ball in the backcourt in the final seconds as the Mountaineer knocked off No. 3 Kansas 91-85. 

Team + Individual Stats vs. No. 3 Kansas

You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us Twitter:

Facebook - @MountaineersNow

X - @MountaineersNow and Christopher Hall @WVHallBilly