MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Kansas controlled the game from beginning to end as they rained three-pointers and West Virginia had no answer in the Jayhakws’ 76-62 victory over the Mountaineers on Saturday night.
Kansas (14-1, 3-0 Big 12) missed their first three-pointer of the game, but from then on, they never flinched, making their next six three-pointers and never looked back.
Kevin McCullar opened the scoring for Kansas as he hit a jumper to put the Jayhawks on the board after the Mountaineers took a 4-0 lead.
Kansas would then score 18 of their next 20 points from beyond the arc as the Mountaineers could not keep up. Kansas opened a 22-10 lead within the first six minutes of play.
After pacing West Virginia’s (10-5, 0-3 Big 12) offense all season, the Mountaineers’ leading scorer Erik Stevenson would struggle all night long. Coming off a 17-point performance against Oklahoma State on Monday, Stevenson would 1 for 9 from the field in the first half, with two of his four first-half points coming from the free throw line.
Within the final two minutes of the first half, the Mountaineers would come alive offensively, going on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to five with 35 seconds to play. Tre Mitchell scored six points on the run, as he would finish the game with a team-high 15 points.
West Virginia opened the second half as they looked destined to get back into the game. Emmitt Matthews sunk three free throws as the Mountaineers trailed 47-41 with 16:00 to play.
That would be as close as the Mountaineers would get for the remainder of the game as the Jayhawks would put the Mountaineers away.
Kansas went on a 10-0 run from the 11:49 mark of the second half to the 9:38 mark. During the run Dick scored six of his game-high 16 points. Dick would hit a three-pointer as well as three free throws as he was fouled attempting a three-pointer to close out the run.
The Mountaineer offense would have no response, keeping up their bad start to the first half. West Virginia made only eight shots the entire second half, shooting 30 percent from the floor, while making one of their nine three-pointers in the half.
Kansas would end the game going 24 for 57 from the field, while making 46 percent of their three-pointers. 11 of Kansas’ 24 made shots came from beyond the arc. Kansas forced 11 WVU turnovers, leading to 12 Jayhawk points.
All five of Kansas’ starters reached double-figures, with all of them accounting for the Jayhawks’ 11 three-pointers.
Outside of Mitchell, the remainder of West Virginia’s starting five went 11 for 38 (29%) from the field.
