MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Through a coaching change, roster attrition and addition, eligibility issues, suspension and injury, it’s been a tumultuous seven-month stretch for West Virginia’s men’s basketball program.
For at least one night, however, it was all smiles for the Mountaineers and most of the 12,208 on hand Saturday that witnessed a thrilling 91-85 victory over No. 3 Kansas at the WVU Coliseum.
As the final buzzer sounded, West Virginia students rushed the floor and joined in celebration with a team that recorded its second win over a ranked opponent in a week.
“The love you feel in that moment, it’s those moments that make the hard days, early mornings and the conditioning all worth it, said WVU’s Pat Suemnick, whose midseason ascension continued with a career-high 20 points and six rebounds
In a game with no shortage of offense, Sueminick scored in the paint with 2:06 to play to give the Mountaineers an 82-81 lead.
After two straight empty trips for Kansas, the second of which was a turnover, the Mountaineers came up with three timely offensive rebounds — the first from RaeQuan Battle off a Noah Farrakhan miss and the second from Quinn Slazinski following a Battle miss. That allowed Slazinski to go to the free-throw line with 34 seconds remaining, and he made the first and missed the second, only to come up with the board as he saw the second miss to the right.
“The Big 12 is brutal, but we’re all matched pretty closely. It comes down to rebounds and free throws at the end of the game,” Slazinski said. “I flipped a coin going left or right and God was on my side.”
That sent Slazinski back to the free-throw line and he converted a pair for a four-point lead with 33 seconds left, although Johnny Furphy countered with two free throws to cut the deficit in half.
A controversial sequence followed in which the Jayhawks thought they had forced a turnover in the backcourt, but were instead whistled for a foul that allowed Kerr Kriisa to make two free throws.
Kevin McCullar Jr. Countered with a jump shot to bring the Jayhawks to within two with 11 seconds left, but Farrakhan calmly sank two foul shots and Kriisa stole the ensuing inbound pass, before sealing the verdict with two more free throws.
“That one felt good. That is what our guys needed for the confidence to start snowballing in the right direction,” WVU interim head coach Josh Eilert said. “It’s one thing to get a top 25 win against Texas. It’s another thing to beat a Hall of Fame coach and a top 5 program at home.”
A highly entertaining first half saw Kansas (15-3, 3-2) jump out to a 13-6 advantage, only for the Mountaineers to battle back and pull even at 15 on a Seth Wilson triple.
Six of the Mountaineers’ first eight field goals were from long range, including an Akok Akok triple that trimmed the Mountaineers’ deficit to 22-21.
Battle’s triple 6:56 before halftime allowed WVU (7–11, 2-3) to lead 33-31 and began a stretch of him scoring 10 points in 2:36, including a bucket in the paint that allowed the Mountaineers to lead 41-35.
“They were great. Everybody on their team played exceptionally well, especially in the first half offensively,” KU head coach Bill Self said. “We couldn’t guard them and we didn’t come prepared like we needed to against good shooters and guys that can get their own like Battle.”
The Jayhawks countered with a 12-2 spurt that featured Hunter Dickinson’s conventional three-point play, two free throws from Nicolas Timberlake, Dajuan Harris’ layup, and five straight points from Timberlake on a three and a fast break layup, which left the visitors with a 47-43 lead 2:03 before halftime.
The Mountaineers closed the half on an 8-4 run capped by two Farrakhan free throws just before time expired.
At the intermission, Kansas was shooting 19 for 31 and had made half of its 12 triples, while WVU was 16 for 27 from the field and 9 of 12 on threes.
“How can we shoot 62 percent and be tied at halftime and how they can go 9 for 12 from three and us be tied with them at halftime? The first half defense was pretty optional,” Self said. “But offensively, we executed and got what we wanted. The end of the first half with 4 seconds left, that’s a big play. We don’t guard something accurately. That’s my fault. There was not a lot of things to be happy with in the first half except we made shots.”
(Josh Eilert postgame press conference)
The margin was no more than four over the first 13 minutes of the second half, but an 8-2 WVU spurt that featured six points from Battle and a Suemnick bucket brought an end to that and enabled the Mountaineers to lead 77-70 with 6:49 remaining.
“This is how we want it and what we signed up for,” Battle said of the back and forth nature of the contest.
However, Kansas ran off 11 of the next 14 points and took its first lead since 61-60 on a pair of KJ Adams free throws with 2:41 left.
That set the stage for the frantic finish, and with the win, the Mountaineers improved to 7-5 against the Jayhawks in Morgantown and brought an end to Kansas’ six-game win streak in the series.
“I think we wanted it more,” Suemnick said. “Coach told us they didn’t even have a shoot-around today.”
Battle’s 23 points were a team high and Kriisa scored 15 to make it three double-figure scorers in the win.
“Being more consistent is the main thing with us and bringing it every night,” Battle said.
Battle also had a game-high nine rebounds to key the Mountaineers’ 31-22 rebounding advantage. The Jayhawks were limited to five offensive boards.
“I told the guys they might as well tear up the game plan and throw it in a fire if you don’t find a way to out-rebound them,” Eilert said.
McCullar made 10-of-14 shots and scored a game-high 24 points, while Dickinson finished with 19 points.
Furphy (13), Timberlake (12) and Adams (11) were also in double figures.
The Mountaineers overcame Kansas’ 44-26 advantage in paint points in large part by winning the rebounding battle, making 12-of-21 threes and 21-of-25 free throws.
“I’m going to savor it tonight,” Eilert said, “but tomorrow, it’s right back to it to figure out a game plan for Central Florida.”
(WVU players postgame press conference)