Kansas State’s road struggles continue in low-scoring defeat at West Virginia
Bruce Weber had seen enough.
Shortly after Derek Culver made a contested layup that gave West Virginia a seven-point lead over Kansas State midway through the second half of their basketball game on Saturday at WVU Coliseum, Weber signaled for a timeout in hopes of composing his team.
That would normally be viewed as a wise coaching move, but the timing of his decision worked against K-State in this situation. With 12:04 remaining, a media timeout was coming at the next dead ball. And it arrived 35 seconds later when K-State turned the ball over on a shot-clock violation on its next possession.
K-State still trailed by seven, but now it only had one timeout left and no way to slow West Virginia as it scored seven straight points and pulled away for a 66-57 victory that avenged an 84-68 loss two weeks ago at Bramlage Coliseum.
“We were much more ready to play than what we were out there,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “They’re hard to play against. Bruce does a great job. They spread you out offensively, and defensively they’re really physical and take a lot of things away from you.”
That was far from the only reason the Wildcats lost this game. They shot the ball miserably from three-point range, making just 3 on 17 attempts, committed too many fouls and failed to take advantage of their opportunities at the free-throw line. But K-State entered this game with a slim margin for error in hopes for a road upset.
West Virginia has been invincible here this season, improving to 11-0 at home.
For that reason, few gave the Wildcats much of a chance.
K-State fared better than some expected in a difficult road environment, but it didn’t play nearly well enough to win or challenge West Virginia until the final moments.
“I actually felt good about the whole game,” K-State guard David Sloan said. “But when they went on that little run when they were making shots the game got away from us. I felt like we had a chance to win it.”
The biggest culprit: a complete lack of offensive punch. Montavious Murphy made a three-pointer and Cartier Diarra knocked down a pair, while the rest of the team missed 14 long-range shots.
Sloan led K-State in scoring with 13 points. He had some success attacking the rim off the dribble, but he struggled in most other areas.
Xavier Sneed was next with 11 points, but the senior wing will take little solace in that as he went 0 for 7 from three-point range.
Offense is never K-State’s strong suit, but this was a particularly long day for the Wildcats, as they shot 37 percent from the field, 18 percent from three-point range and 69 percent from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, Culver was a force inside for the Mountaineers and scored a game-high 19 points. Ten different West Virginia players scored.
“It wasn’t a good shooting night for anybody, was it,” Huggins said. “We didn’t shoot it, they didn’t shoot it, and it makes it an ugly game. I don’t mind ugly games as long as we win them.”
With the win, No. 12 West Virginia (17-4, 5-3 Big 12) remained within shouting distance of No. 1 Baylor in the Big 12 championship race. With the loss, K-State (9-12, 2-6) dropped another game under .500 and lost again away from Manhattan.
The Wildcats haven’t won a game outside Bramlage Coliseum since Nov. 9 when they beat UNLV on the road 60-56 in overtime. This was their ninth straight loss away from home.
A strange thing about this game for K-State was that it got off to a solid start.
The Wildcats led the Mountaineers 16-15 midway through the first half on a layup from Mike McGuirl. That alone felt like an accomplishment given the way West Virginia has massacred opponents at home recently.
K-State didn’t back down, but it couldn’t maintain its hot start.
With Murphy, Makol Mawien and Diarra all in foul trouble, the Wildcats didn’t make a basket for the next 5 minutes, 16 seconds.
During that time, they fell behind 25-16. But then they played strong defense and made a few shots, pulling to within 30-27 by halftime.
K-State pulled even closer at 30-29 early in the second half but missed a string of free throws when it had an opportunity to take the lead. West Virginia dominated from there.
“They beat us and there was no doubt at the end end, but we made them play the game until the last few minutes,” Weber said. “Our team, sadly we are much better than (our record). It’s sad for our guys, but we put ourselves in this bind. Now we have to see if we can get out of it.”
This story was originally published February 1, 2020 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Kansas State’s road struggles continue in low-scoring defeat at West Virginia."