No. 3-ranked Kansas Jayhawks upend Mountaineers for second road win in a week
.JPG "Kansas guard Joseph Yesufu zeroes in on a floater as he’s defended by West Virginia forward Mohamed Wague (No. 11) and guard Joe Toussaint (5) during Saturday’s game in Morgantown, W.Va.")
No. 3-ranked Kansas, which won at Texas Tech on Tuesday, claimed its second Big 12 Conference road victory in a week on Saturday by tripping unranked West Virginia 76-62 at WVU Coliseum.
Jalen Wilson scored 14 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Gradey Dick sank four threes and scored 16 points and KJ Adams scored 14 points (6-of-8 from line) as the Jayhawks (14-1, 3-0) stated their case for a possible No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 on Monday.
Kevin McCullar had 12 points and eight rebounds while Dajuan Harris hit three threes and scored 11 points with four assists for the Jayhawks, who improved to 5-6 all-time at WVU Coliseum.
Tre Mitchell scored 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting and Erik Stevenson 12 points on 4-of-19 shooting for the Mountaineers (10-5, 0-3), who have dropped three straight since entering the poll at No. 24 and subsequently dropping out after stumbling to open the conference season.
KU knocked down 11 of 24 threes to WVU’s 4 of 20.
Dick hit back to back threes followed by a three by Wilson and a three by Harris on four straight KU possessions. KU led 14-8 at the 15:36 mark. A Wilson two-pointer made it 16-8 at 15:21.
McCullar and Harris hit threes and KU led 22-10 at 14:17.
The lead remained 12, this time 40-28, with two minutes left in the half. But after a Mitchell shot and Harris airball from three-point range, Joe Toussaint hit a three and was fouled by Joseph Yesufu at the :55 mark.
He hit the free throw and it was a six-point game (40-34). Toussaint then hit one of two free throws to cut the deficit to 40-35 with 36 seconds remaining.
KU’s Adams, who hit six of eight free-throw attempts in the first half, made two free throws with 1.8 seconds to go until halftime.
KU built the lead back up to 11 points (52-41) with 14:51 left to play. It was 54-43 at the 11:33 mark.
The Jayhawks opened up a 19-point lead (62-43) with 9:38 left thanks to a bucket by Adams, a three by Dick, a bucket by Zach Clemence and three free throws from Dick.
Some fans headed to the exits with KU up 66-49 with 7:45 remaining. Many more departed with 7:07 left and KU up 69-49.
Harris had a streak of nine three-point baskets in nine attempts snapped in the first half when he hit his first two but then missed the next three.
He was 2-for-2 from three-point range against Oklahoma State and 5-of-5 against Texas Tech.
KU will return home after a two-game road trip to meet Oklahoma at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
