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02-18-2018, 08:54 AM
Udoka Azubuike scored 21 points to lead 13th-ranked Kansas to a 77-69 come-from-behind victory over 20th-ranked West Virginia tonight at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas.
The Mountaineers have lost all six times they have played in Allen Fieldhouse and tonight's defeat continues a recent trend that has seen them take control of games early only to have their big leads evaporate at the end.
Three years ago, WVU had an 18-point first half advantage in this building but lost it in the second half when they couldn't make free throws down the stretch.
Tonight, West Virginia (19-8, 8-6) couldn't blow it at the line because it couldn't get there to blow it.
The Mountaineers took just two free throw attempts (a third one was waved off when Daxter Miles Jr. left early on a try he ended up missing) while the Jayhawks shot 35.
"We can't win when they shoot 35 free throws and we shoot 2," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said during his postgame radio show. "You can't win. I've been in this game a long, long time and that can't happen.
"You have no chance to win."
Kansas guard Devonte' Graham saw things a little bit differently, "We didn't foul that much. They fouled a whole lot more than what got called," he said.
Kansas (21-6, 10-4) took advantage of its advantage at the line by outscoring West Virginia 26 to 1, KU getting them from everyone including 42-percent free throw shooter Azubuike, who made 7 out of 10.
Huggins, growing more frustrated with each foul call whistled on his players, drew two technical fouls to exit the game with eight seconds still showing on the clock.
At that point, Kansas hit three more meaningless free throws to boost its margin to nine, 75-66. The Jayhawks ended the game on a 19-3 run and made the critical plays when they needed them to bag their 10th conference victory.
The Mountaineers, as they have done the last three times they've lost to Kansas, including a 71-66 defeat in Morgantown back on Jan. 15, couldn't hold on to a double-digit lead with 10 minutes to go.
Last year, it was a 14-point lead at Allen Fieldhouse with three minutes left.
In Morgantown a month ago, it was 10 with eight minutes remaining.
Tonight the margin was 12 with 10:18 left.
As late as 7:22 the spread was still 10 after a Lamont West 3 made it 61-51, but then the Mountaineers went cold as they ended up taking rushed shots late in the shot clock and Kansas began chipping away at the lead from the free throw line with the clock stopped.
Two came from Malik Newman and then a smiling Azubuike made two more when he flopped to the ground after West placed both hands on his jersey.
Those helped make it a four-point game with 4:58 remaining.
Jevon Carter made a jumper with the shot clock winding down to push the lead back to six, 63-57, and the Mountaineers got it back to eight, 66-58, on a Daxter Miles Jr. 3 with 3:47 remaining.
Graham immediately answered at the other end with a 3, and an Azubuike dunk following a missed Carter jumper pulled the Jayhawks to within three, 66-63.
Kansas tied it on Newman's straight-away 3 with 2:13 left and re-took the lead on two Svi Mykhailuk free throws with 1:40 remaining.
It took a while for Mykhailuk to shoot his free throws because the guy who fouled him while they were tangled up under the basket trying to rebound Sagaba Konate's miss, Esa Ahmad, had to have his bloody nose attended to along the sideline by WVU athletic trainer Randy Meador.
After that, the Mountaineers had a couple of excellent opportunities to either tie the score or retake the lead but couldn't hit their shots or make the right decisions.
West missed an open 3 from the wing with 1:12 remaining and Miles Jr. was fouled as he attempted to rebound the miss. The guard committed a lane violation when he left early to retrieve his miss, but a missed Graham jumper at the other end gave WVU another chance to get even.
Carter couldn't get his 3 to go down and Wesley Harris grabbed the rebound, getting it back out to Miles with a wide-open look from behind the arc with 25 seconds remaining.
Miles, who led West Virginia a game-high 22 points and had made 6 out of his 9 attempts from 3, inexplicably passed up the shot and turned the ball over. Carter fouled Graham with 24 seconds remaining and he made both to increase Kansas' lead to four, 70-66.
With 12 seconds to go, Azubuike blocked Miles Jr.'s jumper leading to Newman's breakaway layup and a six-point lead with nine seconds left.
At this point, Huggins had seen enough and made an early exit. He said what set him off were a couple of no-calls on contested shots his players missed near the end of the game.
"I lost it at the end of the game because I feel so bad for our kids," Huggins said. "I can't not say something."
Statistically, West Virginia had advantages in many of the areas it usually needs to have in order to win. It took 14 more shots than Kansas, grabbed 13 offensive rebounds (33-30 edge on the glass) and hit 14 of 26 from 3.
But the two areas that hurt the most - and has really harmed West Virginia in its losses all season - was the number of personal fouls it committed and the wide disparity in free throw attempts its opponent took because of it.
"We made some mistakes; Dax should have shot the last one and he probably should have shot the one before that, but he's playing like crazy - he's trying," Huggins said.
"We really wanted this one," said Miles Jr. "Down the stretch, we've just got to do better at some of the little things."
This is the 12th time in 14 Big 12 games this year the Mountaineers' opponents have attempted more free throws, including all six conference losses.
Graham scored 15 and grabbed eight rebounds while Lagerfield Vick contributed 13 and Newman added 11.
Carter scored 15 while West added 11 coming off the bench for West Virginia.
"It's hard ... it's hard," a dejected Carter said afterward.
After tonight's win, Kansas is well within reach of getting its 14th straight Big 12 regular season championship now a half-game behind league-leading Texas Tech with two weeks remaining.
West Virginia, which had won three out of four before tonight's loss, remains on the road to play at Baylor on Tuesday night.
"You've got to get ready for Baylor and hopefully they don't shoot (35) free throws to our 2," Huggins said. "I don't know what to do about that. The other part ⦠we'll get them back. We'll find a way to bounce back and try to win at Baylor."
The Bears are one of the hottest teams in the Big 12 right now having won four in a row before tonight's game against the Red Raiders.
http://wvusports.com/news/2018/2/17/mens...-away.aspx
The Mountaineers have lost all six times they have played in Allen Fieldhouse and tonight's defeat continues a recent trend that has seen them take control of games early only to have their big leads evaporate at the end.
Three years ago, WVU had an 18-point first half advantage in this building but lost it in the second half when they couldn't make free throws down the stretch.
Tonight, West Virginia (19-8, 8-6) couldn't blow it at the line because it couldn't get there to blow it.
The Mountaineers took just two free throw attempts (a third one was waved off when Daxter Miles Jr. left early on a try he ended up missing) while the Jayhawks shot 35.
"We can't win when they shoot 35 free throws and we shoot 2," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said during his postgame radio show. "You can't win. I've been in this game a long, long time and that can't happen.
"You have no chance to win."
Kansas guard Devonte' Graham saw things a little bit differently, "We didn't foul that much. They fouled a whole lot more than what got called," he said.
Kansas (21-6, 10-4) took advantage of its advantage at the line by outscoring West Virginia 26 to 1, KU getting them from everyone including 42-percent free throw shooter Azubuike, who made 7 out of 10.
Huggins, growing more frustrated with each foul call whistled on his players, drew two technical fouls to exit the game with eight seconds still showing on the clock.
At that point, Kansas hit three more meaningless free throws to boost its margin to nine, 75-66. The Jayhawks ended the game on a 19-3 run and made the critical plays when they needed them to bag their 10th conference victory.
The Mountaineers, as they have done the last three times they've lost to Kansas, including a 71-66 defeat in Morgantown back on Jan. 15, couldn't hold on to a double-digit lead with 10 minutes to go.
Last year, it was a 14-point lead at Allen Fieldhouse with three minutes left.
In Morgantown a month ago, it was 10 with eight minutes remaining.
Tonight the margin was 12 with 10:18 left.
As late as 7:22 the spread was still 10 after a Lamont West 3 made it 61-51, but then the Mountaineers went cold as they ended up taking rushed shots late in the shot clock and Kansas began chipping away at the lead from the free throw line with the clock stopped.
Two came from Malik Newman and then a smiling Azubuike made two more when he flopped to the ground after West placed both hands on his jersey.
Those helped make it a four-point game with 4:58 remaining.
Jevon Carter made a jumper with the shot clock winding down to push the lead back to six, 63-57, and the Mountaineers got it back to eight, 66-58, on a Daxter Miles Jr. 3 with 3:47 remaining.
Graham immediately answered at the other end with a 3, and an Azubuike dunk following a missed Carter jumper pulled the Jayhawks to within three, 66-63.
Kansas tied it on Newman's straight-away 3 with 2:13 left and re-took the lead on two Svi Mykhailuk free throws with 1:40 remaining.
It took a while for Mykhailuk to shoot his free throws because the guy who fouled him while they were tangled up under the basket trying to rebound Sagaba Konate's miss, Esa Ahmad, had to have his bloody nose attended to along the sideline by WVU athletic trainer Randy Meador.
After that, the Mountaineers had a couple of excellent opportunities to either tie the score or retake the lead but couldn't hit their shots or make the right decisions.
West missed an open 3 from the wing with 1:12 remaining and Miles Jr. was fouled as he attempted to rebound the miss. The guard committed a lane violation when he left early to retrieve his miss, but a missed Graham jumper at the other end gave WVU another chance to get even.
Carter couldn't get his 3 to go down and Wesley Harris grabbed the rebound, getting it back out to Miles with a wide-open look from behind the arc with 25 seconds remaining.
Miles, who led West Virginia a game-high 22 points and had made 6 out of his 9 attempts from 3, inexplicably passed up the shot and turned the ball over. Carter fouled Graham with 24 seconds remaining and he made both to increase Kansas' lead to four, 70-66.
With 12 seconds to go, Azubuike blocked Miles Jr.'s jumper leading to Newman's breakaway layup and a six-point lead with nine seconds left.
At this point, Huggins had seen enough and made an early exit. He said what set him off were a couple of no-calls on contested shots his players missed near the end of the game.
"I lost it at the end of the game because I feel so bad for our kids," Huggins said. "I can't not say something."
Statistically, West Virginia had advantages in many of the areas it usually needs to have in order to win. It took 14 more shots than Kansas, grabbed 13 offensive rebounds (33-30 edge on the glass) and hit 14 of 26 from 3.
But the two areas that hurt the most - and has really harmed West Virginia in its losses all season - was the number of personal fouls it committed and the wide disparity in free throw attempts its opponent took because of it.
"We made some mistakes; Dax should have shot the last one and he probably should have shot the one before that, but he's playing like crazy - he's trying," Huggins said.
"We really wanted this one," said Miles Jr. "Down the stretch, we've just got to do better at some of the little things."
This is the 12th time in 14 Big 12 games this year the Mountaineers' opponents have attempted more free throws, including all six conference losses.
Graham scored 15 and grabbed eight rebounds while Lagerfield Vick contributed 13 and Newman added 11.
Carter scored 15 while West added 11 coming off the bench for West Virginia.
"It's hard ... it's hard," a dejected Carter said afterward.
After tonight's win, Kansas is well within reach of getting its 14th straight Big 12 regular season championship now a half-game behind league-leading Texas Tech with two weeks remaining.
West Virginia, which had won three out of four before tonight's loss, remains on the road to play at Baylor on Tuesday night.
"You've got to get ready for Baylor and hopefully they don't shoot (35) free throws to our 2," Huggins said. "I don't know what to do about that. The other part ⦠we'll get them back. We'll find a way to bounce back and try to win at Baylor."
The Bears are one of the hottest teams in the Big 12 right now having won four in a row before tonight's game against the Red Raiders.
http://wvusports.com/news/2018/2/17/mens...-away.aspx
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