Kansas State University Athletics
Kansas State University
West Virginia
K-State Falls to No. 13/14 West Virginia, 85-66
Feb 11, 2017 | Men's Basketball
D.J. Johnson
GAME RECAP
66
85
RV/RV
K-STATE
WILDCATS
16-9 (5-7 Big 12)
13/14
WEST VIRGINIA
MOUNTAINEERS
20-5 (8-4 Big 12)
LEADERS:
W. Iwundu: 14pts, 8rebs, 3stls
K. Stokes: 12pts, 2rebs, 1ast
B. Patrick: 11pts, 1ast, 1stl
LEADERS:
J. Carter: 19pts, 9rebs, 2stls
E. Ahmad: 11pts, 3asts, 1blk
T. Myers: 9pts, 2rebs
| TEAM | 1ST | 2ND | F |
| K-State | 34 | 32 | 66 |
| West Virginia | 34 | 51 | 85 |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- No. 13/14 West Virginia used the momentum of an early second-half technical by head coach Bob Huggins to take control in a tightly-contested game en route to an 85-66 win on Saturday afternoon before a sold-out crowd of 14,000 at the WVU Coliseum.
The Wildcats (16-9, 5-7 Big 12) played without starter and senior D.J. Johnson, who missed the game due to sprained ankle that occurred in Monday’s game against Kansas. It marked the first time that Johnson did not play in a game since the South Carolina State game on Nov. 29, 2015, snapping a streak of 51 consecutive appearances.
With K-State leading 37-36 with 18:37 to play in the second half, Huggins was whistled for a technical foul on a disputed foul call, allowing sophomore Kamau Stokes to hit a pair of free throws. Trailing 39-36, West Virginia used the emotions of the moment to get back-to-back dunks from sophomore Esa Ahmad and freshman Sagaba Konate and ignite a 12-1 run to take a 48-40 lead with 14:14 to play.
The Wildcats would close to within 50-44 on a layup by senior reserve Austin Budke with 13:03 remaining, however, seven straight points ended any hopes of a comeback as the Mountaineers extended the lead to double figures, which they held for the rest of the game.
West Virginia (20-5, 8-4 Big 12) connected on 50 percent (32-of-64) from the field, including 58.8 percent (20-of-34) in the second half, and converted on 81 percent (17-of-21) from the free throw line. The Mountaineers forced 19 Wildcat turnovers, scoring 25 points off those miscues, and posted an opponent-high 50 points in the paint.
K-State shot a season-low 34.8 percent (16-of-46) from the field, including 33.3 percent (7-of-21) from 3-point range, and didn’t take advantage of some other opportunities. The Wildcats could only muster 9 points off of 18 Mountaineer turnovers and went just 67.5 percent (27-of-40) from the free throw line.
Senior guard Wesley Iwundu paced five Wildcats in double figures with a team-high 14 points and 8 rebounds, while Stokes registered double digits for the 15th consecutive game with 12 points. Reserve freshman guard Brian Patrick scored a season-high 11 points on perfect 4-of-4 shooting, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range, while sophomore guard Barry Brown and freshman guard Xavier Sneed added 10 points each.
Junior guard Jevon Carter led a balanced West Virginia scoring attack with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-11 field goals to go with a game-tying 9 rebounds, while sophomore guard Esa Ahmad added 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting. In all, 12 different Mountaineers scored points, including 11 with at least one made field goal.
The Basics
• Final Score: 13/14 West Virginia 85, Kansas State 66
• Records: Kansas State 16-9, 5-7 Big 12 // West Virginia 20-5, 8-4 Big 12
• Attendance: 14,074 (sellout)
• Next Game: Wednesday, Feb. 15 // vs. Iowa State // 6 p.m. CT // ESPN2
The Short Story
• No. 13/14 West Virginia used the momentum of an early second-half technical foul by head coach Bob Huggins en route to posting an 85-66 win over Kansas State on Saturday afternoon.
• Trailing 39-36 after two technical free throws by sophomore Kamau Stokes, consecutive dunks by sophomore Esa Ahmad and freshman Sagaba Konate ignited a 12-1 run to help the Mountaineers take control of a tight contest, 48-40, with 14:14 to play.
• The Wildcats would close to within 50-44 on a layup by senior Austin Budke with 13:03 remaining, however, seven straight points by the Mountaineers ended any hopes of a comeback.
• West Virginia connected on 50 percent (32-of-64) of its field goals, including 58.8 percent (20-of-34) in the second half, with 50 of its 85 points coming in the paint.
• The Mountaineers also took advantage of 19 Wildcat turnovers to score an opponent-high 25 points.
• Senior Wesley Iwundu paced five Wildcats in double figures with 14 points and 8 rebounds, while sophomore Kamau Stokes extended his double-digit scoring streak to 15 with 12 points.
• Junior Jevon Carter scored a game-high 19 points on 6-of-11 field goals to go with a game-tying 9 rebounds to lead West Virginia, while sophomore Esa Ahmad added 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
• The Wildcats played without senior starter D.J. Johnson, who suffered an ankle sprain against Kansas.
• Johnson missed his first game in more than a year, snapping a streak of 51 consecutive appearances.
How It Happened | First Half
• K-State jumped out to a 7-4 lead at the first timeout at the 15:53 mark behind a pair of 3-pointers.
• After the Wildcats built a 14-6 advantage on a 3-point play from Wesley Iwundu, the Mountaineers scored 5 straight points to cut it to 14-11 at the second media timeout with 11:39 remaining.
• A 3-point play by Sagaba Konate gave West Virginia its first lead at 15-14 at the 9:06 mark before the Mountaineers extended it to 20-15 on a pair of free throws by Jevon Carter with 7:57 before halftime.
• Back-to-back shots by Carter, including a 3-pointer, gave West Virginia a 25-17 at the 6:02 mark.
• A dunk by Dean Wade ended a field goal drought of more than 8 minutes with 5:44 to play, which ignited a 10-2 run by K-State to tie the game at 27-all of a layup by Brian Patrick with 3:35 before halftime.
• After Kamau Stokes took his seventh charge of the season, Patrick gave the Wildcats their first lead in nearly six minutes at 30-27 with a 3-pointer at the 2:46 mark.
• The Mountaineers tied the game at 32-all on a 3-point by Nathan Adrian with 1:26 remaining.
• Stokes and Carter each hit 2 free throws to end the half at 34-all.
• K-State connected on 34.6 percent (9-of-26) in the first half, including 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from 3-point range, while West Virginia shot 40 percent (12-of-30), including 28.6 percent (2-of-7) from beyond the arc.
• The teams combined for 27 personal fouls in the first half with the Wildcats connecting on 66.7 percent (12-of-18) and the Mountaineers knocking down 80 percent (8-of-10) from the line.
• Iwundu led all scorers with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting and grabbed 7 rebounds.
How It Happened | Second Half
• K-State opened the half with a 3-pointer by Xavier Sneed before technical foul by West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins gave Kamau Stokes a pair of free throws and a 39-36 lead with 18:37 to play.
• However, the technical seemed to ignite the Mountaineers as they scored 6 straight to force the Wildcats to call their first timeout at the 16:50 mark, down 42-39.
• The run was 8-0 after a jumper by Nathan Adrian at the first media timeout with 15:59 remaining.
• The lead ballooned to 48-40 after a pair of free throws by Tarik Phillip at the 14:14 mark.
• K-State was able to close the gap to 50-44 on 2 Barry Brown free throws and a layup by Austin Budke at the 13:03 mark, however, West Virginia responded with 7 in a row to take a 57-44 lead with 11:09 left.
• Four straight free throws by Stokes and Wesley Iwundu again cut into the deficit to 57-48 with 10:47 remaining, however, the Mountaineers used a 7-1 spurt to push it back out to 64-49 at the 9:13 mark.
• An Esa Ahmad dunk gave WVU a 66-52 advantage at the third media timeout with 7:58 to play.
• The lead stood at 74-58 at the final media timeout at the 3:52 mark.
• Carter capped his impressive second half with a 3-point play with 2:29 remaining to give the Mountaineers a 79-60 advantage.
• Both coaches emptied their benches in the last two minutes in eventual 85-66 final score.
• K-State shot just 35 percent (7-of-20) in the second half, including 33.3 percent (3-of-9) from 3-point range, while West Virginia connected on 58.8 percent (20-of-34) and knocked down 81.8 percent (9-of-11) from the free throw line.
• The Mountaineers scored 32 of their 51 points in the paint in the second half, while 18 of their 25 points off of turnovers also came after halftime.
Beyond the Boxscore
• West Virginia now leads the all-time series, 7-5, including 6-4 in the Big 12 era… Head coach Bruce Weber is now 4-6 against West Virginia and 6-6 against head coach Bob Huggins.
• K-State used a different lineup for the first time this season, as senior forward D.J. Johnson did not start due to an ankle injury suffered in the Kansas game on Monday… Johnson did not start for the first time since the Kansas game on Feb. 3, 2016, a streak of 35 consecutive starts – while he did not play for the first time since the South Carolina State game on Nov. 29, 2015 – a streak of 51 consecutive appearances.
• Freshman Xavier Sneed earned his first career start in place of Johnson.
• K-State set or tied season-lows for field goals made (16), field goal percentage (34.8) and points in the paint (18), while West Virginia posted opponent highs for points in the paint (50) and points off of turnovers (25) to go with advantages in second-chance points (15-2) and bench points (33-15).
• The 50 points in the paints were the most given up in the Bruce Weber era, surpassing the 48 scored by Georgetown on Nov. 22, 2013.
• Senior Wesley Iwundu led the way in scoring for the 14th time in his career, including the fifth time this season, while he tied sophomore Dean Wade for the rebounding lead with 8 to go with 3 steals… Iwundu has now led in rebounding 21 times in his career, including a team-high 9 times this season.
• Sophomore Kamau Stokes has scored in double figures in 15 consecutive games and now leads the team with 20 double-digit scoring games.
• With 5 steals today, sophomore Barry Brown now has 59 steals this season, which ties for the 5th-most in a single season in school history and the most since Jacob Pullen set the record with 67 in 2009-10.
Quotable
• “We battled, and we had opportunities in the first half,” said head coach Bruce Weber. “You have to make your free throws; you have to finish at the hoop. We had a lot of open shots that we didn’t make. If you can stretch that thing out instead of being tied, you’re up six or eight at halftime. Maybe it’s whole different game, but we didn’t do that, and then they stepped it up. They had a lot of bodies; that probably took a toll on us. In the second half, we didn’t guard very well, and they we lost our poise a little bit. It’s disappointing, but we have to ready for the next game at home against Iowa State.”
Up Next
• K-State returns home to Bramlage Coliseum on Wednesday, Feb. 15 when the Wildcats play host to Iowa State (15-9, 7-5 Big 12) at 6 p.m., CT on ESPN2. Tickets are available for just $15 through the K-State Athletic Ticket Office by calling (800) 221-CATS or online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets.
