With 4 seconds left, Juwan Staten made a beautiful spin move into the lane and laid the ball in to lift the #23 West Virginia Mountaineers to a 62-61 victory against #8 Kansas.
West Virginia is well known around the NCAA for their press defense, topping the charts in many defensive categories. It was a highly emotional game for the Mountaineers, who have been skating on thin ice after losing 3 of their last 4. They came out at the beginning of the game with their patented high pressure defense and the Jayhawks had no answer.
Kansas had been punched in the mouth and with only one day to prepare for this game, it looked like Kansas may not be able to handle what the Mountaineers were throwing at them.
After an 8-0 burst out of the gate for WVU, the Jayhawks settled in and started to chip away at the lead.
Going into half WVU only had a three point lead against KU, 33-30.
Kelly Oubre Jr., who finished with 14 points, came out in the second half with a big three point shot to put the Jayhawks in the lead for the first time in the game. Kansas started showing poise in getting the ball up the floor and taking advantage of West Virginia’s much more vulnerable half-court defense. Extending the lead to near double digits at one point.
West Virginia continued to exert its power on the offensive boards and showed off opportunistic perimeter shooting to climb back into the game in front of the home crowd.
Despite the terrible weather in Morgantown, West Virginia, the crowd was explosive. The arena was not full, but it didn’t matter with Kansas coming to town, and the West Virginia faithful weren’t going to let the weather stop them from rocking’ the gym tonight.
Down the stretch, Kansas missed the front end of a one-and-one and with 8 seconds left in the game, Bob Huggins knew where the ball needed to be, in the hands of their best player, Juwan Staten.
Staten had not had a field goal in over 8 minutes due to leg cramps that sidelined him down the stretch. There was still never any question and Staten didn’t disappoint. He dribbled hard up the left side of the floor and went into the chest of Frank Masson III, then with a sweet spin move, lost his defender and went up for an easy lay in.
The intensity was high but the game wasn’t over yet, with just over 3 seconds remaining, Perry Ellis made a run out play and had a layup for the win at the buzzer but it rimmed off, giving the Mountaineers a needed, big time win.
The final read WVU 62 - Kansas 61.
Ellis lead the Jayhawks with 19 points, Mason was the second leading scorer for Kansas (21-5, 10-3, B12).
The Mountaineers that were able to get through the gates tonight made sure to celebrate their emotional victory as they stormed the court with the players dancing and singing along with the fans. West Virginia (20-6, 8-5, B12) got the win they needed to solidify their post season birth, coming down the stretch they will continue to be tested by the insanely deep Big 12 conference. Country Roads certainly took West Virginia home, right back into the win column, their biggest 'W' of the year.
UP NEXT
West Virginia goes to #22 Oklahoma State at 2:00 pm on Friday
Kansas stays at home against TCU on Friday at 4:00 pm