What a huge win it was for No. 3 Kansas (24-5; 12-4) in defeating West Virginia, 76-74 on Saturday. With the win, along with Baylor’s win over Texas earlier in the day, Bill Self’s squad can clinch at least a share of the Big 12 regular season championship with a win at home over Texas Tech on Tuesday night.
In looking back at Saturday's win over West Virginia, five players, Dajuan Harris (17), Gradey Dick (16), Kevin McCullar (16), KJ Adams (13), and Jalen Wilson (11) scored in double-figures for Kansas.
Harris led the way with six assists and six steals, while Dick, Wilson, and Adams pulled down six rebounds each. This was a game where Kansas had so many opportunities to put West Virginia away but simply failed to capitalize on those opportunities.
“We won the game,” said Self. “Happy we won. We probably needed to be humbled a little bit. We got humbled today and still won. We screwed up the last possession, obviously, or multiple times. We gave up the uncontested layup with no time left on the shot clock. You throw it in, and you turn it over and Gradey, he's better than that. But just not being strong and everything. I would like to think that if Juan was in the game, we'd probably do a better job of getting him the ball and maybe not have to throw it into another, but still, you got to be able to make the play. But I told our guys after the game, I'm happy we won, but if that was a second-round NCAA tournament game, our season would be over. That's going to be an eight-nine game, which will be someone comparable to West Virginia and we'd be going home. So hopefully we can learn from that.
“I thought Juan was great,” he added. “I thought Kevin was great. I thought everybody else just kind of pieced it together. The bench played 11 minutes the first half and had six turnovers. We charged six times. We didn't do a lot of things right. Our ball and body movement wasn't as good and our energy defensively was at its best there on the last possession.
“But I know you can't play like that every possession, but we didn't come close to assimilating that early in the game,” he continued. “So, a lot of things we can get better from in this game. And fortunately, we can do some learning through winning as opposed to learning through losing. And at this time of year, you want to try to avoid that as much as possible. All in all, it was a good day, but certainly not a well-played game by us. Give West Virginia all the credit on that.”
Despite leading for 24:10 of the game, the outcome of Saturday's game wasn’t decided until the final buzzer sounded. Up by one point late in the game, Wilson was fouled and went to the free-throw line, but converted just 1-of-2 free-throws.
West Virginia had every opportunity to tie the game or go for the win, but WVU never got a clean look at the basket and failed to get off an attempt in the closing seconds. It was Wilson and McCullar, I believe, that caused the final turnover of the game, which secured the win for Kansas.
I just can’t say enough about the play of Kevin McCullar, Jr. He’s absolutely raised his game to another level the past couple of weeks and made a number of key plays on the defensive end of the court against WVU.
Aside from the 16 points and four rebounds, McCullar, Jr., was also credited with two steals and one block.
Dajuan Harris led the way on both ends of the court and his ability to score and defend really makes this Kansas team difficult to deal with. He committed just one turnover and finished the game with six assists and six steals.
After the game, Self said that Harris told him he could have returned to the game if there was overtime, but as Self said, the plan is to rest Harris for the next couple of days and hope he’s ready to go on Tuesday.
Dick, once again, was big from behind the arc with 5-of-8 shooting from deep to go along with six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Self, after the game, provided somewhat of an injury update.
“No, no, Juan wasn't,” said Self. “They fell on his foot. Jaun's tough and for him to say he can't go back in, that's obviously a big deal. He said he could probably play if it's overtime. And I'm like, "Three minutes is going to make a huge difference?" So, if he could play an overtime, why couldn't you play now? So that tells me he was hurt. We'll probably give him a couple days off and hope he's able to go on Tuesday. And Joe and Bobby both have that 72 or 96-hour stomach flu going around, you become violently ill.
“And so, we were lucky that they played today because that was not the game plan,” he added. “We were thinking maybe not even either one of them play. We were lucky even though didn't do a lot, but we stole a few minutes for them. But KJ was just a cramp. So other than Juan, I think we got through it okay.”
Kansas, on Tuesday, has an opportunity to claim at least a share of the Big 12 regular season championship at home. In what is the final home game of the season, Self’s squad plays host to Texas Tech with a ton to play for with the Red Raiders coming to town.
“Well, we got some help today,” he said. “I'm not going to leave out of here being negative. I'm leaving out of here thinking we're fortunate we won, and we can be humbled enough that we can get better from it. I heard Vitale say today that this was the best league in NCAA college basketball the last 20 years. He said it. Now I don't always agree with what Dick says, but I actually agree with that. That's a pretty bold statement.
“And to think after losing what we lost, that you could come in here and have a chance to control your own destiny and win a league championship at home, at least clinch a tie, to me that's pretty special,” he added. “So, I certainly hope that we prepare in a way that, and the fans appreciate how hard that's been on our guys and what a good level and high level they played at for the most part all year long.”
In looking back at Saturday's win over West Virginia, five players, Dajuan Harris (17), Gradey Dick (16), Kevin McCullar (16), KJ Adams (13), and Jalen Wilson (11) scored in double-figures for Kansas.
Harris led the way with six assists and six steals, while Dick, Wilson, and Adams pulled down six rebounds each. This was a game where Kansas had so many opportunities to put West Virginia away but simply failed to capitalize on those opportunities.
“We won the game,” said Self. “Happy we won. We probably needed to be humbled a little bit. We got humbled today and still won. We screwed up the last possession, obviously, or multiple times. We gave up the uncontested layup with no time left on the shot clock. You throw it in, and you turn it over and Gradey, he's better than that. But just not being strong and everything. I would like to think that if Juan was in the game, we'd probably do a better job of getting him the ball and maybe not have to throw it into another, but still, you got to be able to make the play. But I told our guys after the game, I'm happy we won, but if that was a second-round NCAA tournament game, our season would be over. That's going to be an eight-nine game, which will be someone comparable to West Virginia and we'd be going home. So hopefully we can learn from that.
“I thought Juan was great,” he added. “I thought Kevin was great. I thought everybody else just kind of pieced it together. The bench played 11 minutes the first half and had six turnovers. We charged six times. We didn't do a lot of things right. Our ball and body movement wasn't as good and our energy defensively was at its best there on the last possession.
“But I know you can't play like that every possession, but we didn't come close to assimilating that early in the game,” he continued. “So, a lot of things we can get better from in this game. And fortunately, we can do some learning through winning as opposed to learning through losing. And at this time of year, you want to try to avoid that as much as possible. All in all, it was a good day, but certainly not a well-played game by us. Give West Virginia all the credit on that.”
Despite leading for 24:10 of the game, the outcome of Saturday's game wasn’t decided until the final buzzer sounded. Up by one point late in the game, Wilson was fouled and went to the free-throw line, but converted just 1-of-2 free-throws.
West Virginia had every opportunity to tie the game or go for the win, but WVU never got a clean look at the basket and failed to get off an attempt in the closing seconds. It was Wilson and McCullar, I believe, that caused the final turnover of the game, which secured the win for Kansas.
I just can’t say enough about the play of Kevin McCullar, Jr. He’s absolutely raised his game to another level the past couple of weeks and made a number of key plays on the defensive end of the court against WVU.
Aside from the 16 points and four rebounds, McCullar, Jr., was also credited with two steals and one block.
Dajuan Harris led the way on both ends of the court and his ability to score and defend really makes this Kansas team difficult to deal with. He committed just one turnover and finished the game with six assists and six steals.
After the game, Self said that Harris told him he could have returned to the game if there was overtime, but as Self said, the plan is to rest Harris for the next couple of days and hope he’s ready to go on Tuesday.
Dick, once again, was big from behind the arc with 5-of-8 shooting from deep to go along with six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Self, after the game, provided somewhat of an injury update.
“No, no, Juan wasn't,” said Self. “They fell on his foot. Jaun's tough and for him to say he can't go back in, that's obviously a big deal. He said he could probably play if it's overtime. And I'm like, "Three minutes is going to make a huge difference?" So, if he could play an overtime, why couldn't you play now? So that tells me he was hurt. We'll probably give him a couple days off and hope he's able to go on Tuesday. And Joe and Bobby both have that 72 or 96-hour stomach flu going around, you become violently ill.
“And so, we were lucky that they played today because that was not the game plan,” he added. “We were thinking maybe not even either one of them play. We were lucky even though didn't do a lot, but we stole a few minutes for them. But KJ was just a cramp. So other than Juan, I think we got through it okay.”
Kansas, on Tuesday, has an opportunity to claim at least a share of the Big 12 regular season championship at home. In what is the final home game of the season, Self’s squad plays host to Texas Tech with a ton to play for with the Red Raiders coming to town.
“Well, we got some help today,” he said. “I'm not going to leave out of here being negative. I'm leaving out of here thinking we're fortunate we won, and we can be humbled enough that we can get better from it. I heard Vitale say today that this was the best league in NCAA college basketball the last 20 years. He said it. Now I don't always agree with what Dick says, but I actually agree with that. That's a pretty bold statement.
“And to think after losing what we lost, that you could come in here and have a chance to control your own destiny and win a league championship at home, at least clinch a tie, to me that's pretty special,” he added. “So, I certainly hope that we prepare in a way that, and the fans appreciate how hard that's been on our guys and what a good level and high level they played at for the most part all year long.”
