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Game Day Vitals
- #10 West Virginia Mountaineers (14-1, Big XII 3-0, NCAA RPI 23) vs. Kansas Jayhawks (14-1, Big XII 3-0, NCAA RPI 3)
- Series Record: Kansas leads series 4-2
- Last meeting: KU 76 WVU 69, Allen Fieldhouse, March 3, 2015
- Location: WVU Coliseum (Capacity: 14,000) Morgantown, West Virginia
- Vegas Lines:KU (-2.5) O/U 153
- Date: Tuesday, Jan 12, 2016, 7 pm EST
- Television: ESPN2
- Online Streaming: WatchESPN
- Radio Affiliates
Opponent Information
- Kansas Jayhawks (14-1, Big XII 3-0, NCAA RPI 3)
- Head Coach: Bill Self, 13th year at KU (366-79), career (573-184)
- Last Result - Defeated Texas Tech 69-59
- Official Jayhawks Athletics website
- SBN Kansas blog - Rock Chalk Talk
Interwebs
Game Preview
The Mountaineers ascension to a top ten-ranked team coincides with a trip to Morgantown by the number one team in the country. As noted in the game preview prior to the Oklahoma State game the Mountaineers have beaten the teams they should beat, but failed their previous biggest test of the season against a Virginia team that is now in the midst of a slump. With the next two matchups coming against the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the country the basketball schedule shares some resemblance to the football team's schedule. The difference being, win or lose, we should probably expect better results against these highly ranked teams than what the football team produced. Kansas has lost in its last two trips to Morgantown and was dangerously close to being swept by the Mountaineers last season despite WVU being without Juwan Staten and Gary Browne.
One thing is for sure over the last several matchups Huggs has had his squad ready for Kansas (the potential for $25k and the opportunity to beat the Big 12's best will do that). Alas, as Huggins has noted these teams are different than the last ones that have matched up with one another, and as they say in the investment world past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Per usual one of the strengths of the Mountaineers is there ability to hit the boards (ranked 31st in the country), and it just so happens Kansas is not great at that (64th in the country). However, Kansas is a solid shooting team (second in the country in three point field goal percentage) so there may not be as many boards to get, at least on the defensive side. Statistics aside the formula for a Mountaineer win will be the same as it is for every game - turn the other team over and rebound to create extra scoring opportunities. Whether they will be able to do so remains to be seen. Last night the line was -1 Kansas and as of this writing that has moved to -2 Kansas. I'm saying the Mountaineers ride the home crowd to another close victory in Morgantown setting up a colossal matchup this Saturday against Buddy Hield and Oklahoma.