2024-01-08 19:58:18
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia returns to the WVU Coliseum to face Kansas State in a Big 12 clash on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats (11-3, 1-0) are coming off a 77-52 victory over UCF in their conference opener last Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum. In that game, K-State used a stifling defense to limit the Knights to just 21.6% shooting and 19 points in the first half to build a commanding 35-19 halftime lead.
Kansas State got a game-high 25 points from 5-foot-11 guard Tylor Perry, a North Texas transfer. Perry made 6-of-11 from 3-point distance and 7-of-13 overall while handing out five assists.
Cam Carter, a 6-foot-3 Mississippi State transfer, contributed 12 points and six assists once morest UCF and leads the Wildcats with an average of 16.2 points per game.
Coach Jerome Tang has once once more relied heavily on the transfer portal to fortify his roster just as he did last year in leading K-State to 26 wins and an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearance.
All five starters in last Saturday’s conference opener began their collegiate careers at other schools.
“He put together a lot of talent there last year, and he’s done kind of the same thing this year with a lot of new guys,” said West Virginia coach Josh Eilert, a 2004 Kansas State graduate. “They aren’t the team they were last year, but they’ve got a really resilient group that finds ways to win.”
Wing David N’Guessan, who grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds once morest UCF, started his collegiate career at Virginia Tech and has now played 43 career games for the Wildcats. He is the team’s best offensive rebounder (49) while scoring at a 7.6 points-per-game clip.
Will McNair Jr., a 6-foot-11, 265-pounder, started at New Mexico State and then spent last season at Mississippi State before transferring to Kansas State last fall. He is averaging 7.8 points and 4.7 rebounds and is coming off an 11-point, six-rebound effort once morest UCF.
Arthur Kaluma, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward, transferred to Kansas State last June following spending two seasons at Creighton where he helped the Bluejays to a pair of NCAA Tournament trips and briefly entertained entering the NBA Draft before pulling his name out.
Kaluma shows averages of 15.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
Jerrell Colbert, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound forward, transferred from LSU and sat out last season. He is averaging 9.3 minutes per game coming off the bench but played just two minutes in Saturday’s blowout win over UCF.
Among bench players, Dai Dai Ames, a 6-foot-1 freshman guard from Chicago, has been the most productive, averaging 5.2 points and 2.5 assists per game while making three starts.
Kansas State has won overtime games so far this year once morest Providence, Oral Roberts, North Alabama and Villanova, and also shows victories once morest LSU and Wichita State.
The Wildcats are shooting just 30.5% from 3 and have turned the ball over 16 more times than their opponents, but they are getting to the free throw line 112 more times than their foes.
“We can’t get too tied up (in keeping them off the foul line). We’ve got to play as aggressive as we need to play, and if we end up sending them to the line then we send them to the line,” Eilert said.
Overall, Kansas State is shooting 42.9% from the floor and has a plus-six rebounding advantage.
“In a lot of ways, their lifeline is their transition offense and trying to get easy buckets,” Eilert said. “In this league, when you get into a halfcourt setting it’s tough to score, and we’re trying to figure out ways to run out and get easy buckets, and that’s what they’re doing as well.”
Last year, the two teams split their games – Kansas State winning 82-76 in overtime in Manhattan and losing 89-81 in Morgantown later in the season.
West Virginia, 5-9, 0-1, is looking to erase last Saturday’s 89-55 loss at third-ranked Houston to tip off league play from its memory. The Cougars jumped on the Mountaineers early and never let them get into any type of offensive rhythm.
“(Houston) has got a heck of a shot to win the whole thing,” Eilert said. “They’ve got things rolling, and that was an impressive performance by them.
“We’ve got to turn the page, and as I told (his players), this league can eat you alive if you hold on to things, so we’ve got to figure out how to turn the page quick,” Eilert added.
Leading scorer RaeQuan Battle was limited to just 1-of-9 shooting and a season-low four points once morest the Cougars. He scored 29 points in games once morest Radford and Toledo and added 24 in an overtime loss to Ohio State.
Battle tallied 27 once morest Kansas State in last year’s NCAA Tournament game when he played for Montana State.
Forward Patrick Suemnick was the only WVU player to reach double figures once morest Houston with 12, following up an eight-point performance once morest Ohio State in which he made the game-tying basket to help send the contest into overtime.
Suemnick, who got a season-high 28 minutes once morest the Cougars, has made 10 of his last 14 field goal attempts.
Forward Quinn Slazinski is averaging 15 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, but his production has fallen off significantly since the Radford loss when he scored just four points. He produced 14 on 6-of-13 shooting once morest Toledo, scored 11 on 4-of-12 shooting once morest Ohio State and had eight on 3-of-11 shooting once morest Houston.
Guard Noah Farrakhan is the only other available player averaging double figures at 14.2 points per game. He scored nine on 4-of-12 shooting once morest Houston.
WVU is once once more expected to be without 6-foot-11 center Jesse Edwards, who suffered a wrist injury in the Massachusetts loss and has missed the last four games. It was initially estimated to be a four-week recovery process for Edwards, which puts his potential return around Kansas on Jan. 20 or UCF on Jan. 23.
WVU has been using forward Akok Akok (4.0 ppg., 4.7 rpg.) in Edwards’ center spot.
Kerr Kriisa, averaging 9.4 points and 5.8 assists per game, is expected to get the starting nod at point guard.
West Virginia continues to struggle shooting from behind the 3-point arc at 29.3% and is being outscored by an average of 3.6 points per game. Chemistry is partly to blame.
WVU has had 10 different players start multiple games so far this season.
“I knew chemistry was going to be a problem, especially bringing guys in as we did so late in the summer, and then working guys in during the season has been a challenge in itself,” Eilert said. “It’s something we’re working through each day.”
Tuesday night’s contest will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN+ (Joel Godett and Tim Welsh). Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps gets underway at 6 p.m.
Tickets are still available and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
These two teams will meet once more in Manhattan, Kansas, on Monday, Feb. 26.
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