Brtual stretch of Kansas basketball schedule starts Tuesday in Morgantown

By Staff     Jan 18, 2017

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Kansas guard Frank Mason III (0) tries to fight through a trap from West Virginia guard Jevon Carter (2) and forward Nathan Adrian (11) during the first half, Saturday, March 12, 2016 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

After Saturday’s 1 p.m. tipoff vs. Texas ends, Kansas will have played 19 games, just one of them against a team ranked in the current Associated Press top 25 poll.

Indiana was ranked at the time Kansas opened the season against the Hoosiers but has fallen out. Duke is the lone KU opponent thus far in the top 25.

That’s another way of saying that KU will play five times as many current top 25 teams in an eight-game stretch than it played in its first 19 games.

And it’s not as if the other three games during that stretch (Iowa State at home, at Kansas State, at Texas Tech) are easy ones.

It’s not a stretch to maintain that KU’s bid for a 13th consecutive Big 12 title will be won or lost during the eight-game stretch that follows Saturday’s visit from Texas, although the visit to Kentucky doesn’t count in the conference standings.

The five games vs. ranked foes (all times Central, statistics per kenpom.com):

**Tuesday, 6 p.m., at No. 7 West Virginia, 6 p.m.:** The Mountaineers rank first in the nation in forcing turnovers (32.7 percent of opponents’ possessions), steals (17 percent) and fourth in offensive rebounds (40.5 percent).

The Mountaineers have won the last three Morgantown meetings between the schools and are led by a trio of experienced guards in juniors Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles and senior Tarik Phillip. The trio combines for 6.4 steals per game and Carter leads the conference with 3.1 per game.

No other team plays quite like West Virginia, which crashes the offensive boards relentlessly and even after misses applies full-court pressure.

**Saturday, Jan. 28, 5 p.m., at No. 5 Kentucky:** The Wildcats rank 347th among 351 Div. I basketball programs, but they don’t play like a young team, ranking seventh in the nation in terms of ball security. Freshman point guard De’Aaron Fox (16.7 points, five rebounds, 6.3 assists) plays like a senior and is projected by draftexpress.com to go fourth in the NBA draft. Shooting guard Malik Monk (21.4 points) is projected to go seventh.

**Wednesday, Feb. 1, 8 p.m., No. 6 Baylor, Allen Fieldhouse:** Do the math: This will be the third game against a team ranked in the top seven in the nation in a nine-day span. The home crowd should infuse Kansas with energy, but it won’t be an easy game.

Junior forward Johnathan Motley ranks seventh in the conference in scoring (15.8) and second in rebounding (9.7) and junior point guard Manu Lecomte is terrific.

**Monday, Feb. 13, 8 p.m., vs. No. 7 West Virginia, Allen Fieldhouse:** The shock value to KU newcomers of playing against such an unorthodox style should be lessened in the rematch, but this is not an easy team to play anywhere, any time.

**Saturday, Feb. 18, noon, at No. 6 Baylor:** Kansas will have all week to prepare for the Bears, who have a size advantage.

The plot is on the verge of thickening, which promises to make what already has been a fascinating season that much more interesting.

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50082Brtual stretch of Kansas basketball schedule starts Tuesday in Morgantown