Nick KrugNo. 7 Kansas Jayhawks (15-2 overall, 4-1 Big 12) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (8-9 overall, 0-5 Big 12)
Time: 1 p.m. | Location: WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, W. Va.
TV: ESPN | Radio: IMG Jayhawk Radio Network
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1. Handle the environment
Even at 0-5, with the Mountaineers struggling in Big 12 play so far this season, their home gym can still give people problems — particularly the Jayhawks.
Kansas is just 2-4 all-time in Morgantown, with last year’s win that snapped a four-game losing streak at the Coliseum coming after the Jayhawks trailed by double-digits midway through the second half.
Needless to say, there’s just something about this game in that building that’s difficult for Kansas — and other Big 12 foes — to navigate.
KU senior Lagerald Vick, who has played there three times in his career, tried to put his finger on it while preparing his teammates for what to expect this weekend.
“They’re going to foul you,” Vick told the team, according to freshman point guard Devon Dotson. “Be ready for it. You might not get the calls, but just be ready for it.”
The Mountaineers’ physical style of play has as much to do with the tough times for opposing teams in this building as the travel or noise or energetic student section that distributes brochures before the game with little-known-facts and funny nuggets that they can use against the visitors in their heckling.
And just because WVU has been without starting center — and baddest, toughest player — Sagaba Konate for more games than not, the Jayhawks would do well not to let that luxury lull them into a sense of comfort if Konate does not play in this one.
2. No ‘live-ball turnovers’
Turnovers are always going to be an issue and a focal point against the team that dubs its defense “Press Virginia.” But Kansas coach Bill Self recently explained the difference between a bad turnover and one the Jayhawks can live with.
Throw the ball out of bounds? Fine. Nobody’s rooting for that or putting that in the game plan, but turning it over that way is a heck of a lot better than just handing it to a Mountaineers player and watching him race the other way for easy points that light up the scoreboard and send the crowd into a frenzy.
At least when you throw the ball away, your defense gets a chance to set up before the Mountaineers take over.
“I think the big thing is that we obviously to be sound and be strong with the ball, those sorts of things,” Self began. “But we also need to not commit live-ball turnovers; that’s something that they’ve always been good at against us, is cashing in when we commit live-ball turnovers. … We don’t need to give them more opportunities to get easy baskets.”
3. Rebound at all 5 positions
In addition to having a sizable front line — even without Konate in the lineup — the Mountaineers are good at getting to the glass from all five spots on the floor.
That is particularly true on the offensive end, where the Mountaineers rank in the Top 10 nationally in offensive rebounding opportunities, getting back nearly 40 percent of their misses so far this season.
Their penchant for stealing extra possessions off the glass leads the Big 12 and the Mountaineers have recorded double-digit offensive rebounds in every game this season except one. They average just under 15 offensive rebounds per game.
This is of particular concern to Kansas given the fact that the Jayhawks rank 8th in the Big 12 in offensive rebounds allowed — giving opponents more than 32 percent of their misses back — and, just two games ago, watched Baylor destroy them 26-4 on the offensive glass.
Even Texas, which was a team that Kansas matched up with much better in terms of size and height, out-rebounded the Jayhawks 14-6 on the offensive end on Monday night (38-31 overall), a fact that helped the Longhorns erase a 10-point lead late and take a shot to win the game at the buzzer.
“We’ve got to get better (at) defensive rebounding,” Self said. “That’s obvious.”
KU junior Dedric Lawson vs. West Virginia freshman Derek Culver
While most of what the Jayhawks need and want out of their leading scorer comes on the offensive end, there will be games when Lawson has to hold his own defensively to give Kansas a shot.
This could be one of them.
West Virginia freshman Derek Culver is averaging double digits in rebounds in Big 12 play and his parlayed a lot of those boards into easy points at the rim.
“He doesn’t start,” Self said of Culver. “But he’s playing starter’s minutes. He’s playing like 27 minutes a game. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do start him. He’s a guy who can score in tight. He’s got some skill, too. He can make 15-footers. He puts pressure on you because he’s so aggressive and he makes it hard not to foul him. … He’s a load. He’s going to be a load moving forward, too. He’ll be one of the better players in our league for a while.”
That style of player, a skilled big man with power, is the hardest for Lawson to handle and he’s going to have to get physical to keep Culver down in this one and likely will get help from his teammates in the form of double-teaming and trapping the post after Culver catches it and the use of other defensive tricks employed by Self that are designed to speed up the talented freshman.
“Anytime you have a skilled big who can attack and score inside is probably going to be a hard matchup,” Self said. “But I would say a powerful big that could really post Dedric deep would be something that could certainly give us some issues. No question.”
Back in first place in the Big 12 race thanks to Iowa State’s win at Texas Tech earlier this week, the Jayhawks head into the sixth game of the conference schedule with an opportunity to snag another win on the road.
Throughout the years, KU’s ability to win its home games and steal a few away from home has been the biggest reason for its NCAA-record streak of 14 consecutive conference titles and the Jayhawks have enough veterans on this team to know that.
Self talks often about road games being an opportunity for Kansas to tighten up its huddle and take a us-against-the-world approach that is rarely available for one of college basketball’s blue blood programs and a team that has been favored way more often than not.
Las Vegas lists Kansas as a 5.5-point favorite in this one.
While there are a dozen individual factors in play in this game, the biggest might be offensive efficiency. WVU gives up a whopping 1.14 points per possession to opponents in Big 12 play — well above the national average — and Kansas is coming off of its best points-per-possession outing this season, scoring a mark of 1.27 points per trip against the Longhorns. If Kansas can take care of the ball even close to the way it did against UT (4 turnovers), the Mountaineers might not have an answer for KU this time around.
The Jayhawks lead the all-time series with West Virginia, 10-4, and even though most of those games have had a lot more buzz and hype surrounding them than this one does, Self is not letting the Mountaineers rough start in Big 12 play change his team’s focus.
“They are more dangerous than their record,” Self said Thursday while previewing the matchup. “TCU got them good the other night. (Other than that), they could have won every game so far in league. They could easily be 3-2 in the league, which is more probable than 0-5. Forget about records and everything, we know they are capable and hungry. (WVU coach) Bob (Huggins) is too good not to be playing at a peak level against us.”
No. 7 Kansas
G – Devon Dotson, 6-2, 185, Fr.
G – Quentin Grimes, 6-5, 210, Fr.
G – Lagerald Vick, 6-5, 190, Sr.
G – Marcus Garrett, 6-5, 195, Soph.
F – Dedric Lawson, 6-9, 235, Jr.
West Virginia
G – James Bolden, 6-0, 175, Jr.
F – Chase Harler, 6-3, 210, Jr.
F – Esa Ahmad, 6-8, 225, Sr.
F – Logan Routt, 6-11, 260, Jr.
F – Derek Culver, 6-10, 255, Fr.
