 bounced back from a loss at Texas Tech on Wednesday, improved to 11-0 at home and ended a three-game losing streak to Kansas State.On Jan. 18 the Wildcats drubbed West Virginia 84-68 in which Culver, the Big 12's fourth-leading rebounder, was limited to eight points and three rebounds.''They did us pretty bad last time at K-State,'' Culver said. ''We don't forget anything.'' With no one else on the team making more than three field goals, Culver took it upon himself to preserve the home win streak.''We had to come out here and return the favor,'' Culver said. ''We didn't really get them as bad as they did us at K-State, but we came out with aggression and tried to set the tone from the jump.'' Huggins earned his 877th career win to move past Kentucky's Adolph Rupp into seventh place all time in Division I. Huggins hasn't paid much attention to the feat, preferring to deflect attention in the past week away from himself.''You're not much of a player if you don't respond after a loss,'' Huggins said. ''Anybody who's coached for a while will tell you, it's so much harder to get up after a big win than a big loss.'' Culver, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, went to the locker room in pain early in the second half after his right elbow collided with Kansas State's Montavious Murphy. Culver returned to the game wearing a sleeve on his arm a short time later and completed his fifth double-double of the season.''He's 6'11'' and 250, he's a pretty big dude,'' West Virginia guard Chase Harler said. ''He just goes for every rebound and having that mentality (that) you're going to get more than you miss.'' Sean McNeil sank a pair of free throws to cap a 9-0 run that gave the Mountaineers their largest lead, 49-35, with nine minutes remaining. Kansas State got no closer than eight points after that.Huggins used 11 players in the first three minutes of the game to try to find the right combination.Culver, whose layup midway through the first half put West Virginia ahead to stay, went 8 of 15 from the floor. But he made just 3 of 9 free throws after going 14 of 16 from the line against Texas Tech.David Sloan scored 13 points and Xavier Sneed added 11 for Kansas State (9-12, 2-6).The teams combined for 44 fouls and 54 free throws. On Wednesday, West Virginia and Texas Tech combined for 50 fouls and 73 free throws.''Their defense was much better than at our place obviously, but you know, credit to our guys,'' said Kansas State coach Bruce Weber. ''We've made improvement. We've battled. I would like them to play a little sharper and crisp, but part of that is how West Virginia plays.'' BIG PICTUREKansas State has lost five straight games on the road. The Wildcats made 58% of their field goals in beating West Virginia 84-68 at home on Jan. 18 but shot 37% (18 of 49) on Saturday, including 3 of 17 3-point attempts.West Virginia has allowed an average of 54 points in its last five home games, 14 points less than its last four road games.''It wasn't a good shooting night for anybody, was it?'' Huggins said. ''We didn't shoot it. They didn't shoot it, and it makes it an ugly game. I don't mind ugly games as long as we win them.'' HONORING A FRIENDHuggins spoke at a memorial service Friday in Cincinnati for former Bearcats player, assistant coach and long-time radio broadcaster Chuck Machock. A member of Cincinnati's Athletic Hall of Fame, Machock died Jan. 4 at 82.Huggins told stories about Machock and referred to him as ''my second dad'' and my ''best friend in the world.'' POLL IMPLICATIONSWest Virginia could drop a spot or two in the Top 25 after the loss at Texas Tech.UP NEXTKansas State hosts top-ranked Baylor on MondayWest Virginia hosts Iowa State on Wednesday---More college basketball: http://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://www.twitter.com/-Top25)
Jan 31, 2020An angry No. 12 West Virginia squad will be looking to avenge a loss from earlier this month when it hosts Kansas State in a Big 12 contest Saturday afternoon.The Mountaineers (16-4, 4-3 Big 12) lost 84-68 in Manhattan, Kan., on Jan. 18 when they fell behind by 24 points in the second half. A 15-0 surge cut into the lead, and West Virginia eventually got within six points before the Wildcats pulled away late.The Mountaineers are coming off an 89-81 loss at Texas Tech on Wednesday, while the Wildcats claimed their second Big 12 victory, a 61-53 win over Oklahoma, the same day.Despite forcing 22 turnovers and only turning the ball over 11 times, West Virginia could not escape Lubbock, Texas, with a win. The biggest reason was torrid shooting by Texas Tech; the Red Raiders converted a season-high 64.7 percent (11 of 17) of their shots from 3-point range."They shot the ball extremely well," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said during his postgame radio show. "They shot 65 percent from 3 and we shot 22 (percent)."We gave them step-in shots, and from day one with this group all we've talked about defensively is we do not give step-in shots. They've got to shoot it off the bounce. The two things we can't do defensively is give up straight-line drives and step-in shots. We did both of those tonight." The traditionally strong Mountaineers' defense has been inconsistent in 2019-20. They're third in the Big 12 with 61.6 points per game allowed after Wednesday's loss. They were 11th nationally in scoring defense heading into that game. But they have given up more than 80 points four times.West Virginia features a balanced offensive attack, with four players averaging at least 9.4 points per game. Oscar Tshiebwe leads the team with 11.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. Derek Culver (10.7 and 9.0) is right behind Tshiebwe. Miles McBride (10.4) and Jermaine Haley (9.4) round out the top four.Kansas State has been even less consistent than West Virginia this season. The Wildcats (9-11, 2-5 Big 12) have shown the ability to race out to big leads, but far too often they've given up those leads.Wednesday's win over Oklahoma was just the second game all season that the Wildcats have led from start to finish. The other was an 86-41 win over Alabama State on Dec. 11. They have led at some point in all 20 games they've played."Both halves we did a nice job of gutting it out," Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said of the effort against the Sooners. "We got in a little foul trouble, a little tired down that stretch of the first half and they got it back to 6. But Mak (Makol Mawien) got two putbacks right away and we got it to a 12-point lead and then even increased it."We did a good job from the get-go. (We played) great defense, turned them over 19 times. (We got) 18 points off of turnovers when they only had two." Handling the pressure that West Virginia is sure to present will be key for the Wildcats on Saturday.They're led by Xavier Sneed with 14.6 points per game. He's joined in double figures by Cartier Diarra with 13.0 points per game. After starting the first 18 games of the season, Diarra has come off the bench in the past two to provide a secondary scoring punch. He's averaged 13.5 points in his two games off the bench.--Field Level Media
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