Three takeaways from KU basketball’s upset loss at West Virginia Mountaineers

In the Bill Self era, the Kansas men’s basketball team has often struggled against West Virginia at WVU Coliseum.

Despite being 10-point favorites, that trend continued on Saturday afternoon. West Virginia upset No. 3-ranked Kansas, winning 91-85 on Saturday in Morgantown, West Virginia.

KU fell to 5-7 under Self at WVU Coliseum.

The game had a chaotic finish after being close throughout.

Down four points, 87-83, Kansas guard Kevin McCullar appeared to sink a corner 3-pointer with 11.9 seconds left, cutting the deficit to one. But the shot was reviewed and deemed a 2-point attempt, meaning Kansas still trailed by two.

WVU’s Noah Farrakhan sank both free throws after being fouled to stretch that margin to four. Kansas had a chance to score quickly and cut into the deficit, trailing 89-85, but instead KU’s inbounds pass was stolen.

WVU’s Kerr Kriisa was fouled and sank both free throws to ice the game with two seconds left.

The Jayhawks also had rebounding issues late, as West Virginia was credited with three offensive rebounds in the final minute, including one off a missed free throw when KU trailed by two.

Kansas only had five offensive rebounds. West Virginia won the rebounding matchup 31-22.

For the game, Kevin McCullar scored 24 points and Hunter Dickinson added 19 more. But KU (15-3, 3-2 Big 12) saw its six-game winning streak against the Mountaineers come to an end.

Up next: Kansas will host Cincinnati at Allen Fieldhouse on Monday, Jan. 22.

Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s game:

West Virginia’s red-hot shooting

Heading into the game, WVU ranked No. 314 in 3-point percentage (30.3%) on the season.

That wasn’t the case on Saturday. The Mountaineers were scorching hot from deep against Kansas in the first half.

No matter how closely the Jayhawks contested the shots, the Mountaineers couldn’t seem to miss. WVU shot an absurd 9-for-14 (64.3%) from deep. At one point, WVU was 9-for-11 from 3.

KU shot 6-for-12 from deep, making for a high-scoring first half that finished 51-all.

The Mountaineers continued their red-hot shooting from deep in the second half, shooting 3-for-7 from 3-point land. They finished 12-for-21 (57.1%) from 3.

Meanwhile, KU went ice-cold, going 1-for-11 on 3-pointers in the second half. The Jayhawks shot 7-for-23 (30.4%) for the game.

Nick Timberlake delivers his best half yet

After his impressive dunk last game against Oklahoma State — perhaps his highlight of the season and a SportsCenter Top 10 play — Timberlake talked about staying ready no matter how many minutes he was playing.

He said his goal remains “to come in every day working my butt off, hopefully taking advantage of the time I get in the game.”

Sure enough, McCullar got into early foul trouble against WVU, leading to early Timberlake minutes.

Within two minutes of game time, Timberlake hit a 3-pointer and layup. He put together a special first half, scoring 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field, his most points since scoring 13 vs. Yale in December.

However, Timberlake didn’t score in the second half, going 0-for-2 from 3 and only playing four minutes.

KU shares the scoring load

The Jayhawks did a great job of making sure multiple players got involved in the scoring effort.

KU had five players (KJ Adams, Furphy, McCullar, Dickinson and Timberlake) hit double-digit points.

For Kansas, that’s a big deal.

At times this season, Kansas has struggled to get consistent scoring outside McCullar and Dickinson. That has been especially been true with the bench, which chipped in 14 points (12 from Timberlake) on Saturday.

Furphy’s emergence and Adams’ continued improved offensive play have made the Jayhawks more difficult to defend. The duo has raised the Jayhawks’ offensive ceiling.

Even in a loss, Kansas shot 53.3% from the field with only seven turnovers.