LAWRENCE, Kan. — West Virginia Coach Darian DeVries walked into the interview room at Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday wearing a shirt that read “No Excuses,” even though he would have had plenty of them had seventh-ranked Kansas completed a frantic second-half rally.
Instead, the Mountaineers took down the Jayhawks for the first time in 12 tries at Kansas.
The game was decided when Javon Small made the second of two free throws with 1.8 seconds left, and the Jayhawks’ KJ Adams missed a contested shot at the buzzer, allowing West Virginia to escape with a 62-61 victory.
But making it all the more impressive was the fact that West Virginia’s second-leading scorer Tucker DeVries and third-leading scorer Amani Hansberry were out with injuries, and the Mountaineers had all sort of trouble just getting to the game.
Their flight Monday afternoon had mechanical problems, forcing the charter company to bring in another plane. They were supposed to arrive in Kansas at about 5:30 p.m., but instead touched down in the early morning hours Tuesday.
Oh, then their hotel briefly lost power. So not much sleep was had by the Mountaineers ahead of their Big 12 opener.
“Travel day was tough,” Darian DeVries said. “It was a tough travel day, but like I told the guys, injuries, flight delays — those are things that you can’t control. Figure it out. I thought the guys did a good job of that.”
Safe to say they won’t be staying up late to ring in the new year, though.
“We need to get some sleep tonight,” DeVries said.
It should be a restful one.
Kansas had not lost a conference opener since Jan. 8, 1991, and Allen Fieldhouse was energized despite the vast majority of students still on winter break. But it was the weary and jet-lagged Mountaineers, who skipped their shoot-around to get a little extra rest, who jumped to a big early lead, eventually pushing it to 18 points in the early minutes of the second half.
“That’s as miserable of an offensive team I’ve seen play in this building in 22 years. That was horrid,” Jayhawks Coach Bill Self said of his team, which was the preseason No. 1 by the AP but is now 9-3 for the first time since the 1991-92 season.
West Virginia was much better on offense, dishing out 18 assists on 26 made field goals, which helped to offset a 6-for-20 performance on three-point attempts. On defense, the Mountaineers were able to hound All-American center Hunter Dickinson, who finished with 10 points on 4-for-10 shooting, and kept the Jayhawks from getting into an offensive flow.
When Kansas did, ripping off a 15-2 second-half run to get back into the game, West Virginia kept finding an answer.
The Jayhawks had pulled within 50-48 when KJ Tenner hit a jumper and former Kansas guard Joseph Yesufu buried a three-pointer. They got within 59-58 with 36 seconds to go when Small made both of the free throws.
Zeke Mayo, who led Kansas with 27 points, converted a three-point play to tie the game at 61-61 with 16 seconds to go. Small was fouled by Kansas freshman Flory Bidunga with 1.8 seconds left, and he followed up a miss on his first three-throw attempt by swishing the second to regain the lead.
Adams may have been fouled on his shot at the buzzer, but the officials simply shook their heads as he pleaded his case.
“When you lose, we all have a tendency to (complain) about officiating,” Self said, “and when you win, sometimes you take it for granted that maybe you got a friendly whistle. The play at the end, it’s probably a foul early in the game, but I’m not sure there’s a lot of people who would call a foul on that last possession.
“The whole deal is there is 1 second left. You’re probably not going to get that call. I’m not going to dwell on not getting that call. I’m going to dwell on us not playing as well as we could have played.”
West Virginia had a lot to do with that in the opening game of their 20-game Big 12 grind.
Now the Mountaineers will ring in the new year — if they can stay awake — with a lot more joy than the Jayhawks.
“I doubt we’ll have people at 11:59 doing any countdowns tonight,” Self said. “We’ll bounce back but we’re down. The league is a monster and to win this league, you’re going to have to hold serve at home, and we didn’t accomplish that.”
NO. 1 TENNESSEE 67, NORFOLK STATE 52
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Chaz Lanier scored 24 points to lead No. 1 Tennessee to a victory over stubborn Norfolk State.
The Volunteers (13-0), off to the second-best start in program history, got 10 points from Zakai Zeigler, Cade Phillips and Jordan Gainey. Igor Milicik had 10 rebounds.
Christian Ings scored 19 for the Spartans (9-7) and Brian Moore Jr. had 18.
Lanier had 14 points at halftime to lead Tennessee to its 35-28 advantage at the break. Norfolk State, led by Moore with 11 points, connected on just 1 of 7 three-pointers.
NO. 4 DUKE 88, VIRGINIA TECH 65
DURHAM, N.C. — Cooper Flagg scored 24 points as No. 14 Duke won its seventh straight game, beating Virginia Tech.
Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel both had 13 points, Isaiah Evans posted 12 points and Sion James and Mason Gillis added 10 points apiece for Duke (11-2, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Flagg, a heralded freshman, shot 9 for 14 from the field with two three-pointers. His dunk off an inbounds play marked his only points in the final 10 minutes. He also had six assists.
Toby Lawal scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half for Virginia Tech (5-8, 0-2), which was in its first true road game. Patrick Wessler had 10 points off the bench. The Hokies’ only win at Duke came almost 18 years ago.
The Hokies were within 49-40 before Proctor and Evans hit three-pointers on the next two Duke possessions.
NO. 8 MARQUETTE 78, PROVIDENCE 50
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Kam Jones had 18 points and 10 assists to lead a balanced Marquette offense as the No. 8 Golden Eagles cruised to a win over Providence.
Stevie Mitchell added 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting for Marquette, which made 11 threes. David Joplin and Zaide Lowry each had 11 points for the Golden Eagles (12-2, 3-0 Big East). They were up 47-20 at halftime and led by as many as 32 points during the closing stages.
Wesley Cardet had 11 points off the bench for Providence (7-7, 1-2).
NO. 10 KENTUCKY 88, BROWN 54
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Andrew Carr scored all of his 14 points in the first half, Otega Oweh added 13 and the Wildcats handled the Bears.
Oweh had 11 points after halftime, including seven in the first five minutes of the second half, to put the Wildcats (11-2) up 52-32 with 15:38 remaining. Amari Williams and Koby Brea each added 13 points.
Kino Lilly Jr. scored 16 points to lead Brown (7-5). He hit two three-pointers but entered the game averaging four three-pointers per game to rank third in the nation.
NO. 25 BAYLOR 81, UTAH 56
WACO, Texas — V.J. Edgecombe scored 19 points, three other Baylor players had 15 and the Bears led throughout in a win over the Utes in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
Baylor (9-3) scored the game’s first 11 points in just over five minutes, including two layups by Jeremy Roach.
Arkansas State and Miami transfer Norchad Omier had 15 points and 14 rebounds for his seventh double-double this season and 75th of his career. He is the NCAA leader among active players with those double-doubles and his 1,446 rebounds. Roach, a Duke transfer and freshman Robert Wright II both also had 15 points.
Hunter Erickson had 13 points for league newcomer Utah (8-4), which played its first Big 12 game and faced Baylor for the first time since 1960. Mason Madsen had 10 points.
West Virginia guard Javon Small celebrates after making a basket during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Lawrence, Kan. West Virginia won 62-61(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
West Virginia guard Jonathan Powell (11) looks to shoot during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Lawrence, Kan. West Virginia won 62-61(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas head coach Bill Self looks up at the scoreboard during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against West Virginia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Lawrence, Kan. West Virginia won 62-61(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
