WVU Basketball Pulls Off Improbable Upset at No. 7 Kansas

It’s a new year and a new era for WVU basketball, as the Mountaineers picked up their first-ever win inside Allen Fieldhouse with an improbable 62-61 upset of No. 7 Kansas on New Year’s Eve.

West Virginia (10-2, 1-0 Big 12) was without starters Tucker DeVries, who missed his fourth straight with an upper-body injury, and Amani Hansberry, who hurt his ankle against Mercyhurst. 

Eduardo Andre started for just the second time this season in place of Hansberry and was the Mountaineers’ star with 15 points, six rebounds and four blocks.

WVU got off to a perfect start against Kansas (9-3, 0-1 Big 12), scoring the first nine points of the game and leading 13-3 after seven minutes. West Virginia’s lead got as big as 25-10 before Kansas made its first push. A 6-point Jayhawk run cut WVU’s lead to single-digits, Sencire Harris scored six points in the final two minutes to put the Mountaineers up by 13 at halftime, 33-20.

Kansas’s struggles started with a dreadful shooting half as the Jayhawks were just 29.2% from the floor and 28.6% on three-pointers. Compounding that, KU was also dreadful on the offensive glass, pulling down just one offensive rebound. WVU won the rebounding battle 22-12 before halftime.

The teams traded scores for the first seven minutes of the second half as WVU led by 15, 48-33. That’s when Kansas finally made its run. The Jayhawks went with a bigger lineup and went on a 15-2 run to cut WVU’s lead all the way down to just two, 50-48, with six minutes to play.

KJ Tenner stopped the bleeding with a floater late in the shot clock and Joseph Yesefu’s quick three on the next possession put the Mountaineers back up by seven. WVU led by six with two minutes left, but a three-pointer by Zeke Mayo and a layup from Hunter Dickinson made it a one-point game with 30 seconds to play.

Kansas stole a West Virginia inbound, but KJ Adams missed a layup that would have given the Jayhawks their first lead of the game. Following two free throws from Javon Small, Mayo converted an and-one to tie the game 61-61 with 16 seconds to play.

With time running out, Small jumped into a KU defender to draw a shooting foul. He missed the first free throw but made the second to put WVU up one. Kansas’s last-second attempt missed as the Mountaineers came away with the unlikely victory.

Andre led WVU with 15 points while Small scored 13 and Jonathan Powell had 11. Small led the team with 11 rebounds and six assists. Kansas had a big advantage in fouls, taking 21 free throws to WVU’s six.

The Mountaineers were 0-11 all-time at Kansas before Tuesday.

WVU basketball returns home to host Oklahoma State on Saturday at noon. It’s a doubleheader in the WVU Coliseum as the women will host BYU at 6 p.m.