West Virginia 81, Kansas State 71: Juwan Staten scored a career-high 35 points to lead the host Mountaineers to their second consecutive Big 12 Conference victory.
Terry Henderson finished with 13 points, Eron Harris scored 11 points and Remi Dibo added 10 points – including a key 3-pointer late – for West Virginia (13-9, 5-4). Staten, who also finished with a game-high five assists, connected on 18-of-21 free throws as the Wildcats struggled defensively to guard his dribble penetration.
Freshman guard Marcus Foster scored 23 points while Thomas Gipson had 19 points and a game-high eight rebounds to lead Kansas State (15-7, 5-4). The Wildcats, who were whistled for 28 fouls and were outscored 29-8 at the free-throw line, fell to 1-4 in Big 12 road games.
West Virginia, which was blown out by 22 points in the first meeting on Jan. 18, used an 8-1 run midway through the first half to take 27-22 lead. The Mountaineers took advantage of early foul problems by the Wildcats – six different players picked up two fouls – to get to the line 16 times before intermission and hold a 12-1 edge in free throws made en route to a 39-31 halftime lead.
Staten's 3-pointer gave West Virginia its biggest lead at 42-32 early in the second half before the hot-shooting Wildcats, who connected on six shots in a row at one point, rallied to tie it at 53 on a pair of free throws by Omari Lawrence. The Wildcats trailed by one after a Foster layup with 3:10 to go, but Dibo answered with a 3-pointer from the left corner that started a game-ending 13-4 run for the Mountaineers.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Kansas State, which came into the game averaging just 11.9 turnovers per game, had eight during a sloppy first half and 14 for the game. ... Henderson, who scored two points on 1-of-8 shooting in the first meeting, had 11 in the first half. ... The Wildcats dropped to 32-8 in February games since the 2008-09 season.
Kansas State | West Virginia | |
Marcus Foster 23 | Scoring | Juwan Staten 35 |
Marcus Foster 3 | Assists | Juwan Staten 5 |
Thomas Gipson 8 | Rebounds | Nathan Adrian 4 |
Thomas Gipson 3 | Free Throws Made | Juwan Staten 18 |
Will Spradling 2 | Steals | Nathan Adrian 2 |
N/A | Blocks | Eron Harris 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Kansas State | 71 | 50.8 | 3-13 | 8-19 | 12 | 31 | 0 | 4 | 14 |
West Virginia | 81 | 43.4 | 6-14 | 29-37 | 12 | 28 | 4 | 7 | 10 |