Gradey Dick scored 16 points to lift No. 3 Kansas to a 76-62 victory over West Virginia on Saturday night in Morgantown, W. Va.
Dick drained four 3-pointers to help the Jayhawks (14-1, 3-0 Big 12) shoot 45.8 percent from beyond the arc (11 of 24) en route to recording their eighth straight win.
Kansas’ Jalen Wilson collected 14 points and 14 rebounds and Kevin McCullar Jr. had 12 and eight, respectively. K.J. Adams Jr. added 14 points and Dajuan Harris Jr. had 11 for Kansas, which scored 29 of the first 43 points of the second half.
“Jalen rebounded the heck out of the ball,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. “He was exhausted there for that stretch right before I took him out. He and (redshirt senior guard) Kevin (McCullar Jr.) both rebounded the heck out of the ball. They combined for 23 or something like that. That was good.”
Tre Mitchell recorded 15 points and five rebounds to pace the Mountaineers (10-5, 0-3), who have lost three straight games.
West Virginia’s Erik Stevenson, who entered the game averaging a team-leading 14.1 points, was limited to just 12 points on 4-of-19 shooting from the floor and 0-for-5 shooting from 3-point range.
The Mountaineers played without Kedrian Johnson, who — per coach Bob Huggins — sustained a concussion in the team’s 67-60 loss to Oklahoma State on Monday.
Emmitt Matthews Jr. made three straight free throws to cut Kansas’ lead to 47-41 early in the second half before the Wildcats responded with a 15-2 flourish. Wilson and Dick each drilled a 3-pointer to highlight that sequence.
Kansas didn’t take its foot off the gas, as Bobby Pettiford Jr. made a layup to push his team’s lead to 69-49 with 7:09 to play in the second half. That play ignited a small rush to the exits from many in attendance at WVU Coliseum.
Matthews drained a 3-pointer to trim Kansas’ lead to 30-24 with 6:22 remaining in the first half before the Jayhawks went on a 10-4 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Dick. Mitchell countered with a layup and a four-point play and Joe Toussaint added a free throw before Adams sank two from the charity stripe to give the Jayhawks a 42-35 lead at halftime.
“I think they missed some good looks, but I thought our defense was not poor,” Salf said. “I thought it was pretty good. The thing about that is we rebounded the ball decent against a team that is a good rebounding team. That is a big positive for us.
–Field Level Media
