There’s some symmetry between what happened at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon and what’s happening in the Big 12 Conference men’s basketball race.
The 3rd-ranked Kansas Jayhawks appear to be closing the door on the competition. The fact that KU’s latest victory was anything but easy only underscores how difficult playing in the Big 12 has been all season.
Pushed to the limit by visiting West Virginia on Saturday, Kansas survived with a wild 76-74 victory that moved Bill Self’s squad into sole possession of first place in the Big 12 with two games to play.
“I’m happy we won,” Self said after the win. “But I told the guys in the locker room if that was a second-round NCAA Tournament game our season would be over. So hopefully we can learn from that.”
KU moved into first place by a game thanks to Baylor’s win over Texas earlier in the day. The BU-UT game went final during Kansas’ game and the KU crowd roared when the score showed up on the video board during a timeout.
“We found out when everyone (else) did,” KU freshman Gradey Dick said after the win. “(When) we heard everyone cheering, I kind of looked up real quick. It wasn’t really a thought in our heads, though. We were just focused on what was in front of us.”
On a day when neither team led by more than eight points all afternoon — there were nine ties and 15 lead changes — KU used a closing run of 13-8 to build just enough of a lead on the Mountaineers to survive an absolute dogfight.
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Box score: Kansas 76, West Virginia 74
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That run featured seven points from Kevin McCullar Jr. — including a banked-in 3-pointer — five free throws and a 3-pointer by freshman guard Gradey Dick. None of that, however, was enough to put the Mountaineers away. In the span of 107 seconds, Bob Huggins’ bunch cut a seven-point KU lead to a single point.
The lead grew to two when Jalen Wilson hit one of two free throws with 23 seconds to play, and that set the stage for the frantic finish and gave the Jayhawks a chance to win the game on defense. Not only did the Jayhawks get the stop they needed; West Virginia did not even get a shot.
Instead, after a series of dribbles and changes of direction by WVU guard Joe Toussaint, the game effectively ended with a traveling call, made with KU leader Jalen Wilson right in the face of Toussaint as the whistle blew.
“I’m for sure thinking no 3s,” Wilson said. “If they hit a 3 in that moment, it would probably be pretty tough for us to get a shot. The whole time I’m thinking no fouls, no 3s and contest a 2-pointer.”
KU freshman Gradey Dick, who finished with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range, had a nearly catastrophic gaffe late when he lost the ball in the backcourt with KU up by three. That paved the way for an uncontested WVU layup that cut the KU lead to one. Dick said he was thrilled his team responded with the tough play late.
“It’s always great when you can win a game on defense,” he said, joking that his turnover — one of the four on the day — was intentionally done “to make it a little exciting.”
Though he was happy his team won the game, Self likened the ending to an experience with former KU big man Udoka Azubuike a few years ago.
During practice, Dok faced a situation where he had to complete a sprint drill in 17 seconds or less or else the entire team would have to run.
He did it in 16 seconds. Self said the veterans on that team, however, were laughing when he finished, thinking to themselves, “You screwed up; you showed him how fast you are, now he’s going to expect you to run that hard all the time.”
“That’s kind of what I (saw) in that last possession,” Self said Saturday. “I saw five guys really guarding. I saw Jalen doing a great job. But I also saw Jalen doing a great job that possession, which makes me wonder why do we do more great jobs on other possessions. Our energy defensively was at its best there at the last possession. I know you can’t play like that every possession, but we didn’t come close to simulating that earlier in the game.”
Dajuan Harris Jr. finished with 17 points on nine shots while also adding a career-high six steals, six assists and one turnover.
“Juan was terrific,” Wilson said after scoring 11 points to go along with six rebounds and four turnovers in 37 minutes. “He did everything we needed him to do today and more, especially today with how quick their guards were.”
Harris was not on the floor late. He injured his left foot when a WVU player fell on it and left him unable to finish the game. Self said he thought Kansas (24-5 overall, 12-4 Big 12) would have closed things out in much better fashion had Harris been in the game. But he also said it’s not too much to expect the other Jayhawks to be able to do it without him.
“Juan’s tough,” Self said. “And for him to say he can’t go back in, that’s obviously a big deal.”
Self said Harris would get the next couple of days off and hopefully be ready to go on Tuesday night for Senior Night against Texas Tech at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
KJ Adams (13 points on 6-of-10 shooting) also left Saturday’s game momentarily. But he returned and was just dealing with a cramp.
McCullar added 16 points and all five KU starters scored in double digits on a day the Jayhawks got very little from their bench. In 11 first-half minutes by the KU reserves, they committed six of the 19 turnovers the Jayhawks had for the game.
“I thought Juan was great. I thought Kevin was great,” Self said. “I thought everybody else just pieced it together.”
Luckily for Kansas, West Virginia (16-13, 5-11) was just as willing to give the ball away, coughing it up 21 times, with 12 of those being steals by the Jayhawks.
At least six of KU’s turnovers were the result of offensive fouls.
All of that combined to make Saturday’s outing one of the ugliest games of the season by the Jayhawks.
“(I’m) happy we won,” said Self, noting he was not trying to leave Allen Fieldhouse with any kind of negative vibes. “But we probably needed to be humbled a bit and we got humbled today and still won.”
