Preview: No.5 Kansas looks for second road win against struggling Mountaineers

Boasting a 1-2 record in road games this season, the Kansas Jayhawks will seek victory as they travel to Morgantown, West Virginia to clash with the Mountaineers.

In Kansas’ last five games, the Jayhawks are 4-1 while West Virginia has gone 0-5 in its last five games. Kansas sits in a tie for first place in the Big 12 after the Texas Tech Red Raiders lost their game in Ames, Iowa against the Iowa State Cyclones, the same team that throttled the Jayhawks in the Hilton Coliseum.

Since joining the Big 12 in 2013, the Mountaineers have gone 4-2 at home against Kansas, with the majority of games being decided by six points or less. However, West Virginia is coming off a game against TCU where the Mountaineers saw themselves lose by 31 in Fort Worth.

For West Virginia to pull out a miracle and win its first conference game, it needs to focus on the dribble-drive boasted by the Jayhawks. Kansas is one of the top penetrating teams in the country, a complete flip from its reliance on the three-point line last season.

The Jayhawks struggle from behind the arc this season as they have only one strong three-point shooter in senior guard LaGerald Vick, but even Vick has had his struggles this season. For Kansas to walk away with a victory, Vick will need to be a solid shooter from behind the arc to help spread the floor for the Jayhawks.

Kansas is the only team in the Big 12 conference with two players in the top-six in scoring, one being Vick and the other being junior forward Dedric Lawson. Lawson has been a consistent scorer this season, even in games where he struggles in the first half, he shows up in crunch time, much like in the game against Texas.

One player to watch out for against West Virginia is sophomore guard Marcus Garrett. Garrett is coming off a career high 20 points against Texas and had clutch plays down the stretch to secure the win for Kansas. Garrett is not a high-volume scorer, but another solid outing from him will be troublesome for the Mountaineers.

For West Virginia to win, Lawson will have to be forced out of the game early, the Mountaineers will need to force fouls against him, which will be tough with the absence of Sagaba Konate, arguably the team’s best player.

The Mountaineers will also need to get in the head of Vick by forcing him to miss his first couple of shots. Once Vick gets frustrated, he tends to take silly shots and finds himself struggling all-throughout.

West Virginia will have a tough task to stop the Jayhawks, but crazier things have happened in college basketball. The two teams are set to play on Saturday, Jan. 19th at 1 P.M.