Cue the old-school John Denver Country Roads music and the courtstorming. The Kansas Jayhawks couldn't get it done again in Morgantown as they fell 85-91 Saturday afternoon.
The first half saw Johnny Furphy come out on fire and score nine points on 3-for-3 shooting from deep in the game's first four minutes. It also saw a monster first-half performance from Nicolas Timberlake, who had 12 points. The Mountaineers were hot as well, making 9-for-11 from 3-point range at one point. At half, it was tied 51-51.
The second half was a myriad of problems as we continued to not stop them, get outrebounded and outhustled, and not make key plays down the stretch. Most players went cold, with the exception of Kevin McCullar carrying us in the second half and keeping us in it.
In the end, we couldn't make enough plays and lost 91-85. Our second road conference loss of the season, this time to the 7-11 Mountaineers. The defense wasn't great, and they tended to want the ball more on rebounds, but we also ran into a team that was uncharacteristically hot from three and made a bunch of contested shots. On to Cincinnati!
Tier 1: Big Jays
1. Kevin McCullar
Kev was the most productive Jayhawk and kept us in it in the second half. His several big corner threes when we needed them. Kevin was super efficient, shooting 10-for-14 from the field. He finished with 24 points, four rebounds, five assists, and one turnover.