Kansas’ men’s basketball team, which rolled to a 23-point home victory over rival Kansas State on Tuesday night, sputtered to its fifth straight road defeat Saturday.
The No. 23 Jayhawks, who are in danger of dropping out of The Associated Press Top 25 poll Monday for the first time since the 2008-09 season, fell to No. 17 West Virginia, 91-79, before 1,500 fans at 14,000-seat WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W.Va.
Miles McBride scored a career-high 29 points, dished eight assists and grabbed seven rebounds for West Virginia (13-5, 6-3 Big 12), which avenged a 14-point loss to KU on Dec. 22 in Lawrence.
Taz Sherman scored a career-best 25 points and Derek Culver had 19 points with nine boards for WVU.
Marcus Garrett scored 18 points and David McCormack 17 for KU (12-7, 6-5) which lost for the fifth time in its last seven games. Jalen Wilson had 16 and 14 boards.
It now remains to be seen if a 1-1 week will keep the Jayhawks in the Top 25 for the 232nd consecutive week. KU has been a fixture in the poll since the 2008-09 season. In late November, KU surpassed the record held by UCLA, which was ranked for 221 straight weeks from 1966-80.
West Virginia has won four straight Big 12 Conference games.
Culver scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds, while Miles McBride had 12 points, six assists and four rebounds in the first half as WVU led, 44-34, at halftime.
KU, which had 11 first-half turnovers, was led by Ochai Agbaji, who had eight points. McCormack had seven and Christian Braun six points.
However, KU opened the second half on a 13-3 surge to tie the score at 47 with 17:46 to play. McCormack, who dunked at the buzzer to close the first-half scoring, scored on an inside shot to open the second half.
The Mountaineers scored four straight to regain a 51-47 advantage at 15:30. The Mountaineers, led by the steady scoring of Sherman and McBride, led by 10, 79-69, at 3:16.
KU, which had 11 first-half turnovers, was led by Agbaji, who had eight points in the half. McCormack had seven and Braun six points. Braun also picked up three fouls in the half, one in which KU coach Bill Self was whistled for a technical foul. One particular foul in question was a travel called on Braun as he slid diving for a loose ball.
West Virginia, which hit 7 of 11 3s in the half to KU’s 4 of 8, led by as many as 12 in the half, 44-32. The Mountaineers led by 10 early, 12-2.
The Mountaineers, who did lose their SEC/Big 12 Challenge contest to Florida last Saturday, survived their first game of a grueling stretch of games against six ranked opponents.
Following the KU game, WVU will play No. 13 Texas Tech in Lubbock, No. 9 Oklahoma in Morgantown, back-to-back games against No. 2 Baylor and the final game of the gauntlet at No. 6 Texas. It’s the first time in school history WVU will have played as many as six in a row versus ranked squads.
KU has played four consecutive games against ranked teams five times in history, most recently in 2014-15.
The Jayhawks on Monday will meet Oklahoma State at 8 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse. OSU beat KU, 75-70, on Jan. 12, in Stillwater, Okla. The Jayhawks have experienced only one regular-season conference sweep by a Big 12 opponent in the 18-year Bill Self era. In 122 regular-season Big 12 home-and-home series during the Self era, Kansas has 82 sweeps, 39 splits and has been swept once (by Oklahoma State in 2018).
