LAWRENCE, Kan. — West Virginia’s Bob Huggins, the sixth-winningest college basketball coach of all-time, is now 0-10 in Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse.
Christian Braun scored 22 points and Jalen Wilson added 17 and Marcus Garrett 15 as No. 3-ranked Kansas (8-1) rode a barrage of three-pointers to a 79-65 victory over Huggins’ No. 7 Mountaineers before 2,500 fans in KU’s tradition-rich building.
Braun was 6 of 12 from three and Wilson 4 of 10 as KU knocked down 16 of 37 threes in the game. Kansas’ school record is 17 threes made in a Big 12 game (vs. Texas in 2017) and 19 threes in any game (vs. Texas Southern in 2017). Record number of attempts is 38 against Arizona State in any game (2017) and was 36 in a league game (Iowa State, 2018).
The Jayhawks overcame a sensational first half from Sean McNeil, who was 7 of 7 from the field (6 of 6 from three) en route to 20 points for WVU (7-2).
McNeil finished with 24 points on 8 of 12 shooting. One of his threes was a 30-footer that banked in to conclude the first half.
The Jayhawks, 9-0 vs. WVU in Allen, also beat Huggins’ Kansas State team in Lawrence during the 2006-07 season. That was Huggins’ one and only season as K-State’s head coach.
The Jayhawks, who trailed 36-35 at half, led 60-47 with 11:28 left. Wilson had nine points and Braun eight the first 8 1/2 minutes of the half. At that point KU was 12 of 27 from three.
KU opened an early 13-4 lead thanks to six points from Braun and four for McCormack. However the Mountaineers pulled within three points at 21-18 thanks to 14 points from McNeil, a 6-3 native from Union, Kentucky who shattered his old career high of 16 points in one half.
KU’s McCormack had the highlight-reel play of the first half, going high to reject a shot of WVU’s Derek Culver.
KU for the first time in school history is opening league competition against three ranked teams. The Jayhawks beat then-No. 14 Texas Tech, 58-57, Thursday and will meet No. 10 Texas at 11 a.m., Jan. 2 at Allen Fieldhouse.
McNeil had 24 for West Virginia, which entered the game 1-1 against Top 25 teams (win over Richmond; loss to Gonzaga). KU improved to 4-1 versus the Top 25 with wins over West Virginia, Kentucky, Creighton and Texas Tech and a loss to Gonzaga.
KU also snapped a two-game losing streak in games contested immediately before the start of the team’s Christmas break. KU lost to Villanova last Dec. 21 in Philadelphia and to Arizona State on Dec. 22, 2018 in Tempe, Arizona.
Overall KU is 14-5 in the 18-year Self era in the game played closest to Christmas, just 4-3 in the past seven years. The Jayhawks went 1-1 on Dec. 20 and 21, 2003 in a tourney in Reno, Nevada, accounting for the extra game.
