MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — No. 3-ranked Kansas, which won at Texas Tech on Tuesday, claimed its second Big 12 Conference road victory in a week on Saturday by beating unranked West Virginia, 76-62, at WVU Coliseum.
Jalen Wilson scored 14 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Gradey Dick sank four 3-pointers and scored 16 points and KJ Adams scored 14 points (6 of 8 from free-throw line) as the Jayhawks (14-1, 3-0) stated their case for a possible No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 on Monday.
Kevin McCullar had 12 points and eight rebounds while Dajuan Harris hit three 3s and scored 11 points with four assists for the Jayhawks, who improved to 5-6 all time at WVU Coliseum.
Tre Mitchell scored 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting and Erik Stevenson 12 points on 4-of-19 shooting for the Mountaineers (10-5, 0-3), who have dropped three straight since entering the poll at No. 24 and subsequently dropping out after stumbling to open the conference season.
KU knocked down 11 of 24 3s to WVU’s 4 of 20.
Dick hit back-to-back 3s followed by a 3 by Wilson and a 3 by Harris on four straight KU possessions. KU led 14-8 at the 15:36 mark. A Wilson 2-pointer made it 16-8 at 15:21.
McCullar and Harris hit 3s and KU led 22-10 at 14:17.
The lead remained 12, this time 40-28, with two minutes left in the half. But after a Mitchell shot and Harris airball from 3-point range, Joe Toussaint hit a 3 and was fouled by Joseph Yesufu at the :55 mark.
He hit the free throw and it was a six-point game (40-34). Toussaint then hit one of two free throws to cut the deficit to 40-35 with 36 seconds remaining.
KU’s Adams, who hit six of eight free-throw attempts in the first half, made two free throws with 1.8 seconds to go until halftime.
KU built the lead back up to 11 points (52-41) with 14:51 left to play. It was 54-43 at the 11:33 mark.
The Jayhawks opened up a 19-point lead (62-43) with 9:38 left thanks to a bucket by Adams, a 3 by Dick, a bucket by Zach Clemence and three free throws from Dick.
Some fans headed to the exits with KU up 66-49 with 7:45 remaining. Many more departed with 7:07 left and KU up 69-49.
Harris had a streak of nine 3-point baskets in nine attempts snapped in the first half when he hit his first two but then missed the next three.
He was 2 for 2 from 3-point range against Oklahoma State and 5 for 5 against Texas Tech.
KU will return home after a two-game road trip to meet Oklahoma at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
