West Virginia looks for a conference road win and a Quad 1 victory to help punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament in tonight's 9 o'clock game against Iowa State. The Mountaineers are 4-6 at Hilton Coliseum but have won seven out of eight and 12 of 15 in the series, including a home win earlier this month.
The Cyclones were ranked No. 11 on Feb. 8, but a loss on Morgantown started a 1-5 stretch. They've lost their last three games overall and are 1-2 at home following a 12-0 start. Iowa State (17-11, 8-8 Big 12) has held all but one Big 12 opponent below its season scoring average, and Texas Tech needed overtime to exceed the average. Then-No. 8 Kansas managed 53 points, the lowest conference total under Bill Self.
The Cyclones, who are No. 23 in the NET Rankings, lead the country in wins over teams in the Associated Press Top 25 (seven) and Top 10 (four). WVU (16-13, 5-11) is 3-7 against top 25 teams. Ranked No. 26 in the NET, it's also locked into a bottom-four seed in the Big 12 tournament but can finish anywhere in the final four spots.
First half
-- Officials:Ron Groover, Tony Padilla and Jeb Hartness.
-- WVU is using its standard starting five. ISU will have Caleb Grill but not in the starting lineup. He's been dealing with a back injury and has missed two games recently and come of the bench in the past two games. He started the first 20 games he played this season. Grill has led the team in scoring five times and in rebounding six times and had 13 points and 11 rebounds against WVU in Morgantown
-- Erik Stevenson steps back against Aljaz Kunc and drains a 3 from the top of the key to open the scoring. Tamin Lipsey misses a 3 for ISU.
-- Kedrian Johnson, who turned the ball over eight times Saturday, turns it over and then commits a foul in transition. He scored a career-high 22 in the win over ISU.
-- ISU misses a 3 late in the possession, but Lipsey gets the rebound. Gabe Kalscheur drives and scores on a bank shot. It's 3-2.
-- Tre Mitchell loses the ball out of bounds. Kalscheur hits a 3. Stevenson answers with his second.
-- Stevenson misses 3s on back-to-back possessions. Kalscheur drives and scores but commits an offensive foul on the next possession. That's two fouls on him. Two players have scored. ISU leads 7-6 as we hit the under-16 timeout.WVU is 2-for-5 with two turnovers for five ISU points. ISU is 3-for-6 with tri turnovers for three WVU points -- and WVU can add to that with the possession when play resumes.
-- Add three points to the points off turnovers total. Stevenson hits another 3.
Buckets ??#HailWV | @ej_stevenson5 pic.twitter.com/mvLU0jTH8p
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) February 28, 2023
-- A tip-dunk by Emmitt Matthews gives someone other than Stevenson a basket and gives WVU an 11-9 lead. James Okonkwo went down on the play and is helped off the court. Mohamed Wague is no available again due to a foot injury, so WVU started this game short-handed in the post.
-- Kalscheur is back in. Stevenson tries to draw an offensive foul on a Kalscheur miss. The officials call a flop on Stevenson. Kalscheur hits a free throw. It's 11-10. Kalscheur follows with a 3. He has all of ISU's points and 11 points.
-- Matthews travels as he starts a drive. The turnover takes us to the under-12 timeout. ISU leads 13-11.WVU is 4-for-12 and hasn't scored in 2:22. ISU is 4-for-10 but is 3-for-3 at the line. WVU hasn't attempted a free throw so far.
-- ISU goes to a 1-3-1. WVU feeds Bell, who didn't take a shot against Kansas, and he misses up close. Bell then draws a foul as Kalscheur charges again. He has three fouls. That's significant.
-- Jaren Holmes, the team's leading scorer, gets on the scoreboard with a drive and a bank shot. ISU leas 17-15.
-- Joe Toussaint hits a desperation 3 at the end of a possession. ISU turns it over with an illegal screen by Grill.
???? @TouTou__5 pic.twitter.com/SZr15XZ3Bl
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) February 28, 2023
-- Mitchell blocks Tre King at the rim. WVU runs and the ball finds Mitchell on the perimeter. He makes the extra pass to Toussaint for another 3 and a21-17 lead. We're at the under-8 timeout. WVU has six unanswered points and ISU hasn't scored in 2:19.
-- Lipsey ends the drought by going 1-for-2 at the line but Johnson hits a jumperfor a 23-18 lead, the largest of the game. ISU turns it over. Stevenson has the ball in the paint, and his bounce pass sets Pat Suemnick up for a three-point play and an eight-point lead. ISU should be careful. This is an 11-1 run.
-- Holmes misses but Robert Jones flies in to tip in the rebound. Stevenson travels and Kunc ends a long possession with a layup.
-- Matthews misses a 3, but Bell gets a long rebound. Johnson finds Toussaint for another 3. ISU turns it over with another illegal screen and fourth offensive foul to take us to the under-4 timeout. WVU leads 29-22 and has made 4 of 5 shots. Toussaint is 3-for-3 from 3-point range. He was 3-for-16 in the prior seven games.
-- A long 3 by Matthews gives WVU a double-digit lead at 33-22. This is a 7-0 run. ISU is laboring offensively and has been outscored by 13 points since Kalscheur went out with his third foul.
-- Johnson sits with his second foul, and King ends the possession with a three-point play. Toussaint stays hot, though, with a jumper. He has 11 points and WVU is up by 10. WVU blocks a shot and Toussaint hits the floor to get the ball and call a timeout with 1:08 to go.
-- Matthews misses a 3. Holmes scores inside. Matthews misses a 3 at the buzzer.
-- Halftime: WVU 35, Iowa State 27
Second half
-- WVU is 16-4 when it leads at the half. Kalscheur starts the second half with three fouls and misses a 3. Johnson rolls an ankle trying to grab a rebound and checks out. Stevenson hits a jumper. WVU leads by double digits again, 37-27.
-- Kalscheur hits a 3. Bell commits his second foul of the half and third of the game working for position. That gives ISU possession. Bell checks out. Suemnick checks in with Okonkwo evidently not available. Osun Osunniyi screens, cuts and gets a dunk. It's 37-32 after a five-point trip.
-- Stevenson scores. Osunniyi scores. WVU calls a timeout up 39-34 at the 17:13 mark.
-- Lipsey fouls Stevenson on a 3 -- didn't look like much if anything by the ISU guard -- and Stevenson goes 2-for-3. Kunc hits a 3. It's 41-37.
-- WVU turns it over onthree straight possessions. Osunniyi scores on the second. The third takes us to the under-16 timeout. WVU leads 41-39.WVU is 2-for-3 with three turnovers this half. ISU is 5-for-7 and hasn't turned it over.
-- Holmes drives the baseline and scores. WVU's 11-point lead in the first half and 10-point lead this half is gone. ISU has had a few shots rattle and roll for baskets this half.
-- ISU's sixth foul comes at the 14:24 mark. WVU is one of the most prolific free-throw scoring teams in the nation and will shoot free throws the rest of the way.
-- Stevenson scores. He has eight this half. WVU has eight this half. Holmes hits a 3 for a 44-43 lead. He had missed 19 of 22 3-point attempts. That's WVU's first lead since it was 17-15. That's when Kalscheur sat with his third foul.
For. The. Lead.@3BallJay#Cyclones | #C5C pic.twitter.com/9W8SPWyfQP
— Iowa State Men’s Basketball (@CycloneMBB) February 28, 2023
-- WVU turns it over. Kalscheurhits a 3 for a 47-43 lead but Stevenson answers with another. He had 11 points in the first half and has 11 alreadythishalf. No one else has scored. This is Stevenson's fourth straight game with at least 20 points.
-- Shot clock violation for WVU to take us to the under-12 timeout.ISU is 8-for-11 from the floor and 4-for-7 from 3-point range and has not turned it over. WVU is 4-for-10 with five turnovers. WVU had four turnovers in the first half.
-- ISU turns it over. Stevenson turns it over. Stevenson gets pulled. That's his third turnover this half, and it stings when Holmes hits another 3 for a 52-46 lead, the largest for the home team. Mitchell then elbows Kunc for a flagrant foul for another turnover.
Flagrant 2 on Tre Mitchell and he’s ejected. Also just wild that he got pissed at Jaz Kunc for elbowing him in the face pic.twitter.com/MSehZJZiwW
— OutCYde the Lines (@OutCYdetheLines) February 28, 2023
-- After a long delay, it's a Flagrant 2 on Mitchell and technicals on Kunc for licking at Mitchell's legs and Grill for coming into the scene and pushing Mitchell. The Flagrant 2 means Mitchell has been ejected. He did not score.
-- Kunc misses two free throws.Toussaint makes two free throws for a technical. Seth Wilson hits a 3. ISU leads 52-51 after a five-point possession for WVU. What a swing that was.
Seth's stepping up! ?? pic.twitter.com/Mg3PGzpBqi
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) February 28, 2023
-- WVU's 10th foul of the half is at the 10:21 mark. Holmes makes two free throws for a 54-51 lead. Wilson misses a 3 and Bell fouls Kalscheur on a long rebound. That's Bell's fourth foul. Kalscheu hits two free throws.
-- Holmes drives and scores for a 58-51 lead. ISU leads by more than it did when Mitchell was ejected. Kobe Johnson drives and scores as he's fouled. He'll try to finish a three-point play when we return from the under-8 timeout. ISU leads 58-53.
-- Johnson converts. Jones is fouled, and a 39-percent free-throw shooter, goes 2-for-2.
-- Matthews hits a 3 after missing his first four attempts tonight to cut a 60-54 lead in half. Jones gets the ball up top and Johnson commits a needless foul. Jones misses two free throws.
-- WVU's lineup: Kedrian Johnson, Kobe Johnson, Erik Stevenson, Seth Wilson and Emmitt Matthews. Stevenson draws Jones in the post, and Jones banks in a hook shot.
-- Kedrian Johnson steals it from Holmes and is fouled. With 4:53 to go, he splits its two free throws. It's 62-58.
-- ISU miss. Johnson drive and scores. Two-point game. Kalscheur cuts on Stevenson and makes a difficult layup for a 64-60 lead. That's our score as we hit the under-4 timeout.
-- Osunniyi fouls Toussaint before the ball is inbounded. He makes two free throws. WVU is pressing now. Kalscheur misses an open 3. Osunniyi fouls Johnson in the paint. He splits two free throws. ISU leads 64-63.
-- Osunniyi misses inside. Matthews is fouled as he misses right under the basket. ISU calls a timeout clinging to a one-point lead with 2:10 remaining. Matthews makes two free throws to take back the lead.
-- Matthews cuts. Toussaint finds him. Dunk. This is a 7-0 run for WVU and a 67-64 lead.
-- Matthews blocks a Holmes layup out of bounds with 56.6 seconds to go. ISU can't score. WVU takes the ball and crosses mid-court before calling a timeout with 34.5 seconds to go.
-- Toussaint fools Lipsey off his feet on the perimeter anddraws a foul. He makes two free throws with 19.7 seconds to go for a 60-64 lead. WVU can't allow a 3 here.
-- Kalscheur hits a 3. ISU calls timeout down by two with 9.9 seconds to go. WVU inbounds it to Toussaint. He hits two free throws. Kalscheru misses a 3 but King scores on a putback. ISU calls its final timeout with 1.9 seconds to go.
-- Stevenson is fouled. He misses the first and makes the second with 1.2 seconds to go. The inbound finds Matthews, and WVU wins. A terrific performance for WVU to rally with the injuries, foul trouble and deficit on the road.
-- Final: WVU 72, ISU 69
