Culver’s Double-Double Powers West Virginia to Victory over Kansas State

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – In its second-straight Big 12 rematch game this week, West Virginia defeated Kansas State 66-57 at the WVU Coliseum.

The No. 12 Mountaineers (17-4, 5-3 Big 12) got their revenge on K-State (9-12, 2-6) after losing to the Wildcats 84-68 on the road on Jan. 18. Saturday’s game was also a bounce-back performance for WVU, following a loss to Texas Tech on Wednesday.

The first half was an up-and-down affair for West Virginia, as the Mountaineers started and ended the half poorly, but played well in the middle and held a 30-27 halftime lead. A 14-2 run in the middle of the first half helped WVU build up a 25-16 lead with 5:27 left, but the Wildcats scored 11 of the final 16 points to close the gap.

The second half started slowly, with neither team making a field goal until Chase Harler hit a three-pointer three minutes and 34 seconds into the half. A 9-0 run later on in the half helped WVU build a double-digit lead that the team would maintain the rest of the way.

Sophomore big man Derek Culver lead the way for the Mountaineers, scoring 19 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Harler finished with eight points, Oscar Tshiebwe scored eight and had eight rebounds and Miles McBride scored seven.

Cartier Diarra scored only eight points for Kansas State after scoring 25 against West Virginia in the earlier meeting. As a team, the Wildcats shot 18-49 (36.7%) from the floor, including going 3-17 (17.6%) from three.

The teams were close in turnovers (15-14 KSU) and personal fouls (23-21 WVU) but WVU held the advantage in rebounds (39-32) and bench points (32-18).

The Mountaineers will stay home to face Iowa State on Wednesday at 7 p.m.