WVU Basketball Still Looking for 1st Win Inside Allen Fieldhouse

If there is a house of horrors for WVU basketball, it is Kansas’s Allen Fieldhouse. The Mountaineers have never won inside that building, holding an 0-11 all-time record. 

“It’s a hard place to play,” WVU coach Darian DeVries said on Monday. “I don’t think West Virginia is the only one that has a hard time going into Allen Fieldhouse and winning. They’re really good there and they have a great home-field advantage.”

And what’s a house of horrors without a ghost, as the Jayhawks have certainly haunted the Mountaineers since they joined the Big 12. Last season’s shocking upset over Kansas inside the WVU Coliseum broke a six-game winning streak by Kansas in a stretch where the Jayhawks had won 15 of the last 17 meetings.

WVU basketball will try to make it two wins in a row when the Mountaineers tip off conference play against the Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse tomorrow.

“Nothing changes in terms of it being a tough road environment, we’re going to see those all year long in conference play,” DeVries said. “You need to make sure you’re really good at all the little things to give yourself a chance to win on the road and this is one of the toughest places to try and go do that.”

Kansas is 7-0 inside Allen Fieldhouse this season, their last loss at home came on Feb. 27 last season, a 76-68 setback to BYU that snapped a 19-game home winning streak.

“You’ve got to go in there and play well, that’s what it comes down to,” DeVries said. “The reason you like to play at home is because you do have an advantage and they certainly have one of the better home-court advantages in the country.”

WVU has played just one true road game this season, the disastrous Backyard Brawl at Pitt in November. DeVries said playing on the road doesn’t change how his team plays at all, but he is willing to adjust his coaching tactics is need be.

“Maybe you utilize your timeouts a little quicker to try to neutralize some of the crowd and the momentum and calm your team down,” he said. “Versus a home game where maybe you play it out a little bit longer. Maybe you slow down a little bit on the road just to get everybody to calm down again and not get going too fast.”

The Mountaineers and Jayhawks begin Big 12 play tomorrow at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.