Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Predictions: West Virginia Mountaineers

The Kansas Jayhawks are in Morgantown tonight to face the West Virginia Mountaineers. If the first game this season is any indication, this should be a highly entertaining (and stressful) game. WVU needs either this game or the one on Saturday at Baylor to make a statement with their NCAA resume. Will they be able to stay undefeated at home and get the win tonight?

Take a look at what our staff thinks, and then leave your own prediction in the comments below.

Mike.Plank: West Virginia couldn’t manage to beat K-State or Oklahoma, two of the worst teams in the conference, so of course they’re going to beat us at home for no reason other than college basketball hates me. West Virginia 68, Kansas 65.

Brendan: West Virginia sold out this game, because the biggest game of the year every year for every team in the league is when KU comes to town. Bill Self spoke about the Mountaineers pressing more on Hawk Talk this week and there’s probably a little concern about facing this team on the road, but the way the Jayhawks are playing I think they squeak one out in a hostile environment. The stars will have to be at their best all night, though. Kansas 65, West Virginia 62

David: When these teams played in Allen Fieldhouse, West Virginia gave KU all it could handle in the first half before the Jayhawks pulled away in the second. The Mountaineers play great defense, and given KU’s penchant for offensive lulls, they can’t afford to spot WV a lead in Morgantown. In the end though, this is probably a game where either turnovers or poor outside shooting bites us. West Virginia 69, Kansas 67

dnoll5: Kansas is winning this game. I can’t watch the game, and when I can’t watch, KU usually plays well and wins, so I’m just going to go with history here. You might be thinking that KU historically does very poorly at West Virginia, but I’m talking about the history I’m creating, not actual history. Kansas 70, West Virginia 67.

Kyle_Davis21: I’ve gone back and forth on the outcome of this game at least five times. The one thing I can agree on with everyone else is that I think it’ll be close, and probably somewhat of a rock fight like it was in AFH. Both of these top-15 teams have great defenses and talented big men (thank goodness it’s on ESPN+ where everyone can see it). WVU is undefeated at home this season, so I’m probably going to be wrong, but I’m going to pick KU to narrowly grab a victory with just enough offense to leave Morgantown with a win. Kansas 66, West Virginia 64

Fizzle406: Kansas always plays like shit in Morgantown and tonight will be no different. WVU 65, Kansas 58

Andy Mitts: This SEEMS like it is one that Kansas should drop, simply because West Virginia is a much better team when they play at home, and they played so well against Kansas on the road to start conference play. However, that fails to account for how much this Kansas team has improved, both on the part of individual players and also the synergy and more clearly defined roles on the team as a whole. Having David McCormack as a true backup to Udoka Azubuike is huge in that Kansas can essentially play the same way for the entire game as long as both players aren’t in foul trouble. The main concern comes in that West Virginia is a deeper team down low, so if Oscar Tshiebwe has to go out, they should be able to fight through that until he can come back in. Ultimately, I agree with everyone that this will be very close, but Kansas will eke out this win down the stretch. Kansas 62, West Virginia 59.