NCAA Game Summary - West Virginia at Kansas State
(Monday, February 18th)
Final Score: (13) Kansas State 71, West Virginia 61
Manhattan, KS (Sports Network) - Will Spradling scored 19 points to help
Kansas State spoil Bob Huggins' return to Manhattan with a 71-61 win over West
Virginia on Monday.
Huggins, who has coached West Virginia since 2007, served as the Wildcats'
head coach for the 2006-07 season. Huggins is credited with resurrecting the
Kansas State program after guiding it to a 23-12 finish, its best record since
it went 25-9 in 1987-88. That squad became the first major conference team to
be left out of the NCAA Tournament after winning at least 20 games.
"I really like this place," Huggins said. "I like the people. The people have
been wonderful. It's nice to see people you haven't seen in a while, but at
the end of the day, it's a business trip. We're supposed to win. We didn't."
Nino Williams added 13 points and Angel Rodriguez had 11 points and seven
assists for the Wildcats (21-5, 10-3 Big 12), winners in six of their last
seven games.
"It was just a very physical game," Wildcats head coach Bruce Weber said. "We
stayed the course and stayed strong and did what we needed to."
Deniz Kilicli scored 16 points and Aaric Murray added nine points and nine
rebounds for the Mountaineers (13-13, 6-7), who have dropped two of their last
three games.
Kansas State used a trio of 3-pointers to race out to an early 9-4 lead. The
Wildcats then opened an 11-2 run to take a 20-6 lead near the midway point of
the first half.
The Mountaineers scored the final five points of the half to go into the break
trailing 33-20.
K-State opened the second stanza with a 10-2 swing to push its spread to 21
points, but WVU scored seven unanswered points to cut it to 43-29 with 13:55
to go.
The teams traded baskets until Eron Harris was whistled for a technical foul
after shoving Spradling. Spradling made four consecutive free throws, and
Rodriguez's three-point play pushed Kansas State's edge over 20 points.
The Mountaineers closed the game on a 13-2 run to account for the final
margin.
Game Notes
The Wildcats shot 50 percent (23-for-46) from the field ... K-State outscored
WVU, 22-14, in the paint ... WVU scored 20 points off 18 turnovers ... Kilicli
outscored the rest of the Mountaineers' starters, 16-13.
02/19 02:01:59 ET
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