Kansas at West Virginia: 5 storylines for 2020-21 Big 12 matchup

Make Kansas pick their poison

This is not the same Mountaineers team that the Jayhawks defeated by 14 points in December, the most obvious difference is one that favors the Jayhawks even more. After the Dec.22, 2020 game Oscar Tshiebwe (8.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg) would go on to play just one more game in a West Virginia uniform. While the Mountaineers have moved on and Coach Higgins has adjusted, that is a big subtraction to go against a team who has already defeated you.

Since the Tshiebwe departure, Derek Culver has scored double-digits in every one of the Mountaineer’s victories. The Mountaineers did lose to Florida with Culver scoring 28 points, but they have not won a game in the Big 12 without Culver contributing.

While this makes Culver the most important player, he is currently the second-leading scorer, second to Miles McBride. In order to add another threat for the Jayhawks’ defense to worry about it is imperative that Sean McNeil is added as a shooting threat, to McBride’s penetration and Culver’s posting up.

Such is the reciprocal nature of basketball,  in order for McBride to be a threat, Culver must be one, and vice-versa. With Marcus Garrett anchoring the Kansas defense, if McNeil is unable to shoot similar to the 6-10 he went for last game, the painted area is going to remain packed in order to make Culver’s life more difficult with a series of double-teams in the post.

If the double-down off McNeil on to Culver is too dangerous then Culver will have an easier time going at David McCormack one on one in the post.