3 takeaways as Kansas basketball suffers loss in Big 12 Conference game at West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, West Va. — Kansas basketball suffered a 91-85 road defeat Saturday in Big 12 Conference play against West Virginia.

Here are a few takeaways from the No. 4 Jayhawks (15-3, 3-2 in Big 12) loss against the Mountaineers (7-11, 2-3 in Big 12):

Points weren’t hard to come by

Both Kansas and West Virginia eclipsed 50 points in the first half, and it’s not hard to understand why. The Jayhawks shot 61.3% from the field and 50% from behind the arc, with a quality mark from the free-throw line. The Mountaineers shot 59.3% from the field and 64.3% from behind the arc, with a slightly better mark from the free-throw line.

In the second half, the points didn’t come as easily for either side, but both were still able to finish the game with high-scoring efforts and take advantage of most of their opportunities at the free-throw line. Kansas shot 53.3% from the field and 30.4% from behind the arc. West Virginia shot 51.8% from the field and 57.1% from behind the arc.

"I thought they were great," said Kansas coach Bill Self, asked about West Virginia's shooting in the first half. "I thought everybody on their team played exceptionally well, especially the first half offensively. We couldn't guard them, and we didn't ... come prepared, I don't think, to defend like we need to against guys that are really good shooters and can go get their own — such as (RaeQuan) Battle. So, yeah, I thought they were terrific."

Nicolas Timberlake proves to be a spark in the 1st half, before a much quieter day after halftime

Kansas graduate senior guard Nicolas Timberlake’s season high in points coming into this game was 13. He scored that much against North Carolina Central in the season opener in November and against Yale last month. Coming into Saturday, those were the only two games he finished in double figures scoring for the Jayhawks.

On Saturday, he nearly eclipsed that in the first half with 12 points in what was his best stretch of play in a game this season. But by game’s end he proved unable to set a new season-high as he didn’t score after halftime. There weren’t as many opportunities for Timberlake in the second half, and the ones Timberlake did have he didn’t connect on.

"Nothing changed," Timberlake said about his play in the second half, "just shot didn't fall."

Kansas splits two-game road trip

Back-to-back Big 12 road games are a challenge for any team, and especially for Kansas when the two venues the Jayhawks came into the week set to travel to were Oklahoma State’s and West Virginia’s. Both OSU’s and WVU’s home courts have presented challenges for Self’s squad over the years. And Self and company will return home having split its contests during the two-game road trip, with a win at Oklahoma State and a loss at West Virginia.

The challenges continue in the week ahead. Kansas plays a formidable Cincinnati team at home before a trip to face Iowa State. Continuing to remain undefeated at home in Big 12 play will be vital for the Jayhawks with how difficult playing on the road in conference play has been so far this season.

"Learn from it and move on," said Timberlake, asked what the message was from Self postgame. "Quick turnaround. We've got Cincinnati on Monday."

RELATED: Kansas basketball vs. West Virginia recap: Jayhawks fall short against Mountaineers

RELATED: How to watch Kansas basketball play its Big 12 Conference road game against West Virginia

RELATED: Kansas baseball transfer class ranked No. 9 by D1Baseball ahead of 2024 season

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball suffers loss in Big 12 game at West Virginia