KU Jayhawks learned lessons from 3-game losing skid. Here’s what it taught them

It was not so long ago the No. 3-ranked Kansas Jayhawks dropped three consecutive conference games and four of five overall in Big 12 play.

Since that ugly stretch — one that concluded with a 15-point loss to Iowa State on Feb. 4 in Ames, Iowa — KU has rattled off five straight men’s basketball victories heading into Saturday’s contest against West Virginia.

Tipoff for the game between the Jayhawks (23-5, 11-4) and Mountaineers (16-12, 5-10) is 3 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse with a live broadcast on ESPN.

“That streak of losing three games in a row taught us a lot about ourselves,” KU senior guard Kevin McCullar said Thursday at a news conference previewing the KU-WVU game.

“We learned from it. We kept a level head. Coach (Bill Self) told us we’ve got to be the hardest-playing team every time we go out there — (that) we can’t come out lackadaisical,” McCullar added. “Especially the league we’re in, we’ve got to bring energy. That’s kind of what we’ve done and we’re sticking with it.”

The 6-foot-6, 210-pound McCullar — he’s second in the Big 12 in steals (2.2 per game) and third in the league in rebounding (7.4 rpg) to go with his 10.9 scoring average — said it’s important to continue this victory formula in the Jayhawks’ final two home games and final road contest of the season.

KU, which is tied for first in the Big 12 with Texas with three games to play, also will play host to Texas Tech (8 p.m., Tuesday) then head to Texas for the regular-season finale a week from Saturday (3 p.m., Austin, Texas).

“Feeding off our crowd and energy here is going to be huge for us. Playing at home I know it’s going to be rocking,” McCullar said of Saturday’s game against Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers.

For KU, playing with energy means playing in-your-face defense — the defense exhibited in the second half of last Saturday’s 87-71 home victory over Baylor. KU, which was torched for 45 points the first half, outscored BU 55-26 in the final half. KU two days later at TCU held the Horned Frogs to 30.3% shooting (5 of 18 threes) in a 63-58 victory in Fort Worth, Texas.

“It has to be our identity. We know anybody can have a great game offensively at any moment. We know on the defensive end as a collective unit we have to buy in,” McCullar said. “We want to get stops at the end of the game to be able to secure some of these close victories on the road and at home. We have the length on the wing, down-low explosiveness and of course with Juan (Harris), Bobby (Pettiford) and Joe (Yesufu), they can heat the ball up at any moment, which is huge for us.”

The Mountaineers defeated Oklahoma State 85-67 on Monday in Morgantown, West Virginia, to snap a three-game losing streak. West Virginia fell to KU 76-62 on Jan. 7 at WVU Coliseum.

“They’ve got a great group of guys. They’ve got some sharpshooters and guys who can guard and of course some bigs down low who are going to rebound the ball,” McCullar said.

WVU senior guard Erik Stevenson was held to 12 points on 4-of-19 shooting (0-for-5 on threes) in that first meeting. Senior guard Joe Toussaint had eight points on 2-of-10 shooting with five assists and two turnovers.

Forwards Tre Mitchell (6-9 senior) and Emmitt Matthews (6-7 senior) had 15 and 11 points respectively. KU, led by Jalen Wilson’s 14 points and 14 rebounds, outrebounded West Virginia 43-35. All five KU starters scored in double figures.

KU hit 17 of 19 free throws to WVU’s 18 of 28.

“Every time you play West Virginia it’s going to be a physical game,” McCullar said. “It’s probably going to be physical here, too.”

Self noted that Kedrian Johnson, a 6-3 senior guard who averages 10.6 points a game and has made 22 of 72 threes (30.1%) did not play in the KU-WVU game in Morgantown.

“He makes a difference as far as (an) athletic standpoint and defensive standpoint,” Self said. ”He can hawk the ball as well as anybody in our league. This would be a huge game for them (in trying to snare an NCAA bid), as it’s going to be a huge game for us (in trying to stay atop the league). I think it’ll be a pretty exciting Saturday.”