No. 7 Kansas Hosts West Virginia in Big 12 Opener Dec. 31

LAWRENCE, Kan. — No. 7 Kansas (9-2, 0-0 Big 12) opens Big 12 play hosting West Virginia (9-2, 0-0 Big 12) on Tuesday, Dec. 31, at 1 p.m. CT. The game will be played in Allen Fieldhouse and will be televised on ESPN+.

Kansas is 19-7 all-time against West Virginia, including 11-0 in Allen Fieldhouse. KU has won six of the last seven and 11 of the last 13 meetings versus WVU.

Kansas has won a mind-boggling 33-straight conference openers dating back to the 1991-92 season, with 14 of those at home in Allen Fieldhouse and 19 on the road. The last time Kansas lost a league opener was at Oklahoma, 88-82, on Jan. 8, 1991.

KU is No. 12 in the NET report by the NCAA through games of Dec. 28. The No. 12 rank is third in the Big 12 behind No. 6 Houston and No. 8 Iowa State.

Kansas (9-2, 0-0 Big 12) closed out non-conference play for the 2024-25 season with an 87-53 win against Brown on Dec. 22. The win made Kansas 7-0 at home this season and extended its home game winning streak to eight.

The Jayhawks average 79.2 points per game and have a +13.2 scoring margin. KU pulls down 38.2 rebounds per contest with a +5.4 rebound margin. Kansas is making 49.8% from the field, which is third in the Big 12 and 24th nationally, including 35.5% from three-point range. Kansas ranks second in the Big 12 and ninth nationally in assists average at 18.8. KU also averages 7.2 steals and 4.9 blocked shots per game.

Coming off his third-straight and sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds against Brown (12/22), graduate C Hunter Dickinson leads Kansas in scoring at 15.5 ppg and rebounding at 10.3 rpg. A three-time Big 12 Player of the Week, Dickinson leads the Big 12 in double-doubles (6), which is 10th nationally, and is second in rebounds per game (10.3), which is 12th nationally. Dickinson also leads KU with 17 blocked shots and he has 16 steals.

Senior G Zeke Mayo is averaging 25.5 points in his last two games after his 25 points against Brown (12/22) and season-high 26 points against NC State (12/14). A two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, Mayo is averaging 13.5 points per game and has made a team-high 24 threes. He is second on the team with 36 assists and pulls down 4.2 rebounds per contest.

Graduate G Dajuan Harris Jr. is a four-year starter who is averaging 10.3 points per game and he is second in the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.88, which is 10th nationally, and assists per game at 5.6, which is 35th nationally.

Senior F KJ Adams is a starter who is scoring 9.5 points per game. Adams has 25 assists, 12 blocked shots and seven steals. Junior G AJ Storr has started three games and he is scoring 7.9 points per contest. Storr has made 10 threes this season. Junior G Rylan Griffen is third on the team with 12 threes made. He is averaging 6.9 ppg and has started seven games this season. Senior G David Coit has three starts in 2024-25 and he is second on the team with 16 threes made. Coit averages 6.1 points per game. Freshman F Flory Bidunga is second on the team with a 4.9 rebound average. Bidunga averages 6.1 points per game, has 10 blocked shots and is shooting 81.1 percent (30-37) from the field. Other KU regulars include graduate G Shakeel Moore (2.3 ppg), redshirt-junior F Zach Clemence (1.4 ppg) and freshman G Rakease Passmore (1.4 ppg).

UP NEXT
Kansas continues Big 12 play at UCF on Sunday, Jan. 5. The contest from Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida, will tip at 3 p.m. (Central) and will be televised on ESPN+.

UCF won the only series meeting with Kansas, 65-60, on Jan. 10, 2024, in Orlando.

University of Kansas Athletics

No. 7 Kansas Hosts West Virginia in Big 12 Opener Dec. 31

Players Mentioned

KJ Adams

Flory Bidunga

Zach Clemence

David Coit

Hunter Dickinson

Rylan Griffen

Dajuan Harris Jr.

Zeke Mayo

Shakeel Moore

Rakease Passmore

AJ Storr

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