West Virginia falls 71-61 on road to No. 13 Kansas State

West Virginia is undefeated against the teams ranked below it in the Big 12 Conference standings.

But it’s the teams ahead of the Mountaineers in the standings they just can’t seem to figure out.

The Mountaineers (13-13, 6-7) fell to 0-7 against teams ranked higher than them in the Big 12 standings with a 71-61 defeat at the hands of No. 13 Kansas State (21-5, 10-3) Monday night in Manhattan, Kan.

"I don’t know if I’ve ever misjudged a group as much as I misjudged this group," said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins on his postgame radio show. "We’re not good enough to not do everything we’re supposed to do."

The Wildcats rushed out to a 20-6 lead early in the first half and never looked back, improving their record to 13-1 inside Bramlage Coliseum this season.

The Mountaineers were able to cut the deficit to 13 at the half but couldn’t get any closer in the second frame while shooting 40 percent from the field.

"The truth of the matter is, we had some wide-open looks, and we didn’t make them. They had some wide-open looks, and they made them," Huggins said.

Kansas State connected on 50 percent of its shots and held West Virginia freshman guard Eron Harris scoreless for the first time since early December.

Harris only logged eight minutes and got off only two shot attempts because of constant foul trouble throughout the game.

WVU senior forward Deniz Kilicli finished with 16 points despite also finding himself in foul trouble and on the bench for most of the first half.

"I honestly thought we could make a run in the second half, because Deniz hardly played in the first half," Huggins said. "You keep hoping that guys are going to make shots."

The Mountaineers fell to 0-5 this season against ranked opponents and have now lost their last 10 outings against teams in the top 25.

The amount of ranked teams on the schedule this season, particularly in nonconference play, is something Huggins may regret have setting up.

"You find out about people in times of adversity. You find out what they’re made of," Huggins said. "We can say what we want to say, but reality is I probably over-scheduled because I thought we were better than we are."

West Virginia will face another ranked opponent Saturday at home when No. 14 Oklahoma State travels to Morgantown.

Huggins and his team are in desperate need of marquee wins.

"You know me – we’re going to fight," Huggins said.