Well, the sports weekend could have gone better, Ravens advance against the Texans, but the Jayhawks lose to the hated Mountaineers.
The Little Ball of Hate has to keep things in perspective, one win was more important than the other win. A playoff win obviously is more important than a regular season basketball game.
Despite Timberlake's great first half of 12 points, KU failed to win on the road again.
Kansas get bullied and lose 91-85 to West Virginia
West Virginia was 6-11 entering the game, which should mean an easy win for the Jayhawks, but games in Morgantown are never easy for Billy Self and Kansas. KU fell to 5-7 under Self at WVU Coliseum.
Usually it is against the Huggy Bear, but with him retiring, it is clear that the challenge will continue even with a new head coach.
And a second court storming against us in the span of a week hurts my soul.
The game went about how I expected, physical, and somehow the refs always swallow their whistles and KU gets beat up, especially Hunter Dickinson. Way too many defensive rebounds, go to the Mountaineers. How can a 7-foot-2 guy get pushed around so much. KU gets outrebounded 31-22. Way too many second chance points for WVU. Get on the boards boys!!!
On a positive note, Nicholas Timberlake showed up in a big way in the first half when McCullar got into foul trouble. Within two minutes of game time, Timberlake hit a 3-pointer and layup. He put together a special first half, scoring 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field, his most points since 13 vs. Yale in December. Unfortunately he didn’t score any points in the second half.
“There was not a lot of things to be happy with the first half except we made shots,” KU coach Bill Self told KUsports.com. “But I felt like at halftime, I told them, ‘We didn’t guard them and they didn’t stop us, so let’s just — score’s 0-0, let’s just start fresh this half.’
The Big 12 season is going to be a battle. Seeing Texas, at the bottom of the standings, upsetting No. 9 Baylor was sadly uplifting to me. If that can happen, then anything is possible.
I keep telling myself that this will be good for the Jayhawks at the end of the season, tough games and losses to learn from. We will see I guess.
My parlay did not go well: Dickinson 18.5 points (19, won), KJ Adams 13.5 points (11, lost), Harris 6.5 assists (5, lost). As usual I’ll take a win over winning a bet, and this time I lose both.
Onto the next game, no rest for the weary, Cincinnati in Allen Fieldhouse. Cincinnati is 13-5, 2-3 in the Big 12, so nothing easy. The Bearcats have beaten ranked teams, BYU and TCU, and have lost tight games to No. Baylor and No. 15 Oklahoma. Their only bad loss was agains Dayton 82-68.
Stroud was bottled up for the most part agains the Ravens, 19-for-33 only and 175 yards with no touchdowns.
Better news: After a two week hiatus, the Ravens pound the Texans 34-10
If there was any worry that Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense might be rusty, those concerns were gone in the third quarter, touchdown drive to start the second half to make it 17-10.
And then, Baltimore leans on the running game to control the clock and demoralize the Texans’ defense. Gus “The Bus” Edwards and of course Jackson leading the way, team rushing for 229 yards.
The defense, wow! I like Stroud and he will develop into a superstar NFL quarterback, but Coach Mike McDonald clearly confused him with different pressure packages. And rushing? That was a laugher 😆. Houston ended with 38 rushing yards.
And how about the crowd! Even with temperatures in the 20s and a wind chill at the beginning of the game at 3 degrees. Yikes! The fans were loud and constant. Houston had 11 penalties for 70 yards. Many of them presnap infractions on both offense and defense.
Lamar Jackson finishes with 2 TDs passing and 2 TDs rushing. He only had 152 yards, but with tough weather he made the plays he needed to.
Who will the Ravens face next week? The Little Ball of Hate is scared of the Bills. Josh Allan is starting to feel it. As a sports fan, I would love to see a Lamar-Allan battle. Two of the most exciting QBs in the league on the biggest stage.
Takeaways
Kansas needs to figure out how to win on the road in the Big 12 conference. Two road losses already is not good. Good news is they are only 1 win out of the lead. And I think Kansas State and Texas Tech are going to fold at some point.
KU is turning into Maryland on the road. The Terrapins are 1-10 in conference games on the road dating from 2022-23, the first season under Coach Kevin Willard. They also have lost both true road games this season to Power Five opponents by an average of 14.5 points. HCBS will make sure that KU doesn’t follow that lead.
A good win for the Ravens, especially for Lamar. I know the city is behind him, but there are definitely naysayers who would turn on him at the drop of the dime if the Ravens would have lost this game.
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