photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Devonte' Graham (4) is fouled by West Virginia forward Devin Williams (41) on the shot during the second half, Saturday, March 12, 2016 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

There have been a lot of discussions, questions and inquiries during the past couple of weeks centered around the strategy for playing against West Virginia’s press.

But now that the deck has been cleared and the second-ranked Kansas men’s basketball team (18-1 overall, 7-0 Big 12) has made it, unscathed in conference play, to its first meeting with Bob Huggins and his Press Viriginia bunch, it’s time to take a look at what the Jayhawks have learned.

By far the most interesting thing I heard about how teams strive to attack the WVU press came from KU coach Bill Self — go figure! — who provided a rather matter-of-fact look at how turnovers happen against West Virginia.

There are, Self said, basically two types of turnovers that the WVU press can create. The first, live ball turnovers, are those that lead directly to points for the Mountaineers and inspire the home crowd to get fired up.

The second, dead ball turnovers, are the type that WVU opponents prefer to see.

“You’re going to turn it over against West Virginia,” said Self, whose Kansas teams have averaged 16 turnovers per game in the last nine meetings with the Mountaineers, six wins and three losses. “We talk about that, but they can’t be live ball turnovers. You’d rather throw it out of bounds so your defense can get set rather than having numbers coming back at you.”

The timing of the Jayhawks’ next meeting with the Mountaineers — 6 p.m. Tuesday at WVU — leaves a little to be desired from a Kansas perspective. For one, the Mountaineers (15-4, 4-3) are returning home on the heels of back-to-back losses, including last weekend at Kansas State, and, for two, the Jayhawks have struggled to take care of the ball during the past couple of games, committing 18 turnovers at Iowa State and 16 in a home win against Texas.

It wasn’t the number as much as the type of turnover that left Self frustrated.

“That’s two games in a row where we, for no reason, just turned it over,” Self said of his team’s unforced errors. “I don’t think you can look that good when you turn it over that much.”

In the most recent game, however, Kansas was at least able to get most of those turnovers back, swiping a season-high 14 steals from Texas in the 12-point win. That defensive intensity and mindset was a breath of fresh air for a Kansas team that has faced plenty of defensive challenges so far this season.

And KU senior Frank Mason III said the high number of steals that resulted from them turning up the pressure proved Self right in one area.

“Coach tells us all the time you don’t even have to play good defense, sometimes if you’re in the right spot the other team will just throw you the ball,” Mason emphasized.

That concept, attacking the attacker, figures to be a point of emphasis for the Jayhawks against the Mountaineers in Morgantown and their success in that department could go a long way toward determining the outcome of the game.

History has shown that teams who play tentative against the WVU press tend to get eaten alive and those who attack it with poise and purpose stand a much better chance of getting out alive.

The Jayhawks have lost three straight in Morgantown, but this veteran group seems poised to change that this week.

“It’s not on my bucket list or whatever,” said Mason, referencing teammate Devonte’ Graham’s claim that beating WVU in Morgantown was on his ultimate wish list. “But, you know, I just want to win there. I want to win every game I play in, so that’s just another goal. Hopefully everyone will be healthy and ready to go and we can play a good game, and hopefully we can get the win.”

Added Self: “It’s OK to struggle there. They’ve been a Top 10 team every time we’ve played them there, I think. What we have to do is attack their pressure to score and then, obviously, take care of the basketball so we don’t have live-ball turnovers. And then we’ve gotta rebound. We need to steal some possessions on the glass because that’s what they make a living on, stealing extra possessions off the glass.”