To the joy of Rock Chalk Jayhawk fans across the nation, the Kansas Jayhawks extended their win record to 18 straight in NCAA Division I Men's Basketball with a road win against the WVU Mountaineers.
This was the Jayhawks' first trip to Morgantown since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 and the first meeting between the two teams.
It wasn't a pretty game and KU's shooting wasn't up to par, but in the end, the Kansas Jayhawks prevailed in the game, played in front of a sea of yellow and broadcast on ESPN.
For us East Coast fans, the win means going to work today without listening to a lot of grief from the local ACC fans.
The Jayhawks went into Monday night's game a favorite, ranked second in Monday's AP poll and first in the USA Today coach's poll.
Kansas' lead of eight points at the half dwindled during the second half, due to a combination of turnovers and poor shooting on the part of the Jayhawks.
While ahead by only two points, Kansas pulled a 7-0 run, which included Releford's only three-pointer of the game to pull ahead by nine, 55-46.
It's not always easy being a Jayhawk fan buried deep in ACC country, but this Kansas transplant breathed a big sigh of relief as the close game came to a close.
Seniors Jeff Withey and Travis Releford led the scoring for the Jayhawks, with 15 points each. Withey's hash-tag identity on Twitter, #WitheyBlockParty, received many mentions when his block stopped a last-minute effort by the Mountaineers.
Although it was a good effort by the Mountaineers, it still wasn't enough to pull off the upset their fans wanted and the Jayhawks finished the game with a score of 61-56.
Those of us also following the game on Twitter might have thought that the most important aspect of the game was the new road uniforms worn by the Jayhawks.
Jeremy Sampson, sportscaster from WILX-TV in Lansing, Michigan tweeted at the end of the game, "Jayhawk uniforms ... an announcer's nightmare with those numbers."
KU fans also had words of wisdom to share about the new uniforms on Twitter. One fan tweeted, "Making those ugly jerseys look hot" while another shared, "These jerseys make me feel like Helen Keller. Ain't nobody can see what they say."
In a post-game interview, Jayhawks coach Bill Self stated, "We made some awful, awful turnovers." With the win, KU's record moves to 19-1 for the season and a perfect 6-0 in Big 12 play. This Jayhawk fan added a #RockChalkJayhawk tweet to the mix at the end of the game.
Kansas returns home to a welcoming crowd at Allen Field House on Saturday, Feb.2 at 3 p.m. CT when they host Oklahoma State.
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