LAWRENCE, Kan. _ One loss at Allen Fieldhouse was enough for Kansas' No. 3-ranked basketball team, which followed a Feb. 4 overtime defeat to Iowa State with a one-for-the-ages 84-80 overtime victory over No. 9 West Virginia on Monday night.
The Jayhawks (23-3, 11-2 Big 12), who avoided becoming the first KU team in 28 years (since the 1988-89 season) to drop two straight at home, opened a two-game lead in the Big 12 race over Baylor (22-4, 9-4), which lost to Texas Tech, 84-78, on Monday in Lubbock, Texas. West Virginia, which led by as many as 11 points the first half, 39-32 at halftime, and a whopping 14 points (64-50) with 2:52 left fell to 20-6, 8-5 and trails KU by three games with five to play.
Frank Mason had 24 points, Devonte Graham had 18, Lagerald Vick had 14 and Josh Jackson had 14 as KU battled back from a deficit deemed so big a spattering of fans headed to the exits at 2:52.
It was 64-50 when KU made its remarkable comeback, tying the game at 71, on two Mason free throws with 21.6 seconds left.
Graham had hit a huge 3-pointer at 33 seconds that cut a five-point deficit to two (71-69). Earlier, Landen Lucas had a dunk following two Graham free throws and a steal in a four-point flurry that had cut the gap to 69-66 at 51 seconds.
West Virginia's Tariq Phillip missed a three at the buzzer that sent the game into OT, the game tied at 71.
Graham hit a 3 to open the overtime and give KU a 74-71 lead at 4:10. Jackson followed with a layup to give KU a 76-71 lead at 2:55. Graham hit a 3 to make it 79-71 at 2:13, West Virginia suffering three turnovers.
The Mountaineers cut the gap to 79-75 at 37.8 seconds on a bucket by Esa Ahmad and two free throws by Adrian. Lucas made one of two free throws to make it 80-75 at 36 seconds. Mason hit two free throws at 22 seconds to give KU a seven-point lead. West Virginia cut it to four and Lucas missed two free throws at 15.1 seconds, but West Virginia's Adrian kicked a rebound out of bounds giving KU the ball back with 13.8 seconds left in overtime.
KU suffered a turnover and Adrian scored on the other end to make it 82-80 KU with 10 seconds left.
Mason was fouled on the inbounds and stepped to the line with 7.5 seconds left and hit two free throws to make it 84-80.
Time ran out and the Jayhawks had actually pulled off the amazing comeback, winning a game in which they trailed by 14 with less than three minutes to play.
West Virginia was led Ahmad, who had 20 points and Phillip 18.
KU hit 34.4 percent of its shots to West Virginia's 41.3 percent.
West Virginia, which was trying to become the first team to sweep the regular-season series against KU in the Bill Self era, used an 8-0 run in the final 1:26 of the first half to erase a 32-31 deficit and grab a 39-32 halftime lead.
Jevon Carter, who hit a 3 to beat the halftime buzzer, had 11 points, Ahmad had 10 and Phillip had seven in the first half. KU, which trailed by 11 points very early (18-7) only to build a 26-21 lead following a 19-3 surge, was led by Vick's 10 first-half points. Josh Jackson scored six points with seven rebounds, while Mason, who had 12 points in Saturday's win at Texas Tech, had five points the first half.
Phillip hit a 3 and scored off a steal as the Mountaineers opened the game on a 10-0 run, forcing Self to call a time out at 17:04. KU's first points came on two Svi Mykhailiuk free throws at 16:37, making the score 10-2.
KU went to work when the deficit hit 11 at 18-7. Vick hit a pair of 3s and later scored another bucket in KU's 19-3 run. Mason had five points. Mykhailiuk concluded the run by accepting a deep baseball pass from Jackson and converting to make it 26-21 KU at 5:52.
The Mountaineers immediately embarked on a 7-0 run to grab a 28-26 lead. It was 32-31 KU when West Virginia rolled, 8-0, the final 1:26.
