MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s Skyler Howard jumped just before safety Mike Lee plowed into him near the Kansas end zone, sending the quarterback into an awkward somersault and a hard landing on his right hip.

Howard got up from the second-quarter scare at the end of the 15-yard run and went back to the huddle. His gutsy play epitomized his determination to restore confidence in an offense that looked flat a week ago in the Mountaineers’ first loss of the season.

“He plays his best when he’s like that,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “I thought he sparked us.”

Howard threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more scores to lead No. 20 West Virginia to a 48-21 victory over Kansas on Saturday night, sending the Jayhawks to their 40th straight road loss.

Howard was nonchalant about the big hit, saying he was fortunate he didn’t end up in worse shape.

“When I was in the air, it felt like forever,” he said.

West Virginia’s Shelton Gibson, who had 102 receiving yards, including TD grabs of 19 and 32 yards, was a bit more serious about it, knowing how much his quarterback means to the team.

“I grabbed his facemask and said, `I don’t want to ever, ever see you do that again,” Gibson said.

West Virginia (7-1, 4-1 Big 12, No. 14 AP) bounced back from a 37-20 loss at Oklahoma State by piling up 605 yards of offense against the Jayhawks (1-8, 0-6).

Howard completed 16 of 27 passes for 260 yards and helped get the Mountaineers’ momentum back as they head into a tough four-week stretch that includes home games against Oklahoma on Nov. 19 and Baylor on Dec. 3.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it and move on to the next one,” Holgorsen said.

Kansas lost its 18th straight conference game and hasn’t won on the road since beating UTEP in September 2009.

“Those are some resilient dudes in there,” Kansas coach David Beaty said. “They hate losing with a passion. I’m proud of them for continuing to fight, I promise you that.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Kansas: The Jayhawks didn’t get off to the fast start that Beaty had hoped for. Kansas trailed 31-0 at halftime. The Jayhawks will have one more chance this season to break the road futility streak on Nov. 26 at Kansas State, which hasn’t lost to Kansas at home since 2007.

West Virginia: The Mountaineers kept pace with first-place Oklahoma by doing what they was expected to do against heavy-underdog Kansas — score early and often and play respectable defense. Rasul Douglas made two interceptions, but a late surge by Kansas halted the Mountaineers’ streak of four straight games of limiting opponents under 400 total yards.

SOLID RUNNERS

West Virginia’s Justin Crawford ran for 129 yards and a score, and freshman Kennedy McKoy had 127 yards. The pair shared the rushing load in place of Rushel Shell, who missed the game with an ankle injury sustained a week ago.

Holgorsen said it took him a few series to decide whether to thrown downfield all game or pound the ball on the ground. West Virginia amassed 341 rushing yards a year after running for 426 yards against the Jayhawks.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Doubling up on Kansas might move the Mountaineers up a few spots in the AP poll , only because other teams ahead of them lost, including Baylor.

STANLEY SHARP

Kansas quarterback Carter Stanley was effective in relief of Montell Cozart, completing 9 of 11 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Beaty said Cozart left the game in the third quarter with concussion symptoms.

UP NEXT

Kansas heads home to play Iowa State next Saturday. The teams are tied for last place in the Big 12.

West Virginia heads to Texas, which is coming off a 47-37 win at Texas Tech.

— Associated Press —

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas faithful received their first chance to welcome KU basketball’s group of newcomers inside game-atmosphere Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday night as the third-ranked Jayhawks defeated Washburn, 92-74.

Senior guard Frank Mason III led the Jayhawks in scoring, nearly reaching a triple-double, with 21 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Junior guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk drained four 3-pointers to finish with 16 points, while freshman guard Josh Jackson poured in 14 second-half points.
Josh Jackson

Jackson was in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s contest, highlighting five Jayhawks who made their debut. Joining Jackson who ran under the tunnel to James Naismith Court for the first time were freshmen Mitch Lightfoot and Udoka Azubuike, and juniors Dwight Coleby and Tucker Vang.

“It was good for our freshmen to get an eye-opening experience,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said. “I’d say we labored; it wasn’t a great outing by our freshmen but certainly I don’t know that that is all bad because it opens their eyes to things we need to do a lot better.”

Kansas shot 54 percent from the floor, while holding the Ichabods to 38 percent shooting. The majority of Washburn’s 45-to-44 rebounding advantage came from pulling down 19 offensive boards off the glass.

Washburn struck first with a 3-pointer by David Salach just under a minute into regulation. KU junior Devonte’ Graham responded by making the first bucket of the season for the Jayhawks – a 3-point to tie the game at three. Azubuike was the first player off the bench for Lucas, who committed two fouls in the first two minutes of the game. The 7-footer from Nigeria contributed early with a blocked shot, followed by a dunk on the opposite end of the floor to put Kansas up, 7-3.

KU’s defense began to clamp down in the lane as Kansas began to pull away in the first half. Kansas held a 7-6 lead before going a 13-2 run to take a 20-8 lead at the 11:11 mark on a layup by sophomore guard Legerald Vick.

Washburn didn’t have a solution for Mason’s dribble-drive penetration, converting on a number of contested layups to pad the Jayhawks’ double-digit lead.

Graham connected with sophomore forward Carlton Bragg Jr., for a dunk to give Kansas a 26-16 lead at the 8:01 mark of the first half.

Jackson registered his third foul at the 5:37 mark of the first half, which limited his first-half playing time to nine minutes.

Lightfoot got fouled going to the bucket on three-straight possessions and converted three of his six free throws during that stretch as Kansas maintained a 39-28 lead.

Mason continued to go aggressive to rim as the first half was coming to a close, making an and-1 layup, 44-29. A late Washburn 5-0 flurry with a minute remaining in the first half cut KU’s lead to 10, but Graham and Mykhailiuk restored KU’s cushion to 16 points with a pair of 3-pointers with under 35 second to go in the half.

Mason headlined the opening half with 11 points, eight assists and four rebounds as Kansas went into the locker room with a 50-34 lead. The Jayhawks shot 61 percent from the floor in the first half.

Washburn started the second half on a run 9-2 run, cutting KU’s 16-point lead down to nine points with 17:01 left to play.

Jackson began to show glimpses of his offensive prowess which garnered him so much attention during the recruiting process as one of the top prospects in the country. The Detroit native scored his first basket as a Jayhawk on a layup with 13:50 reminding in the game, putting Kansas up 62-49.

Kansas pulled away in the closing stages of regulation with an 11-0 run, capped off by a pair of free throws by Mykhailiuk with 4:26 remaining which gave KU a 85-63 lead.

Fan-favorite, senior guard Tyler Self, checked in the game late and scored two points before ushering in a 92-74 victory for the Jayhawks.

— KU Athletics —