LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen kept reminding his team all week about its trip to Kansas two years ago, when the lightly regarded Jayhawks stormed to a victory over the Mountaineers.

The message apparently sunk in.

Skyler Howard threw for 133 yards and a touchdown, ran for 129 yards and another score on the ground, and led a grinding West Virginia offense that produced three 100-yard rushers in a 49-0 win over the Jayhawks on Saturday that made his team bowl-eligible for the second straight year.

“It meant a lot to our team to come here and play well,” Holgorsen said. “It had everything to do with us and nothing to do with them. And I give our players a bunch of credit for attacking this week the right way. They were ready to play.”

Wendell Smallwood ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns, and Rushel Shell finished with 108 yards and two more scores, as the Mountaineers (6-4, 3-4 Big 12) had a trio of 100-yard rushers for the first time since Sept. 13, 1969, against Cincinnati.

“It’s what we hang our hat on,” West Virginia running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider said. “We’ve been able to run the ball efficient, and we threw the ball well enough.”

Their defense did its job, too. It was West Virginia’s first road shutout since 2005.

“We’re not finished,” Howard said. “We still have two more to play. Still work to be done.”

Kansas (0-11, 0-9) only managed 221 yards of total offense, and was held to 94 on the ground. A good chunk of that came on a 29-yard run by De’Andre Mann in the fourth quarter.

“I thought they outplayed us on both sides of the ball, the kicking game. They out-coached us. There’s no other way to say it,” Kansas coach David Beaty said. “At the end of the day, we’re all responsible for that. Our players are responsible for their performance as well.”

Freshman quarterback Ryan Willis was 13 of 38 for 127 yards with three interceptions. The first, moments after Shell’s first TD run, was returned by Terrell Chestnut 32 yards for another touchdown that gave the Mountaineers a 14-0 lead with 11:15 left in the first quarter.

Things only got worse the rest of the way for Kansas.

After the Jayhawks went three-and-out — something they did seven times in the first half — the Mountaineers quickly moved 76 yards for another score to take a 21-0 lead.

Smallwood added a 24-yard TD run, Cody Clay caught a short touchdown pass from Howard, and the quarterback ran for his own touchdown as the Mountaineers took a 42-0 lead by the break.

The only drama in the second half was whether Shell would join Howard and Smallwood in breaking the 100-yard mark. He did it with a 19-yard carry late in the third quarter, making West Virginia the first to accomplish the feat against Kansas since Eric Crouch, Correll Buckhalter and Dan Alexander led Nebraska to a 56-17 romp on Nov. 4, 2000.

“We ran the ball. We wanted to run the ball. Didn’t know Skyler would be our leading rusher,” Holgorsen said, “but to have three 100-yard rushers, that’s obviously important to us.”

The total meltdown by the Jayhawks was largely unexpected.

While they have now lost 14 consecutive games dating to last season, they did show signs of progress a week ago against No. 11 TCU. The Jayhawks had the ball with a chance to drive for a go-ahead touchdown in the closing minutes before falling, 23-17.

That near-miss didn’t do much to build fan support, though. There were only a few thousand fans in Memorial Stadium on a cold, blustery day, even though students don’t leave for Thanksgiving break until next week. The student section behind the West Virginia bench was especially empty.

One reporter for the school newspaper counted just over 400 students in attendance.

“We knew we were going to have to create our own energy on the sidelines,” West Virginia defensive lineman Kyle Rose said. “I thought we did a really good job of that.”

— Associated Press —

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas women’s basketball continued its winning ways Thursday night inside Allen Fieldhouse, concluding its four-game homestand with a 72-63 victory over Memphis.

Facing a Memphis team that returned 94 percent of its scoring from last season and claimed nine upperclassmen on its roster, Kansas knew it would have to overcome the experience-gap. Standout performances from newcomers and dominance in the paint made the difference for the Jayhawks. Kansas outrebounded the Tigers 43-29, including 14 offensive boards. The home team also outscored the visitors by 20 points (49-29) in the paint.

Three Jayhawks posted double-figure scoring efforts to earn their squad its second win of the season. Freshman Kylee Kopatich set a career-high with 14 points on 50 percent shooting, including two triples. Junior forward Jada Brown and sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge each logged 10 points. Redshirt-junior guard Timeka O’Neal once again made a living from behind the arc, knocking down three long-range baskets. Freshman guard Jayde Christopher led the team in assists with four, and matched the effort with four points. Freshman forward Tyler Johnson was the only player for either team to reach the double-figure mark in rebounds, grabbing 10 boards.

Memphis logged three double-digit scorers of its own, with Ariel Hearn and Brianna Wright tying for a game-high of 15 points each. Hearn shot a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line and tied with Mooriah Rowser for a team-high four assists. Asianna Fuqua-Bey scored 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

Freshman guard Aisia Robertson kicked off the evening with a layup to give Kansas the early lead. Brown claimed a layup of her own before Wright posted the first points for Memphis. Johnson entered the game at the 7:18 mark and immediately made her presence known when she gathered the rebound off a missed jumper from Brown, put back a layup that bounced out, gathered another rebound and this time found the bottom of the net on her layup attempt. Sophomore Chayla Cheadle repeated the performance two possessions later with a put-back off an offensive rebound of her own. On the very next play, O’Neal drained a long-range bucket to give the Jayhawks a seven-point lead on five unanswered points.

With under three minutes remaining in the quarter, junior forward Caelynn Manning-Allen drove across the lane and drew a foul, earning two free throws. After sinking the first, Memphis’ Hearn was assessed a technical foul. Kopatich converted on one of her two free throws given for the technical. Manning-Allen then returned to the line, and despite missing on her attempt, Kansas retained possession and she finished the play with another layup, pushing the Jayhawk lead to eight. In a span of 90 seconds, the Tigers surged back to tie the game, with five of the eight points coming from Hearn.

However, the final minute would belong to Kansas. Johnson put in her second layup with just 28 seconds on the clock. Cheadle then stole the ball on the next possession and took it all the way to hoop. Memphis then got into its offense, setting up the final play of the quarter. Robertson had different plans, coming up with yet another steal for the Jayhawks and laid the ball into the basket just as time expired.

Offensive rebounds continued to pay off for Kansas in the second quarter. Kopatich missed on the front end of a three-point attempt, but followed her own rebound and kicked the ball back out to Aldridge for a three of her own -her first points of the night. Once again, Memphis answered with a quick run. Another eight-point streak cut the Kansas lead to a single point. Kopatich tilted the momentum back to Kansas with the home team’s third triple of the night. Memphis turned the ball over on their next two trips down the floor, and the Jayhawks capitalized on each to re-establish their eight-point advantage.

Despite making five of its last six field goal attempts of the second quarter, Kansas managed to only carry a one-point lead into the intermission. This was due to the home team only attempting four field goals in the final five minutes of the quarter, while the Tigers closed out the period with three-straight makes, two of those coming from long distance. Both teams shot over 50 percent in the first half of action, with Kansas holding the advantage over the visitors, 54-52. Kopatich’s team-leading nine points also matched her career-high from the opening game of the season. Hearn led Memphis with 13 points, including a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range.

The shooting cooled off for both teams, after returning to the floor for the second half. Memphis shot only 23 percent in the third period while Kansas knocked down 44 percent of their shots. The two teams shot a combined 0-of-5 from the three-point line. As the clock dipped below the five-minute mark in the third quarter, the Jayhawks ran their offensive set for nearly the entire shot clock before Kopatich found Cheadle on the baseline, who battled through a foul to put in a last-second layup. The play sent the Kansas bench into a frenzy and pushed the lead to three points.

As the Tigers endured a drought of four-consecutive missed field goals, the Jayhawks tried to push the lead. Johnson converted her third layup of the evening on the next possession, but Hearn responded by drawing a foul on the other end and draining both free throws. Kopatich continued her career night with her fourth field goal of the night, followed up by Christopher, who shook off a defender with a shoulder fake and sunk a jumper. Two made free throws from Memphis’ Mooriah Rowswer proved to be the final points of the quarter, as the Jayhawks carried a five-point lead into the final 10 minutes of action.

The Jayhawks were not interested in surrendering the lead in the fourth quarter. Five of the first seven shots from the home team found the bottom of the net, including two more three-pointers from O’Neal. Memphis would not be quieted, posting the exact same 5-of-7 shooting to remain within four points with 4:53 left in the game. While both teams found their rhythm in the top half of the quarter, the last four minutes proved to be a shooting struggle.

A scoring drought of 3:49 was finally ended by a Kopatich layup with 1:04 on the clock. After a missed three from Rowser, Aldridge earned a trip to the line and netted both free throws to extend the lead to eight points. Aldridge tacked on a final free throw with 21 seconds on the clock to seal the Jayhawks’ second victory of the season.

Rowser’s three-pointer at the 4:53 mark were the final points for Memphis, as the Tigers were held scoreless for the remainder of the game on 0-of-9 shooting and fell to Kansas by a score of 72-63.

— KU Athletics —