With the catbird seat to the Big 12 on the line Monday night, Kansas, which dug itself into a 16-point deficit early in the game, looked left for dead and destined for a fifth consecutive loss in Morgantown midway through the second half.
A combination of ill-timed turnovers and a stalling offense which has doomed Bill Self-coached Kansas teams time and again against the defensive-minded Mountaineers told the story of how the Jayhawks would once again fall at WVU Coliseum -- this time, putting their Big 12 championship streak in serious peril.
Only that's not how the story would end.
Down double digits, the Jayhawks found new life in the second half, tightening up their defense and forcing the Mountaineers to go cold down the stretch. It was part of a final six-minute revival -- a 20-6 Kansas run -- and a 71-66 decision in favor of the Jayhawks.
Kansas, borderline-miraculously, now boasts a 15-1 record in the past two seasons in games decided by single digits.
So after a rocky 1-1 start in conference play that saw Kansas fall at home to Texas Tech, it's the Jayhawks -- better known as winners of 13 consecutive Big 12 titles -- who sit alone atop the Big 12 standings after breaking the four-way tie shared among Oklahoma, Texas Tech and West Virginia entering Monday.
And once again, like clockwork, it's Kansas that appears to be the team to beat in the Big 12.
