John Rieger-USA Today Sports

On Monday night, the Kansas Jayhawks made the trip to West Virginia in search of extending the nation’s longest overall winning streak.

Well, aided by a 61-56 victory over the Mountaineers, the Jayhawks were able to push that streak to 18 consecutive games, moving to 19-1 overall and 7-0 within the Big 12 Conference. As for West Virginia, the struggles continue, as the latest dropped contest at the hands of second-ranked Kansas moved the Mountaineers two games below .500 overall (9-11), a mark that head coach Bob Huggins does not normally see.

From a West Virginia perspective, scoring 56 points against the No. 2 ranked team in the country, usually won’t spell out a victory. Although the Jayhawks struggled on offense in their own right on Monday night, the lack of scoring for the Mountaineers is simply becoming a common theme. Huggins does not have a single scorer who is averaging in double-figures offensively.

While Kansas head coach Bill Self was not in the greatest of moods given the Jayhawks’ offensive output, he was particularly pleased with their defensive showing on the road.

“The second half we just kind of pieced it together,” Self told the Associated Press after the game. “Our defense needed to be good because we didn’t score, either. I thought defensively we did a pretty good job.”

That defensive effort that Self was referring to has continued to pace the Jayhawks since the start of conference play. In fact, Monday night’s victory marked the sixth consecutive game in which Kansas has held their opponents to less than 60 points total.

The Jayhawks will look to keep their unbeaten record in the conference unblemished this weekend when Oklahoma State comes to town.

Follow Paul Seaver on Twitter: @PaulSeaverRS