The Sideline Report with Landry Jones’ girlfriend, Whitney Hand

Sometimes, you just have to take advantage of an opportunity.

While at Big 12 women’s media day today at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., some of us writers noticed that Oklahoma had brought sophomore guard Whitney Hand for interviews.

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Now, Whitney is a great basketball player in her own right. She was the Big 12 freshman of the year last season after averaging 9.2 points per game for the Sooners.

But she’s also gained some notoriety in the last couple months for another reason: She is the girlfriend of OU quarterback Landry Jones.

Because this is KU-OU football week, I thought it would be interesting to track down Whitney for a few minutes at media day to talk about her boyfriend’s most famous feature: his mustache.

Thanks to Whitney for being a good sport about the whole thing and for candidly answering questions about Jones’ now-famous fashion statement.

The (somewhat random) Sideline Report with Whitney Hand (Landry Jones’ girlfriend)

Jesse Newell: How did Landry’s mustache come about?

Whitney Hand: To be honest with you, he’s just really lazy and so, before the BYU game, he wasn’t really expecting to get that much TV time. So he just didn’t shave. Then, it became this huge deal. Students made shirts. I was like, ‘Landry, you have to shave that. Like, you have to shave it. It’s disgusting.’ He was like, ‘I can’t.’ And all the students would go crazy if he had shaved it. He didn’t end up shaving it until after the Miami (Fla.) game when they lost.

JN: And you hated it, right?

WH: I really did. I mean … he tells people that I said he looks ugly with it. But I never said he looked ugly. I just (pause) wasn’t a fan of it. But, I don’t know. It’s fine. I think it’s great that the students have embraced him so much in that. I think it’s fun. It’s kind of taken the pressure off a little bit. I think it’s a good thing.

JN: Do you think he resembles anybody with the mustache?

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WH: Not really. It wasn’t his best look. (laughs)

JN: Did you wish some other fashion statement had caught on instead of that one?

WH: Yeah, I mean he’s an outrageous dresser. Why couldn’t one of his jackets with fur have caught on or something? (laughs) But I guess it definitely could be worse, so I’m OK with it.

JN: Is it something you just had to learn to deal with?

WH: Yeah. It was his time to be him. I think it’s cool that he’s gotten to experience that. He definitely has much more fame to come. I think it’s good for him to have had something that people can identify with.