It wasn’t the play of the game, it did not save the Jayhawks from doom and despair, but it did deal a serious blow to West Virginia’s chances and wound up being the signature play that demonstrated just how right things went for Kansas down the stretch in Monday night’s thrilling, 84-80, overtime victory at Allen Fieldhouse.

With Kansas leading by five with 2:40 to play in overtime, the Jayhawks took possession after yet another WVU turnover and looked to add to their lead.

A bucket here, and the Mountaineers, who led by 14 with 2:58 remaining in regulation, would be reeling.

With the shot clock approaching 10 and Carlton Bragg Jr., in trouble in front of the Kansas bench, Bragg’s tall frame allowed him to see Josh Jackson wide open between the 3-point line and mid-court on the opposite side of the floor and Bragg calmly flipped a pass Jackson’s way.

After the game, KU coach Bill Self said Bragg made the right play and even called it a terrific skip pass to Jackson, who, had he caught it clean, would have had plenty of time and space to attack the paint off the dribble before the shot clock expired.

One problem. As the pass floated his way, Jackson fell. With the clock still ticking down and the Mountaineers’ defense approaching, Jackson gathered himself, sat calmly on his rear end and bounced a perfect left-handed pass around the defense to a charging Bragg, who flashed to the top of the key to help Jackson.

Bragg didn’t have the best night by any stretch of the imagination. His stat-sheet totals looked like a ghost town and he had more muffed plays than memorable ones. But in this sequence, the sophomore from Cleveland made three terrific decisions and executed each to perfection to help the Jayhawks pull off the remarkable victory.

First was the pass. Second was his flash to help Jackson. And the third good move by Bragg on the play was to immediately get rid of the ball after catching it so one of KU’s other play makers could make a play.

On this occasion, that happened to be Devonte’ Graham, who put on a dribbling clinic and elevated for a dagger of a 3-pointer with :02 on the shot clock and 2:13 on the game clock.

Graham’s second 3-pointer of OT, released right in front of Self, gave Kansas a 79-71 lead and sent Allen Fieldhouse into a frenzy.

Here’s Jackson after the game on the play:

“I was trying to catch the ball and I slipped,” he said, noting the floor was wet in that spot. “I was just waiting for somebody to get open. I wasn’t sure if we had a timeout or not, so I didn’t want to call one. I just seen Carlton just running to the ball and immediately I just threw it to him…. I was just waiting for somebody to come flash to the ball and help me out. Thankfully Carlton did.”

In the video, you can see Jackson charging to the rim on the back side as Graham released his shot. Asked why, he pointed out that he had a ton of confidence that Graham would make the shot, but added, “But I’m still going to the glass, trying to rebound, in case he doesn’t.”