Kansas forward Jalen Wilson (10) runs up court against West Virginia during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Morgantown, W.Va., Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Kathleen Batten)

Morgantown, W.V. — Wins on the road in the Big 12 Conference are precious and the 3rd-ranked Kansas men’s basketball team already has two of them this season.

In two tries, no less.

KU’s dominance over West Virginia in Saturday’s 76-62 win at WVU Coliseum, which followed a dog-fight victory at Texas Tech four days earlier, moved the Jayhawks to 3-0 in Big 12 play, which puts them in a three-way tie for first place with Iowa State and Kansas State.

It’s way too early to start talking about who’s in the driver’s seat to win the league, but it’s noteworthy that both of the teams KU is currently tied with also have won two games on the road already. And both will play Kansas in the next nine days.

K-State won a pair of road games over ranked teams — at Texas and at Baylor — and Iowa State won at Oklahoma and TCU. Texas, which sits at 2-1 through the first full week of the Big 12 season, also has two road wins, having swept the Oklahoma schools in the Sooner State.

To say that the Jayhawks already have won at two of the tougher venues in the Big 12 would not be entirely accurate, because, this year of all years, it looks as if every road gym is going to present a vicious challenge for all 10 Big 12 teams. Not just Allen Fieldhouse.

However, given the fact that Kansas is 5-6 at WVU Coliseum all-time and had lost its two of its last three trips to Texas Tech before Tuesday night, the two road wins that are already in KU’s back pocket are significant. They’re also two of the longest road trips of the conference season and they’re now out of the way.

“Well, it was the best we could do,” KU coach Bill Self said Saturday, when asked to assess how this week went. “I don’t know that it means a ton, but we couldn’t have had a better week than what we did. And I thought we played pretty well in both games.”

Entering Monday, road teams were 10-5 through the first 15 games of the conference schedule, underscoring a point that Self and the rest of the league’s coaches have made with emphasis in the past several weeks.

“This league is just going to be a monster league,” Self said again after Saturday’s win over WVU.

In many ways, it already has been. The league ranks as the No. 1 conference in the NET rankings, all 10 teams are ranked in the top 60 of the NET — with seven in the top 31 — and ESPN’s latest Bracketology report has eight teams making the NCAA Tournament field. At one point a couple of weeks ago, all 10 were in.

The average margin of victory in those 15 games is just six points. And there already have been more Big 12 games decided by three points or fewer (7) than games won by double digits (4).

“It’s the best conference in America,” KU’s Kevin McCullar Jr. said after the win at West Virginia. “And it’s a blessing to be playing in it every night.”

Asked by a West Virginia reporter if he saw a major difference between the teams that are currently 3-0 in the conference and the teams that are 0-3, McCullar said he hadn’t seen it.

“No. Not really,” he said. “It really comes down to one or two plays in this league. A lot of teams that are 0-3 or 1-2, that’s pretty much made off of one play. Everybody is a great team.”

Added Self: “Everything’s so skewed. People could say West Virginia started out 0-3; well, they played their first two games on the road and they could’ve won them both. Things have a tendency to flip and balance out, and I’m sure it will in some ways.”

Whether it does or not, and how fast it happens, remains to be seen. But it’s certainly bad news for the rest of the league that the Jayhawks already have two road wins and are headed back home for three of their next four games.

“Going back home (after two road wins) obviously gives us more momentum,” said KU freshman Gradey Dick after leading the Jayhawks with 16 points at WVU on Saturday night.

Next up: KU plays host to Oklahoma at 8 p.m. Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.