Allen Fieldhouse Magic Propels Kansas to Historic Win Over No. 1 Arizona

There are many exciting things happening currently in the world of sports. Between the Winter Olympics in Italy, spring training starting for Major League Baseball, and the NBA and NHL seasons in full swing – there’s no shortage of sporting events to take in.

However, the place to be on Monday night was in Lawrence, Kansas, inside Allen Fieldhouse where the No. 9 ranked Kansas Jayhawks defeated the No. 1 ranked Arizona Wildcats 82-78 in an all-time thriller in the historic venue.

KU came into Monday’s game on a seven-game winning streak, which included the defeat of three top 25 Big 12 teams in Iowa State, BYU, and Texas Tech over the past month. Meanwhile, the top-ranked Arizona Wildcats came to Lawrence riding an undefeated 23-o streak, which was the best overall start to a season of any team in Big 12 history.

That is until Allen Fieldhouse came into the picture and helped the Kansas men’s basketball program earn its first victory over a No. 1 team, as ranked by the Associated Press (AP), in the history of the building dating back to its opening in 1955. KU was previously 0-5 in those matchups and last earned a victory over an AP No. 1 ranked team in Lawrence back in 1953 versus Kansas State (80-66) when games were played at Hoch Auditorium on KU’s campus.

The win moved KU to 39-0 on ESPN’s Big Monday games and 15-0 in top 10 contests at Allen Fieldhouse where KU wasn’t the higher ranked team in the Bill Self era.

Self had all the praise for the 71-year-old building after KU’s exciting win in front of a juiced Jayhawk crowd.

“This place won this game tonight,” he told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt in a postgame interview. “Allen Fieldhouse won this game tonight.”

And he’s not wrong. Even through the television you could tell it was a raucous environment with crowd noise reaching levels many in attendance said they never experienced before.

Self continued his praise for the Jayhawks’ home court during his postgame press conference.

“There’s a lot of great crowds out there, and everybody would think I’m biased by saying that we’re the best because I shouldn’t say that because I don’t know exactly what everybody else has … but I can guarantee you there’s no place better than this place though. Nobody can say they got a better joint than this one.”

It’s remarkable how Allen Fieldhouse has a way of outdoing itself time and time again as a new challenge comes along.

It is arguably the greatest place to watch a basketball game at any level anywhere in the world. And that beautiful, magical basketball cathedral proved once again on Monday night that there truly is no place like home.

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