No. 10 WVU Gets Another Shot at Oklahoma State to Open Big 12 Tournament

WVU closed the regular season against Oklahoma State, and now WVU will play Cowboys again when the two meet in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 tournament on Thursday.

“I can’t remember coaching back-to-back games against anybody,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “I may have, but I don’t remember it. If we go out the way we went out the other day, we’re not going to have a whole lot of success.”

The Mountaineers and Cowboys met in the regular-season finale in Morgantown on Saturday. When without two of its best players, Cade Cunningham and Isaac Likekele, OSU upset the Mountaineers 85-80, knocking WVU out of contention for a No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and setting up Thursday’s rematch.

That loss has not sat well with WVU’s players. Huggins gave his players two days off following the loss, giving them time to recover and unplug from basketball for a bit. After thinking about it for a few days, sophomore point guard Miles “Deuce” McBride said it was a lack of energy from WVU that did them in. With Thursday’s game tipping off at 11:30 in the morning, he said having energy early in the game will be even more important.

“I think we have to come and set the tone early. In that last game, we came out flat and gave them a lot of confidence,” McBride said. “A lot of it is going to be us being ready to go early in the morning. I think there’s going to be some nerves from some guys but overall we’ve been playing basketball our whole lives and it’s not going to be any different.”

The Cowboys could look very different come Thursday. While Huggins said he does not expect Likekele to be back from a hand injury, he fully expects to see Cunningham, the 2020-21 Big 12 Player of the Year, back in action.

“Obviously, Cade Cunningham is a great player,” Huggins said. “MVP in the league, he’s the real deal. When you have a player like that, you have somebody to go to. The other guys played really well. Mike did a great job of getting those other guys ready to play.”

Cunningham was named the conference’s top player earlier this week. The freshman is averaging 19.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists per game. He is projected to be one of the top picks in this year’s NBA draft, but West Virginia is treating him like any other opponent.

“He’s projected top 5, top 3 in the NBA draft and every kid at this level wants to be in that position,” WVU freshman Jalen Bridges said. “So you’re obviously using this game to compare yourself to where you’re at with him. But every single person in D-I basketball is talented so every single game it’s somebody that you’re going to have to be ready to play. He’s just another one of those guys, he just happens to be considered a top NBA draft pick next year.”

WVU and OSU will tip-off at 11:30 a.m. EST Thursday from Kansas City. The game will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2.