WVU Basketball Clinches 1st-Round Bye in Big 12 Tournament

WVU basketball won and got some help on Saturday to clinch the No. 8 seed and a first-round bye for next week’s Big 12 Conference Tournament.

The top eight seeds do not have to play a first-round game in Kansas City. The Mountaineers’ win over UCF, coupled with losses by TCU and Kansas State, catapulted West Virginia from 10th up to 8th in the Big 12 standings.

“It’s huge for us,” WVU coach Darian DeVries said. “Those 20 games are a lot. With our rotation being a little bit shorter, getting that extra day is huge.”

TCU lost big at Colorado, 76-56, and Kansas State dropped its home finale, 73-57, against Iowa State. West Virginia finishes with 10 conference victories, while the Horned Frogs and Wildcats both end at nine.

“Obviously, we’ve played a lot of games this season, so having an extra day to prep and get our minds ready is huge,” said freshman Jonathan Powell. “I think it’ll go a long way.”

WVU will play its first game in Kansas City at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. The Mountaineers will face the winner of the ninth-seeded TCU and 16th-seeded Colorado.

“We’re facing everything that we’ve seen already this season,” said Javon Small, the only Mountaineer with Big 12 tournament experience. “We just need to go into the conference tournament with some confidence and belief that we can win.”

Entering play Saturday, WVU was in 10th place in the conference and would have played Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the 15 seed. WVU could have risen as high as the seventh seed on Saturday, but Kansas prevailed, 83-76, over Arizona to secure it.

“You go 20 straight games with no bye weeks, so getting that one extra day, we get regrouped and get our legs underneath us to have them fresh and ready to play on Wednesday,” DeVries said. “Obviously, the goal is to play as many days as possible in a row.”

With a win Wednesday, WVU basketball would advance to face top-seeded Houston in the quarterfinal round Thursday at 3 p.m.

WVU did not win a game in the Big 12 Tournament last season. West Virginia defeated Texas Tech in the opening round of the 2023 tournament before falling to Kansas in the next round.