WVU Basketball Faces Arizona for 3rd Place at Battle 4 Atlantis

WVU basketball is getting a preview of conference today as it takes on new Big 12 member Arizona in the third-place game at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.

West Virginia (4-2) and No. 24 Arizona (3-3) both lost in Thursday’s semifinal round, setting up today’s battle for third place at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

Arizona is in its first season as a member of the Big 12 after moving from the Pac-12. Friday’s meeting will not count in the conference standings, however, the Mountaineers and Wildcats are scheduled to meet again in the not-too-distant future. Arizona will make a trip to Morgantown for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Jan. 7.

WVU lost to Louisville, 79-70, in overtime on Thursday. Senior point guard Javon Small continued his breakout tournament run with a team-high 26 points on 10-19 shooting. Small led all scorers with 31 points in the Mountaineers’ stunning upset of No. 3 Gonzaga on Wednesday.

Arizona fell 82-77 to former Big 12 member Oklahoma in its semifinal bout on Thursday. Senior guard Caleb Love led the Wildcats with 17 points, closely followed by Jaden Bradley’s 16. Seven-footer Motiejus Krivas scored 14 off the bench and Oakland transfer Trey Townsend had 10.

For a related story, the minutes are adding up for WVU basketball after back-to-back overtime games.