WVU Basketball Falling Back Down KenPom Rankings

WVU basketball has been in a rut for the last few weeks, both on the court and in the KenPom rankings.

The Mountaineers (14-8, 5-6 Big 12) have lost four of their last five games in what should have been the easiest part of their conference schedule. As a result, the team has bounced around the same few spots in the KenPom rankings for nearly three weeks.

Following Wednesday’s loss to TCU, West Virginia is ranked No. 48 in KenPom, down from No. 43 after Sunday’s win at Cincinnati. The Mountaineers have been stuck in the 40s for nearly the entire season, only breaking out when the upset win over Iowa State boosted them to No. 37 last month.

Since then, WVU basketball has lost to three teams in the bottom half of the Big 12 standings, Arizona State, Kansas State and, most recently, TCU. WVU also lost to top-10 Houston, only beating Cincinnati during that stretch.

Big 12 KenPom Rankings

No. 3 Houston
No. 8 Texas Tech
No. 9 Kansas
No. 10 Iowa State
No. 11 Arizona
No. 26 Baylor
No. 33 BYU
No. 47 West Virginia
No. 55 Cincinnati
No. 58 Arizona State
No. 62 UCF
No. 64 Kansas State
No. 79 TCU
No. 85 Utah
No. 104 Colorado
No. 107 Oklahoma State

If there were ever a game for the Mountaineers to get right, it would be Saturday at home against Utah (5 p.m./ESPN+). The Utes (13-9, 5-6) are one of the lowest-rated Big 12 teams in the KenPom rankings and have lost three of their last five games. Utah beat last-place Colorado 72-59 Wednesday night.

For a related story, why does the TCU loss sting more than others? Mike Asti and Cody Nespor answered that question on a live postgame show after the TCU loss.