WVU Basketball to Face Colorado in 2nd Round of Big 12 Tournament

WVU basketball will face sixteenth-seeded Colorado in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament Wednesday afternoon in Kansas City.

The Buffaloes, who finished last in the Big 12 with a 3-17 conference record, knocked off ninth-seeded TCU, 69-67, in a first-round matchup Tuesday. UC advances to take on No. 8 seed West Virginia Wednesday at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

WVU and Colorado played just once in the regular season, with the Mountaineers winning 78-70 on Jan. 12. WVU built an 11-point lead at halftime but had to hold off Colorado late to secure the win. All-Big 12 first-teamer Javon Small led all scorers with 26 points, but it was Joseph Yesufu’s season-high 18 points that helped the Mountaineers lock up the win.

“In January, I feel like we did not get better,” UC coach Tad Boyle said in his postgame press conference Tuesday. “”We kind of plateaued and we did not improve from game to game. We let some games get away from us, West Virginia in Boulder was one of them.”

Julian Hammond III led Colorado with 23 points that night, while Assane Diop scored 13.

Against the Horned Frogs, Andrej Jakimovski led UC with 18 points and Hammond was right behind him with 16. Colorado led TCU by 13 points with five minutes left to play, but only madeone field goal the rest of the way as the Buffaloes had to survive a TCU comeback attempt.

“That’s why we have these postseason tournaments,” Boyle said. “I’m thankful to the Big 12 that we all get to come here because the 16 seed can sometimes surprise some people like we did today. Now it’s our job to go do it tomorrow.”

The winner of Wednesday’s contest will advance to face top-seeded Houston in the quarterfinal round Thursday at 3 p.m.

For a related story, WVU basketball standouts earn Big 12 honors.