MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After closing the regular season with six straight losses, West Virginia fell to the eighth seed in the Big 12 tournament.
The Mountaineers were surpassed by Texas in the conference standings Saturday when the Longhorns beat Texas Tech 71-69 in overtime. That gave the Longhorns the No. 7 spot, along with a first-round matchup against last-place TCU on Wednesday in Kansas City.
WVU (13-18, 6-12) will face ninth-seeded Texas Tech (10-19, 3-15) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Though the Mountaineers swept Texas Tech during the regular season, they narrowly edged the Red Raiders 66-64 on Feb. 16 in Morgantown. That was West Virginia’s last win.
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To reach the NCAAs for a sixth consecutive season, West Virginia must win four games in four days at the Big 12 tournament — a stretch that would include beating Kansas in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
“It’s never too late as long as you’ve got a conference championship,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said Saturday after an 83-74 loss to Iowa State. “As long as you’re still standing, you might as well fight.”
Kansas State and Kansas shared the regular-season title, though both lost Saturday. The Wildcats fell 76-70 at Oklahoma State, while the Jayhawks were embarrassed 81-58 at Baylor. Kansas earned the No. 1 seed by virtue of sweeping K-State during the regular season.