MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — By virtue of clinching the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 tournament, West Virginia will face the Texas Tech-Texas survivor during Thursday night’s quarterfinal in Kansas City.
The Mountaineers (24-7, 12-6) finished in a three-way deadlock with Baylor and Iowa State in the conference standings but prevailed on tiebreakers to claim the higher seed. That means WVU, like top-seeded Kansas, will have the advantage of opening the tournament against an opponent who played in Wednesday night’s first round.
“We needed this win to get the 2 seed and we got it done,” senior forward Nathan Adrian said Friday night after West Virginia closed the regular season by beating Iowa State 87-76. “Senior Night’s great and all, but getting the 2 seed in the tournament was a much bigger deal.”
Baylor earned the No. 3 seed and will face sixth-seeded Kansas State, while Iowa State fell into a must-see 4-5 matchup against Oklahoma State.
West Virginia split overtime games against Texas Tech during the regular season, losing 77-76 in Lubbock on Jan. 3 before winning 83-74 in Morgantown on Feb. 18. In sweeping Texas, the Mountaineers won 74-72 in Austin and 77-62 at home.
“We’ve got to focus now,” said West Virginia guard Daxter Miles, who produced career highs of 23 points and seven rebounds in Friday’s victory. “It’s time to focus.”