MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — One day after falling in its regular season finale to an undermanned Oklahoma State team, West Virginia learned it will play the Cowboys again this week.
With Texas’ 76-64 win at TCU on Sunday, the Longhorns moved into a tie with the Mountaineers for third in the Big 12 Conference standings. Texas wins the tiebreaker on the strength of its two victories against Kansas, giving UT the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and dropping West Virginia to fourth.
That sets up a rubber match between the Mountaineers (18-8, 11-6 Big 12) and No. 5 seed Oklahoma State (18-7, 11-7) in a Thursday quarterfinal that will tip at 11:30 a.m. eastern time in Kansas City.
West Virginia rallied from a 19-point second half deficit for an 87-84 win at OSU back on Jan. 4. It was the Mountaineers’ first victory after Oscar Tshiebwe left the team. The Cowboys, despite missing star player Cade Cunningham and starting guard Isaac Likekele, got even with West Virginia by claiming an 85-80 win in Morgantown on Saturday.
“We beat them at their place, they beat us here and we’d love to get them again and get that edge over them,” said West Virginia guard Miles McBride.
Should West Virginia advance to a semifinal, it would likely set up another rematch with a team that beat the Mountaineers last week — top seed Baylor. The Bears will play the winner of No. 8 TCU-No. 9 Kansas State in a quarterfinal.
A full schedule of the Big 12 Tournament can be found below.
2021 Big 12 Tournament schedule
Note: All times eastern.
First Round: Wed., March 10
Game 1: No. 8 TCU vs. No. 9 Kansas State | 6:30 p.m.
Game 2: No. 7 Oklahoma vs. No. 10 Iowa State | 9:30 p.m.
Quarterfinals: Thurs., March 11
Game 3: No. 4 West Virginia vs. No. 5 Oklahoma State | 11:30 a.m.
Game 4: No. 1 Baylor vs. Game 1 winner | 2:30 p.m.
Game 5: No. 2 Kansas vs. Game 2 winner | 6:30 p.m.
Game 6: No. 3 Texas vs. No. 6 Texas Tech | 9:30 p.m.
Semifinals: Fri., March 12
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner | 6:30 p.m.
Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner | 9:30 p.m.
Championship: Sat., March 13
Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner | 6 p.m.