West Virginia vs KU Basketball Preview & How To Watch: Mountaineers In Title Fight With Kansas

2016 Big XII Tournament Bracket

Game Day Vitals

• #9 West Virginia Mountaineers (26-7, Big 12 13-5, NCAA RPI 10) vs. #1 Kansas Jayhawks (29-4, Big 12 15-3, NCAA RPI 1)
• Location: Sprint Center (Capacity: 18,972) Kansas City, Missouri
  
• Series Record: KU leads series 5-3
• Last meeting: WVU 65 - KU 75, Allen Fieldhouse, February 9, 2016
  
• Vegas Lines: (+4) for the good guys, O/U: 146.0
• Date: Saturday, March 12, 2016, 6:00 pm ET
  
• Television: ESPN
• Online Streaming: WatchESPN
• Radio Affiliates

Opponent Information

• #1 Kansas Jayhawks (29-4, Big 12 15-3, NCAA RPI 1)  
• Head Coach - Bill Self, 13th year with KU, 588–187 career
  
• Last Result - Victory in semifinal vs. Baylor W 70-66
• Official Jayhawks Athletics website
• SB Nation Kansas blog - Rock Chalk Talk

The Interwebs

I don't care how many times I do this in a row. As long as I'm writing the previews, this will always be my go-to for KU:

And... yep.

Game Preview

First thing's first:

That was fun. It took Buddy Hield doing his best Alex Ruoff Senior Night impression, Jevon Carter going 6/9 from three, and WVU still had to go to the review monitor for the W. Perhaps that's how you slay the season-sweep demons, but WE GOING TO THE SHIP.

A big parallel to both of the semifinals last night was just the sheer March Madness of it all. Both West Virginia and Kansas looked completely in control with about ten minutes left in their respective games and had to hold off massive late-game runs to punch their ticket to the final. And now, the showdown: TITLE FIIIIIIIIIIIGHT.

Alright, so looking at the box scores from both games this year. There's not much that sticks out about the two. Field goal percentage, turnovers, all of it is pretty much the same. The only difference is that Kansas was called for 32 fouls in Morgantown compared to 18 in Allen Fieldhouse. That is the kind of refereeing that is to be expected against KU especially in Kansas fucking City (MOVE IT TO DALLAS.) Furthermore, it's not helpful that the Jayhawks have been destroying people and playing like a legitimate #1 seed overall. Straight up: KU have been playing like 12-time conference champions.

The Mountaineers, however, are coming off a huge win against Oklahoma, a team that had swept the Eers in regular season play. Jevon Carter just had his best shooting night of his life and #PressVirginia looked as good as ever early in the second half. Even with the late Sooners run, this squad looks ready for March. Are they ready for the Jayhawks? Well, it's St. Paddy's weekend (sort of) and things get wild in Morgantown this weekend. The hell with it, I think Kansas gets...... shmacked.

Prediction

WVU 72
KU 67