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The Big 12 Conference has announced the cancellation of West Virginia’s game at Baylor, previously scheduled for Thursday night, and have set a new schedule for the remaining conference matchups.
The Mountaineers will play their last conference road game tonight at 7PM against the TCU Horned Frogs, and will return home to prepare for their already scheduled game against the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday.
West Virginia will then remain at home next week for a three-game home stand, beginning with Baylor coming to town on Tuesday, March 2nd. That game will tip-off at 5PM and will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2.
The Mountaineers will follow that up with a game against TCU on Thursday, March 4th. Tip-off time for that game was not announced in the press release, but does note that it will be broadcast exclusively on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
The regular season wraps up for the Mountaineers on Saturday, March 6th, when they’ll take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Again, tip-off time has not been set, but this one will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2.
If you had West Virginia’s scheduled matchup with the No. 2 Baylor Bears on Thursday circled on your calendar, you can probably go ahead and cancel your plans. The Mountaineers’ trip to Texas is most likely coming to an early end after this evening’s game against the TCU Horned Frogs.
According to a report from CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, that game is likely to be canceled to allow the league to balance out the rest of the regular season schedule. The Big 12 athletic directors are meeting now to discuss their options.
Breaking: West Virginia at Baylor, which scheduled for Thursday, is highly likely to be postponed (or maybe canceled) sources told CBS Sports. This is not due to any positive COVID tests within either program. An announcement from the league will be coming this afternoon. (1/2)
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 23, 2021
Big 12 ADs meeting this AM to discuss how to best tweak remainder of Big 12 the schedule to meet conflicting interests. A lot of makeup games and not many days left. But there’s health concerns about having too many games feeding right into the Big 12 conference tourney. (2/2)
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 23, 2021
This will be the fourth time a matchup between the Mountaineers and the Bears has been postponed or canceled this season, with the other three due to COVID-19 issues within the two programs.
The Big 12 is expected to make an announcement this afternoon with the new schedule leading into the Big 12 Conference tournament, which is scheduled to start on March 10th. One scenario being considered has the Mountaineers returning home after tonight’s game against the Horned Frogs to prepare for Saturday’s home matchup against Kansas State, and then remaining in Morgantown next week to finish out the regular season with a three-game home stretch in some order against Baylor, Oklahoma State and TCU.
As a parting shot, it should be noted that West Virginia was the last team to beat Baylor — all the way back on March 7, 2020, when the unranked Mountaineers knocked off the No. 4 Bears to deny them a chance at the Big 12 championship.