WVU Learns Opponent for 2nd Round Matchup of Big 12 Conference Tournament

Tuesday night, the 10-seed BYU Cougars took down No. 15 seed Kansas State by a 105-91 score, meaning they will face the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second round of the Big 12 Conference tournament.

The last time the Mountaineers faced the Cougars

Feb 28, 2026; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; BYU Cougars forward AJ Dybantsa (3) talks with West Virginia Mountaineers center Harlan Obioha (55) after the game at Hope Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

West Virginia did a really good job of frustrating projected top-two pick AJ Dybantsa in the first half, holding him to just four points. He had a mini 4/4 stretch in the second half and then returned to some iffy shooting/decision-making, turning the ball over a total of four times. Brenen Lorient was fantastic in that game for the Mountaineers, posting 18 points on 7/14 shooting to go with nine rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end of the floor.

Early thoughts on WVU vs. BYU round two

Getting out to a fast start is going to be key in this one. BYU has an explosive offense, even without Richie Saunders. The Cougars can score it in bunches, as witnessed tonight in Kansas City, scoring over 100, and in their 45-point second half outburst in Morgantown. Fortunately, BYU has not been great defensively this season, particularly in their final twelve games of the regular season, where they allowed an average of 84.8 points per game. In that game against WVU, they allowed a poor Mountaineer offense to put up essentially two 40-point halves.

What this means for the Mountaineers

If WVU is able to take down the Cougars once again, they would keep their at-large bid hopes for the NCAA Tournament alive. They will have to beat Houston as well to be firmly in the mix, and even then, there's no guarantee that making it to the semifinals would be enough to punch West Virginia's ticket. Wins over BYU and Houston would give the Mountaineers seven Quad 1 wins, which only 17 teams have this season. As of now, all 17 of those teams are projected to make the tournament.

The winner of No. 7 West Virginia vs. No. 10 BYU will advance to the quarterfinals to take on No. 2 Houston on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.

Tip is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2. After the game, head over to our YouTube page (West Virginia On SI) for the Mountaineer Postgame Show, where we'll take a look at the final numbers, talk about the positives, what needs to improve, and much more.