The final weekend of the regular season brings Big 12 foes West Virginia and UCF together for the first time during the 2024-25 campaign.
And Saturday’s matchup in Morgantown, W. Va., will be meaningful. Both teams would prefer to end a demanding conference slate on a winning note while solidifying their seeding in next week’s Big 12 tournament.
The Mountaineers (18-12, 9-10 Big 12) are tied for eighth place with Kansas State and TCU, while the Knights (16-14, 7-12) share 12th place with Cincinnati. Where they finish in the final standings still depends on how their conference counterparts fare on Saturday.
West Virginia returns home from a five-day trip through the Beehive State where it split with then-No. 25 BYU and Utah.
Javon Small, the second-leading scorer in the Big 12 at 18.2 points per game behind UCF’s Keyshawn Hall (18.9), contributed 18 points and seven assists to West Virginia’s 71-69 victory at Utah on Tuesday.
Coach Darian DeVries said postgame that shifting focus to UCF should not be an issue.
“Honestly, I think that’ll be pretty easy for us,” DeVries said. “It’s Senior Night, we got a lot of seniors (and) it’s their last home game. We’ll have a sold-out crowd, so I think they’ll be able to, when we get home, turn the page pretty quickly and get ready for the last of what’s been a long, 20-game conference schedule.”
UCF aims to break a six-game road losing streak.
The Knights regained some momentum with three wins in their last four outings, punctuated by Wednesday’s 83-70 decision over Oklahoma State as fourth-year performer Darius Johnson scored a career-high 36 points (7-of-12 shooting from deep, 9-of-9 on free throws) in his last regular-season game at home.
“To leave here and come back one day and remember I had a 36 on my Senior Night — the last time I played in this building — is going to be a great story to tell,” Johnson said. “I’m going to live in the moment for right now, but once (midnight) hits, we gotta get focused on the next game ahead of us.”
–Field Level Media
