BYU will play West Virginia in the second round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament on March 11, with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m. Central Time at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
The matchup is significant as it marks the seventh meeting between the two teams and their second encounter in less than two weeks. The Cougars hold a 4-2 advantage over the Mountaineers, including a previous neutral-site win in Portland, Oregon, in 1973.
In their most recent game this season, West Virginia defeated BYU 79-71 at Hope Coliseum in Morgantown by dominating offensive rebounds and turning them into second-chance points. Robert Wright III led BYU with a game-high 23 points and four assists, while AJ Dybantsa contributed 20 points and seven rebounds. Aleksej Kostic added all of BYU’s bench points with four three-pointers.
BYU advanced to this round after defeating Kansas State 105-91 on Tuesday at T-Mobile Center. The Cougars shot nearly 55 percent from the field and scored half of their points in the paint. AJ Dybantsa set a Big 12 Tournament freshman record with a career-high 40 points, along with nine rebounds and six assists. Kennard Davis Jr., Robert Wright III, and Aleksej Kostic also scored in double figures.
Redshirt freshman Khadim Mboup recorded a career-best 14 rebounds against Kansas State, helping maintain BYU’s perfect record when he secures double-digit boards. Dybantsa was recently named Big 12 Freshman of the Year—the first Cougar to earn that honor since the mid-2000s—and also received First Team All-Big 12 recognition after averaging nearly 25 points per game during conference play.
Looking ahead to Wednesday’s contest, if Wright III scores eight or more points alongside Dybantsa, they would become only the fifth duo in program history to each reach at least 600 points in a single season.
