MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The Big 12 portion of the West Virginia men’s basketball schedules features no Big Monday matchups on ESPN, but is also more accommodating to the Mountaineers’ travel needs.
WVU will open league play on the road against Kansas on Jan. 4, giving Bob Huggins’ team an early opportunity to find out where the Mountaineers are compared to the rest of the league.
WVU’s first two league games are on the road while school is still in a semester break. The second one, on Jan. 6, is at Oklahoma State.
The Mountaineers will then return home to face Texas Tech on Jan. 11, in its home opener in conference play.
WVU will also have a two-game road trip planned for Feb. 22 (at TCU) and Feb. 24 (at Texas) that will allow the Mountaineers to knock out two road games with just one trip.
Five of West Virginia’s games are scheduled to be televised on ESPN+, including both games against Kansas. The Jayhawks will also visit the WVU Coliseum on Feb. 12.
The other games on ESPN+, a streaming service that requires a paid subscription: Jan. 29 (at Texas Tech), Feb. 15 (at Baylor) and March 7 against Baylor.
In all, West Virginia will have four home Saturday Big 12 games and 10 overall.
The Mountaineers are scheduled to play just two Big 12 road games with a 9 p.m. start, one is the Oklahoma State game while school is still out and the second is at Iowa State on March 3.
The Big 12 games complete what will be a 31-game regular season.
Non-conference games announced earlier include the annual Big12-SEC Challenge game against Missouri, a Big 12/Big East Scheduling Alliance game at Madison Square Garden against St. John’s, a rivalry game at Pitt and two neutral-court games in Ohio against Ohio State and Youngstown State.
“We played the 11th-toughest schedule in the country last season, and this year will be no different,” Huggins said in a statement. “We like having 10 games at home on weekends, having three road contests within a short drive of Morgantown, traveling to Cancun over the Thanksgiving break, playing again at Madison Square Garden and having two Saturday-Monday road games in the league to help our travel some. We know Mountaineer Nation will continue to show up and support us no matter when and where we play.”
The complete schedule, including times and TV that have been announced:
Nov. 1—Duquesne (charity exhibition) (AT&T SportsNet), 7 p.m.
Nov. 8—Akron (AT&T SportsNet), 7 p.m.
Nov. 15—at Pitt
Nov. 18—Northern Colorado (AT&T SportsNet), 7 p.m.
Nov. 22—Boston University (Nexstar), 7 p.m.
Nov. 26— vs. Northern Iowa (Cancun Challenge) (CBS Sports Network), 8:30 p.m.
Nov. 27—vs. South Carolina or Wichita State (Cancun Challenge) (CBS Sports Network), 6/8:30 p.m.
Dec. 1—Rhode Island (AT&T SportsNet), 2 p.m.
Dec. 7—at St. John’s (FS1), noon
Dec. 12—Austin Peay (Nexstar), 7 p.m.
Dec. 14—Nicholls (AT&T SportsNet), 2 p.m.
Dec. 21—vs. Youngstown State
Dec. 29—vs. Ohio State, Cleveland, Ohio (FS1), noon
Jan. 4—at Kansas (Big 12 Now/ESPN +), 4/8 p.m.
Jan. 6—at Oklahoma State (ESPN2), 9 p.m.
Jan. 11—Texas Tech (ESPN/2/U), 6 p.m.
Jan. 14—TCU (ESPNU), 9 p.m.
Jan. 18—at Kansas State (ESPNU), 2 p.m.
Jan. 20—Texas (ESPNU), 7 p.m.
Jan. 25—Missouri (ESPN/2/U), noon
Jan. 29—at Texas Tech (Big 12 Now/ESPN)
Feb. 1—Kansas State (ESPN/2/U), 2 p.m.
Feb. 5—Iowa State (ESPN2/U), 7 p.m.
Feb. 8—at Oklahoma (ESPNU), 2 p.m.
Feb. 12—Kansas (Big 12 Now/ESPN +), 7 p.m.
Feb. 15—at Baylor (Big 12 Now/ESPN +), 4 p.m.
Feb. 18—Oklahoma State (ESPN/2/U), 7 p.m.
Feb. 22—at TCU (ESPN/2/U), 2 p.m.
Feb. 24—at Texas (ESPNU), 7 p.m.
Feb. 29—Oklahoma (ESPN2/U), 4 p.m.
Mar. 3—at Iowa State (ESPN2/U), 9 p.m.
Mar. 7—Baylor (Big 12 Now/ESPN +), 1 p.m.
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