MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — West Virginia will have a nice shiny top 10 ranking when it opens up Big 12 play Friday against Iowa State.
After throttling then-No. 19 Richmond, 87-71, the Mountaineers (6-1) moved up to No. 8 in the AP Top 25 on Monday, the first time WVU has been ranked inside the top 10 since January 22, 2018.
The challenge now is staying there, and players believe that West Virginia’s nonconference schedule to this point has prepared them for the rigors of the Big 12.
“I think the teams we’ve played have been good and it’s going to get us ready to play in the Big 12,” WVU forward Oscar Tshiebwe said. “The team we just played (Richmond), we were watching the film of them beating Kentucky and Kentucky is a good school. For us to beat them like we did, I don’t think we’ll struggle when we get to Big 12 time.”
According to the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the Mountaineers’ strength of schedule ranks 13th in the nation, the highest among Big 12 schools.
WVU’s seven opponents have combined for a 26-14 record.
WVU also played its first five games away from home, with three coming in the Crossover Classic in South Dakota, a game against No. 1 Gonzaga in Indianapolis and a true road game at Georgetown in the Big 12-Big East Battle.
Getting an early dose of life on the road could help WVU, as well, which travels more miles to play conference games than any school in the Big 12.
“We’re going to fly more miles than anybody in America other than maybe Hawaii,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said.
Iowa State (1-2) will open conference play with a home game against Kansas State today, before traveling to Morgantown.
The Cyclones lost to South Dakota State, which WVU beat to open the season, and then fell to No. 3 Iowa by 28 points.
Iowa State was undermanned against Iowa star center Luka Garza, who scored 34 points in just 17 minutes of action.
Senior guard Jalen Coleman-Lands leads Iowa State in scoring at 15.3 points per game. He is a graduate transfer from DePaul, who began his career at Illinois.
Iowa State is last in the Big 12, allowing 79.7 points per game.
“We definitely need to rest our bodies a little bit and get ready for Iowa State,” WVU guard Deuce McBride said. “Big 12 is coming up. We’ve just got to be ready to hit on all cylinders.”
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