West Virginia Basketball: 2023-24 season preview for the Mountaineers
By Joey Loose
Schedule Outlook
Three straight home dates greet the Mountaineers early in the year, much needed opportunities as they adjust to a brand new lineup. The trickiest of those matchups might be Missouri State, who they’ll open the season against on November 6th.
Their first major test comes in the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida, as the Mountaineers will take on SMU on November 20th. Two days later, they’ll get an even tougher matchup against either Virginia or Wisconsin for one of their toughest nonconference games of the year.
There are a lot of home games on the schedule, but they aren’t all seen as easy wins. On December 1st, the Mountaineers welcome St. John’s and Rick Pitino as part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle. Five days later they’ll do battle at home with rival Pittsburgh. There are a few other home games, including a notable clash with Toledo right before Christmas.
A week before that, West Virginia has an intriguing contest against UMass as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic, though that’s certainly not their toughest remaining matchup. Their final nonconference game of the regular season will see them playing Ohio State in Cleveland on December 30th.
Big 12 play will be difficult and it’s no picnic early, as the Mountaineers open conference play at Houston on January 6th. They’ll no longer play home-and-home’s with every conference foe, but will still be significantly challenged across this 18-game schedule. Notably, they only have a single matchup with Baylor, Houston, and Kansas, while they get multiple shots at conference newcomers Cincinnati and UCF. Senior Night will be March 6th against TCU while the regular season finishes three days later on the road against those Bearcats.