The West Virginia Mountaineers defeated Creighton on Saturday in Las Vegas, and are now on a two-game win streak and will play tomorrow in the College Basketball Crown Final against Oklahoma. The Mountaineers moved to 20-14 with the victory, and are now in position to knock off the first team that missed the NCAA Tournament field to earn a $300,000 payday and bring some hardware back to Morgantown.
And while there were some games in the latter stretch of Big 12 play that demonstrated why WVU didn't deserve an NCAA Tournament opportunity, they're showing just as much in the College Basketball Crown that they're far from a bad team this year, and that their first season under Ross Hodge should still be considered a success.
Going for the 👑 tomorrow
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) April 4, 2026
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Ross Hodge points out defining characteristic of WVU basketball during his first season
The Mountaineers were relatively dominant against the Bluejays on Saturday, and a gritty effort helped pave the way for that victory. West Virginia won several 50/50 plays and loose balls, out-rebounded Creighton 34-27, and scored 12 points off seven forced turnovers.
That followed up a comeback win in overtime against Stanford to open the tournament, rallying from a second-half deficit to tie the game with last-second free throws before pulling away in extra time. That type of grit and resilience has been something the Mountaineers have exhibited most of the season, whether they're winning or losing. And Hodge made sure to point out that it was a large part in their success after Saturay's win.
"It's been a resilient group all year long," Hodge said. "Any time they've been counted like down or out they always fight back. They love each other, they love the state of West Virginia, they love our university, and they wanted to put this uniform on one more time. So we'll get to do it one more time tomorrow."