West Virginia’s 2026-27 men’s basketball Big 12 slate is set, and the Mountaineers will get a full 18-game conference grind with the schedule split evenly: nine home games and nine on the road.
The league opener drops quickly. WVU starts Big 12 play at Kansas on Saturday, Jan. 2, then comes home for its first conference game against Oklahoma State on Tuesday, Jan.
- The regular-season finish comes at Iowa State on Saturday, March 6.
Hope Coliseum will see plenty of the league’s biggest names. West Virginia’s home conference list includes Arizona, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU and UCF.
Among those, the weekend dates at home are Cincinnati on Jan. 16, Arizona on Jan.
30, Iowa State on Feb. 6 and Houston on Feb. 27.
The midweek home games are Kansas State on Jan. 12, Arizona State on Jan. 27, UCF on Feb. 16 and TCU on March 3, along with that Jan. 5 matchup against Oklahoma State.
The road stretch has its own heavy lifting, with trips to Kansas, Colorado, Utah, BYU, UCF, Texas Tech, Baylor, Cincinnati and Iowa State. WVU also plays UCF twice in the league schedule, first in Orlando on Feb. 3 and then in Morgantown on Feb. 16.
Before Big 12 play begins, the Mountaineers have a packed nonconference calendar that includes three exhibition games in October: Maryland on Oct. 18 in College Park, Glenville State on Oct. 23 in Glenville and Wheeling on Oct. 28 in Morgantown.
The regular season starts Nov. 2 against Niagara at home and runs through a long list of tests, including Auburn in Las Vegas on Nov. 17, North Carolina in Charlotte on Nov.
27, Pitt in Pittsburgh on Dec. 9 and Wake Forest in Greensboro on Dec. 19.
West Virginia’s nonconference home games also include Stetson, Mercer, Mercyhurst, Virginia Tech, Coppin State, Northern Arizona and South Carolina State.
The Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament is scheduled for March 9-13 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Season tickets for the 2026-27 campaign are already on sale. The school says Upper Baseline season tickets remain at a 25% price reduction, with no required Mountaineer Athletic Club per-seat contribution, and new season tickets start at $250.
In Other News...
WVU Is Suddenly Chasing A Recruiting Win That Could Reshape The Backcourt
West Virginias backcourt picture could shift quickly this weekend, with class of 2027 point guard Micah Gordon set to make his college choice on Saturday. The decision comes down to Creighton, VCU and the Mountaineers, and Gordons standing as a nationally highly ranked recruit gives this one real weight for a program looking to keep adding high-end perimeter talent.
If Gordon lands in Morgantown, it would count as one of the most notable recruiting wins in recent program memory, since he would be the second-highest rated player to commit to West Virginia. His decision also carries extra intrigue because of what it could mean for the guard rotation down the road, especially with current player Miles Sadler still part of the broader backcourt conversation. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Fans Are Split On What This Team Can Really Do
West Virginia heads into this one as the underdog for the first time this season, and the matchup carries a different kind of edge because Virginia brings the sort of experience that can expose early-season uncertainty. For Mountaineer fans, the stakes are as much about identity as they are about the result, because this is the first real test of how much faith to put in a team still trying to show what it can be.
A fan poll on X captured that divide almost perfectly, with 50.9% showing little to no confidence in a West Virginia upset and 49.1% still believing the Mountaineers can pull it off. That split says plenty about the mood around the program right now: there is enough optimism to keep hope alive, but also enough doubt to make this feel like a measuring-stick game long before the final score tells the story. [Read more 🡒]
Backyard Brawl Gives WVU Fans A New Chance To Take Over
The Backyard Brawl is headed to a different stage this time, with West Virginia and Pitt set to meet at PPG Paints Arena instead of the Panthers usual home court. Pitt athletic director Allen Greene pointed to the chance for greater NIL revenue as a major reason for moving the game, but for the Mountaineers it also creates a familiar kind of road test in an unfamiliar building, one that could still feel like a home atmosphere if enough gold and blue find their way inside.
Ross Hodge and several WVU players took part in a press conference at the arena and sounded upbeat about what the matchup could mean for both the program and its fan base. The rivalry already carries its own energy, but a neutral-site setting adds a fresh layer to it, especially with Mountaineer supporters looking at this as another chance to show how quickly they can turn a big game into something that feels a lot closer to home. [Read more 🡒]