Kansas City, Missouri – The West Virginia Mountaineers live to see another day and need to beat the Kansas State Wildcats 73-67 in the opening round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

So there’s been a few some more of one big tournament this season where mountaineers seem pretty unconcerned as to whether they can help the players win or lose. Tonight – with a season that was too crucial they could put their mental and physical abilities on the line – there was some more of a real urgency.

Seniors Sean McNeil and Malik Curry in particular had very strong performances and it looked like they were refusing to let loose an opponent they wanted to lose tonight. McNeil had his best game in a long time, finishing with 21 points with 7-10 from the field and 3-5 from a three-point gap. Malik Curry was aggressive into the basket, giving 17 points off the bench.

West Virginia next shot the ball together well.

Mountaineers recorded 28-53 coming from the field (53%), 6-16 (38%) coming from three-point distances and 11-14 (79%) coming from foul lines. If they shoot like that, West Virginia can beat anyone at the conference.

One win back could change the entire West Virginia season.

Beating Kansas tomorrow in the 2nd round could completely erase all the disappointments of this extremely frustrating season. Therefore, it would take an extraordinary amount of effort by the Mountaineers to defeat the top-ranked Jayhawks.

But, on neutral court and with their backs against the wall, West Virginia can certainly pull off a big shock, especially unless they run like they did at the end of the 2nd half of tonight’s game.

Mountaineers who can play Kansas tomorrow at 15:00 in the 2nd round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament.