MORGANTOWN – Life after the upcoming Big 12 Conference men’s basketball tournament in Kansas City (Mo.) still exists for veteran West Virginia University coach Bob Huggins and his Mountaineers.

“Our kids are ecstatic to have a chance to keep playing,” Huggins said during his weekly radio show held this past Sunday.

But, before any attention can be placed on the College Basketball Invitational, Huggins and his staff are preparing the Mountaineers for one more run at that elusive Big 12 tournament crown.

For the last three seasons the Mountaineers have found themselves playing on the final night of the 10-team league’s tournament only to come up short in all three — 81-17 to Kansas in 2017, 80-74 to Iowa State in 2018 and 81-70 to the Jayhawks again last year.

“We’ve done it before,” Huggins said following WVU’s most recent setback – an 85-77 loss at Oklahoma State on Saturday. “It’s happened before.”

If it is to happen this year the Mountaineers (12-19, 4-14 Big 12) will have to overcome an Oklahoma team which beat WVU by a 92-80 margin less than two weeks ago.

And if, the Moutaineers advance past the Sooners (19-12, 7-11), then they would have to take on No. 2 seed Texas Tech, which swept them during the season and possesses the conference’s top defense.

Opening the four-day tournament up will be a matchup between No. 8 seed TCU and No. 9 seed Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. on ESPNU tonight.

WVU and Oklahoma will follow at 9 p.m. approximately.

No. 4 Baylor takes on No.5 Iowa State to open the quarterfinals at 12:30 p.m. in ESPN2 with No. 1 Kansas State taking on the TCU/Oklahoma State winner at 2:30 p.m.

Texas Tech and the winner of the West Virginia and Oklahoma matchup open the evening session of the quarterfinal round at 7 p.m. with No. 3 Kansas taking on No. 6 Texas in the nightcap at 9 p.m. All games are slated to be shown on ESPN2.

The semifinals are slated to get underway at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on either ESPN or ESPN2 on Friday with ESPN taking the primary coverage role for the 6 p.m. championship game on Saturday, March 16.

At least two high profiled players will miss the tournament at Kansas’ Lagerald Vick has elected not to return to the team after leaving for personal reasons while Kansas State’s Dean Wade is questionable after suffering a leg injury in the Wildcats’ final regular season game.

WVU has not won a road game since beating Saint Joseph’s, 97-90, in the consolation game of the Myrtle Beach Classic back in November 2018.

The Mountaineers failed to win a road game for the first time since joining the Big 12 in 2012 and now must find a way to win four of them if they want to punch their ticket into the NCAA’s March Madness.

“We have just got to stay together,” junior Chase Harler said following WVU’s final home contest – a win over Iowa State. “When you play on the road you have to stay strong and stay focused. It’s tough winning on the road in this league. But we’ve done it before, and we can do it again.”

Huggins will again go with a starting five which includes three freshmen – Jordan McCabe (5.1 ppg), Emmitt Matthews Jr. (3.8 ppg) and All-Big 12 Freshman First Team selection Derek Culver (12.1 ppg, 10.2 rpg) – alongside juniors Lamont West (10.5 ppg) and Jermaine Haley (6.2 ppg).

Harler (4.9 ppg), Cameron’s Logan Routt (2.0 ppg) and freshmen Brandon Knapper (5.2. ppg) and Andrew Gordon (2.3 ppg) will also see time on the court.