Arizona forward Tobe Awaka drives on West Virginia guard Amir Jenkins (2) and guard Honor Huff during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

MORGANTOWN — Somewhere between Brayden Burries’ relentlessness and his teammates’ ability to rebound and move the ball, West Virginia’s chance of pulling off a major upset Saturday was quickly extinguished.

Burries, a freshman from San Bernardino, Calif., finished with 22 points and was 4 of 8 from 3-point range, as top-ranked Arizona ran past the Mountaineers, 88-53, inside a sold-out McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.

It was West Virginia’s fourth consecutive loss against the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, with this one getting out of hand early, as the Wildcats (20-0, 7-0 Big 12) took a 43-23 lead at halftime while holding WVU (13-7, 4-3) to just 29% shooting over the first 20 minutes.

“Arizona had a lot to do with that on some of them,” WVU head coach Ross Hodge said on his radio postgame show. “Their collective size and physicality around the basket negates pretty much your interior attack. It’s hard to get the ball close to the basket, and when you do, you’ve got to be able to finish through contact.”

The short part of the story is the Wildcats were just too physical, too fast and just plain better. Arizona shot 52.5% (31 of 59) from the field, scored 17 points in transition and dominated on the glass with a 43-30 rebounding advantage.

The larger part of the story for the Mountaineers is they’ve now played the three top teams in the Big 12 – including No. 6 Houston and No. 9 Iowa State – and lost all three by a combined 28.3 points per game.

All three of those games came on the road, which has not been friendly for WVU this season. The Mountaineers fell to 1-7 this season in games played away from Morgantown, with the top of Big 12 really taking advantage of WVU.

In those three losses to Arizona, Iowa State and Houston, WVU was held to just 53 points per game.

“Arizona is great,” Hodge said. “We started out in these road games and we played No. 1, (No. 6) and (No. 9). You’ve got to look at it and see how far we’ve got to go to bridge that gap. We’ve got to continue to get better.”

WVU fell to 5-12 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams, with the Mountaineers last win coming in 2017, against Baylor.

Any chance to pull off this upset was washed away early, as WVU got some good looks offensively, both from 3-point range and near the paint, but the Mountaineers’ came up short, long and wide on those attempts, while others rattled in and out.

For the game, WVU shot 34% (22 of 64) and went 6 of 22 from 3-point range. Treysen Eaglestaff and Honor Huff represented WVU’s best chances of staying in the game offensively. Eaglestaff came out with some promise, making his first two shots of the game, but Huff missed his first four attempts.

Both players were held to just 10 points and Huff only went 4 of 15 from the field.

“To come into an environment like this, against a team like this, you’re going to have to get some pretty special performances from some key people,” Hodge said. “Those same key people have given us special performances throughout this year, but just didn’t have it tonight.”

Burries basically bullied his way through West Virginia’s defense at times. At others, he stepped out and nailed a 3-pointer. He had plenty of help, as teammate Koa Peat – another freshman – finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Motiejus Krivas added a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Arizona forward Tobe Awaka added 14 rebounds for the Wildcats, the most individual rebounds against WVU in a Big 12 game since Kansas’ Jalen Wilson also went for 14 in 2023.

There weren’t many bright spots for the Mountaineers. Chance Moore came off the bench to score 12 points and freshman Amir Jenkins also came off the bench to lead WVU with eight rebounds.

“When you’re playing a team like these guys, and when you’re constructed the way we are at the moment, you can’t take away everything,” Hodge said. “That’s something I’ve got to look at. From a coaching standpoint, maybe our game plans weren’t great. We just have to coach better, play better. We’ve got to learn from it.”