No Home Court Advantage? ESPN BPI Tilts Toward Wildcats in Round 2 of WVU vs. Arizona

Can the Wildcats get their revenge on the Mountaineers despite being on the road?

Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

For the second time this season, West Virginia and Arizona will square off against one another but this time, the game will count toward the Big 12 Conference record. WVU won the first matchup 83-76 in overtime, giving the Mountaineers a third place finish in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

What the ESPN BPI says

According to the Basketball Power Index (BPI) matchup predictor, West Virginia has a 37.4% chance to pull off the sweep of the Wildcats, while Arizona has a 62.6% chance to earn a season split. Although WVU won the first game and has this one at home, these percentages are in the right ballpark. It's tough to beat a quality team twice in the same season, and it's especially difficult to do when, this time around, you don't have one of your top two players. Tucker DeVries.

West Virginia's recent games

What a week for Darian DeVries and the Mountaineers. They opened up Big 12 play with a win at Kansas and then followed it up with a dominating win over Oklahoma State. Both wins came without Tucker DeVries, and the victory over Kansas didn't feature Amani Hansberry. The two victories propelled West Virginia into the top 25, marking their first appearance in the rankings since December of 2022.

Arizona's recent games

Since falling to the Mountaineers in the Battle 4 Atlantis, Arizona has won five of its six games, with its only loss coming by three points to No. 24 UCLA. The Wildcats are 2-0 in Big 12 Conference play with wins over TCU and Cincinnati. In their win over the Bearcats, they led by as many as 19 before Cincy stormed back to make it a game.

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