Cincinnati Basketball: Preview for the Big 12 Tournament opening round

Check out a preview for the Cincinnati Bearcats battle against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Big 12 Tournament first round this week!

It will be key for the Bearcats to slow down West Virginia guards RaeQuan Battle, Noah Farrakhan and Kerr Kriisa from creating high quality looks.

Players to watch are Cincinnati forwards Simas Lukosius and John Newman III alongside center Aziz Bandaogo and guard DaVeon Thomas.

The Bearcats are 10.5-point favorites over West Virginia with the over/under currently projected at 144.5 total points per FanDuel Sportsbook!

Cincinnati Basketball: Preview for the Big 12 Tournament opening round

During a recent press conference on Saturday, Wes Miller previewed the Big 12 Tournament against West Virginia via Cincinnati Athletics!

"We have a ton of respect for West Virginia and understand how good we're going to have to be on a neutral floor in the conference tournament."

The Bearcats used a dominant second half run to blow past West Virginia 92-56 in the regular season finale on Saturday at Fifth Third Arena.

West Virginia stormed back from a double figure deficit during the second half to upset Cincinnati in the first meeting this season in late January.