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West Virginia sends a message to rest of Big 12 heading into league play

COMMENTARY

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Yes, West Virginia, the Mountaineers are real.

Maybe even real enough to win the first Big 12 men’s basketball title in program history.

In its final game before jumping into league play, West Virginia showed that will be a force to be reckoned with this season, knocking off No. 2 Ohio State 65-59 in an NCAA tournament-like atmosphere at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

The Mountaineers haven’t beaten a team with that ranking away from WVU Coliseum since sinking Kentucky to reach the 2010 Final Four. West Virginia isn’t executing at that high of a level yet, but this is certainly starting to feel like a team that should be playing more than one game this March.