Bob Huggins is headed back to an old patch of enemy territory in 2022.
The Big 12 and the BIG EAST conferences jointly announced the matchups for the fourth Big 12-BIG EAST Battle on Wednesday, and for the first time, West Virginia will travel to Cincinnati to face Xavier at the Cintas Center on Dec. 4. This renews an old rivalry of Huggins when he played in the infamous Crosstown Shootout as the head coach of Cincinnati.
Huggins went an even 8-8 against the Musketeers at the Bearcats’ helm, including three road wins. He only faced Xavier twice at the Cintas Center, the Musketeers’ current home, splitting those games with a win and a loss.
WVU has faced Xavier twice in history, and once under Bob Huggins. The most recent meeting between the two programs was in the 2008 NCAA Tournament when the Musketeers knocked off the Mountaineers 79-75 in the Sweet Sixteen. WVU won the other meeting in 1979, topping Xavier 82-65 at the WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineers have seen success in the Big 12-BIG EAST Battle since its inception in 2019, winning two games and dropping one. WVU fell to St. John’s at Madison Square Garden in its first appearance in 2019, but has since picked up a road win over Georgetown in 2020 and a home win over UConn in 2021.
Overall, the BIG EAST leads the competition with a win in 2019 and two draws in the subsequent two seasons.
Here is the full list of the 2022 slate (television information will be announced when available):
- Nov. 29: Baylor at Marquette
- Nov. 30: Providence at TCU
- Nov. 30: Georgetown at Texas Tech
- Nov. 30: Kansas State at Butler
- Dec. 1: Creighton at Texas
- Dec. 1: Oklahoma State at Connecticut
- Dec. 1: Seton Hall at Kansas
- Dec. 3: Oklahoma at Villanova
- Dec. 4: St. John’s at Iowa State
- Dec. 4: West Virginia at Xavier
