West Virginia is making their third NCAA Tournament appearance in a row this weekend when they face Kentucky during the Clemson Regional.

The Mountaineers are familiar with hitting the road during the NCAA Tournament, drawing on the success they had last season when winning the Tucson Regional.

“Pretty simple. We just had fun. We loved each other’s company,” WVU’s Kyle West said of what they can take away from last season.

West and the Mountaineers swept the Tucson Regional before they lost a pair of close games to North Carolina in the Super Regionals.

“We acted like monkeys. We all went and, like our team, we watched one of the Planet of the Apes movies and just carried the fun we had with each other off the field, onto the field. And it was like just playing for one another because we didn’t want it to end. Like we knew that for some people, it was going to be their last ever game, and for the whole team, that was our last ever game as a team. So, going into it, we were just trying to play for as long as possible to remain with each other,” West said.

Another component of WVU facing North Carolina last season was the environment they played in. Almost 4,500 people were on hand to watch the Mountaineers and Tar Heels, something West says having been in front of before, is a big advantage.

“Once you get so many people packed in a stadium, it just turns into white noise. You just block everything out and only pay attention to what task is in front of you, and the rest will take care of itself,” West said.

West Virginia’s first game against Kentucky is a somewhat familiar opponent. In 2023, WVU was placed in the Lexington Regional, playing Kentucky and losing 10-0. That year, though, they had to sleep in dorms, something head coach Steve Sabins won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

It has to be. It can’t possibly be worse. Last time we went to Kentucky, we stayed in bad freshman dorms. And so,, if they got a holiday in, we’re on the come-up in the program. So all good I think. Just excited to go down there and play,” Sabins said.