West Virginia and Creighton elected to extend their seasons in March and to compete in the second edition of the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas.
Now, each team is a win away from advancing to the championship ahead of their semifinal tilt on Saturday.
West Virginia (19-14) rallied from eight points down with less than three minutes remaining on Thursday against Stanford before earning an 82-77 overtime victory in the quarterfinals. In his first year with the Mountaineers, head coach Ross Hodge has an opportunity to lead the program to its first 20-win season since 2019-20.
More than that, though, Hodge has the ability to spend time with this team for at least a few more days.
“Our group is about as resilient a group as I’ve ever been around,” Hodge said. “Whether it’s a tough loss or games where we’re not playing very well and we look down and out, they have an ability to stay together and keep fighting for each other. Super thankful for them and appreciative that we get to have a few more team dinners and a few more film sessions. That’s ultimately what you’re fighting for this time of year.”
Among the Mountaineers who don’t want to see the 2025-26 season end is fifth-year senior Honor Huff. In his lone season with West Virginia, Huff leads the team with 16 points per game, scoring 21 on Thursday. Brenen Lorient adds 11.7 points and Chance Moore averages 10.3.
While Hodge is looking to build momentum for next season, it will be a different motivating factor on the opposing bench.
Creighton (16-17) head coach Greg McDermott just wants to go out on top.
The veteran Bluejays leader will retire after the end of the season, stamping 32 years (16 at Creighton) as a head coach. McDermott, 61, earned career win No. 646 on Thursday, as Creighton scored 51 second-half points en route to an 82-69 victory over Rutgers.
“There’s a little emotion involved,” McDermott said. “But like I told the guys when we decided to do this, we’re going to have fun. We wanted them to enjoy this experience. This has been a very enjoyable group to coach and be around and I think they really enjoy each other’s company.”
Josh Dix paces Creighton with 13.1 points, followed by Nik Graves’ 11.1. Graves ensured McDermott at least 40 more minutes on the sideline, scoring a season-high 28 points on Thursday.
“I want nothing more than to send coach out with three wins in a row,” Graves said. “That’s the same with the rest of the team.”
The Mountaineers and Bluejays have faced each other twice, last meeting in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament — a 63-61 West Virginia victory. The West Virginia-Creighton winner will face the Oklahoma-Baylor winner for the title.
