It’s hard to beat a team three times in one season. 

 

Good guards will take you a long way in March. 

 

Those are just two of the basketball cliches you hear this time of year. West Virginia showed on Thursday night, the first one doesn’t hold true. WVU completed the three game sweep of Baylor with a 78-65 win in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 tournament. 

 

They showed on Friday the second one has merit.  West Virginia's guards are not only good. They are experienced. 

 

Seniors Dax Miles and Jevon Carter have played 272 games in a Mountaineer uniform. They were both really good on Friday in a 66-63 win over Texas Tech. 

 

Miles was particularly impressive. He was coming off a game on Thursday against Baylor that saw him knock down five three pointers. He had made five or more threes four times in his career before Thursday night. In the four games immediately following those performances, he had averaged just 1.75 made threes. That trend changed Friday night as Miles drained another five three pointers and finished with a team high 22 points. 

 

Miles is now 10-15 (67%) from three point range in this tournament. 

 

Carter showed why he is a finalist for the Wooden Award, given to the nation’s best player. On Friday, he knocked down four threes of his own and finished with 17 points. Carter also helped hold Texas Tech’s star guard, Keenan Evans, to just 13 points. 

 

Carter’s trademark defense was on display on Tech’s final possession. Texas Tech’s Keenan Evans forced a three from the top of the key, with Carter all over him, that fell short. Evans finished the game just five of 14 from the field. 

 

Dax Miles wasn’t the only one that bucked a trend in the win on Friday. As a team, West Virginia had won just one conference game all season when three players scored in double figures. 

 

Their record heading into the Texas Tech game was 1-4 in games in which three Mountaineers scored 10 or more points. 

 

The one win ... that came on Thursday night against Baylor. 

 

Now you can make that two wins after West Virginia had three players reach double figures against Texas Tech. On Friday, Sags Konate tallied 11 points to join Miles and Carter in double figures.

 

The magic number when it comes to double figure scoring? Four. West Virginia is 7-0 against conference opponents this year when four players score in double figures.

 

Will WVU get that kind of production tonight against Kansas? In West Virginia's two losses to Kansas this year, they have had three players score in double figures in each game.

 

Carter, Konate, Ahmad, Miles and West have all scored 10 or more points against KU this year. Only Carter has done it in both games.If four of them score in double figures tonight, the numbers tell us it should be a WVU win. 

 

A Big 12 tournament title on the line. A chance to avenge three straight losses to Kansas in which West Virginia led by double digits.This is the kind of night you wait all season all to see. For Carter and Miles it's a chance to put an exclamation point on outstanding careers. 

 

Will West Virginia's third straight trip to the Big 12 tournament championship game be a charm? 

 

We find out tonight starting at 6 p.m.

 

Editor's Note: Photos by Ben Queen of www.benqueenphhotography.com.