Saturday, December 23
Morgantown, W.Va.
12:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
Fordham
Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Mountaineers, Rams to Meet Saturday
December 22, 2017 12:54 PM | Men's Basketball
Some familiar names will add a bit of intrigue to West Virginia's final non-conference game on Saturday against Fordham before Big 12 play begins next Friday night at Oklahoma State.
Former Mountaineer assistant coach Jeff Neubauer is in the middle of his third season with the Rams, leading them to one of their most successful seasons in a decade during his initial year in 2016.
Before that, Neubauer had a successful 10-year run at Eastern Kentucky where he led the Colonels to five 20-win seasons and a pair of NCAA Tournament trips in 2007 and 2014.
Neubauer spent three seasons in Morgantown on John Beilein's staff.
A key member of Neubauer's Ram coaching staff is associate head coach Rodney Crawford, who played for Bob Huggins at Cincinnati.
"Rock has done an unbelievable job," Huggins said. "He's kind of moved up the ranks from high school (to college), and they will know everything we do and the options we do off of it.
"Jeff has put him in charge of the defense. Jeff is a very, very bright offensive mind, and he just turned the defense over to Rock and Rock is doing what he knows and that's our stuff," Huggins added.
The 10th-ranked Mountaineers will be heavy favorites against 5-6 Fordham, as they were during Wednesday night's 39-point victory over Coppin State, but Neubauer has been in this position before.
Five years ago, his Eastern Kentucky team trailed WVU at the Coliseum by only three points with 24 seconds left before falling, 74-67.
If West Virginia shoots the way it did on Wednesday night against Coppin State, the Mountaineers could be headed for another nail-biter against Neubauer on Saturday.
"We didn't make shots the two practices before," Huggins noted. "One day our effort was pretty good and the next day it wasn't great, but we didn't make shots either day.
"I didn't hear the music going and the ball bouncing in the practice facility the way I once did," he said. "We haven't been in the gym, and it's hard to explain to those guys. They just think you show up and play, and they don't understand the guys that are great at this game - and even the guys that are good - put in an enormous amount of time."
Saturday's Family Day game is close to being a sellout. As of Friday morning, the Mountaineer Ticket Office had about 500 tickets remaining. Family Day tickets are priced at $70, which includes for tickets and a $25 voucher for concessions, and can be purchased by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU-GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com
The Mountaineers are third in average home attendance in the Big 12 so far behind just Kansas and Iowa State, and a 14,000-plus crowd will push its season average back over 10,000 with some big home dates coming up in January, including the eagerly anticipated matchup against Kentucky in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
"It's been terrific," Huggins said of the fan support this season. "The fans have absolutely been phenomenal. Wouldn't it be great to sell out before Christmas to send the guys home with a lot of enthusiasm and hopefully a big win?"
Tipoff is set for noon and the game will be televised locally on AT&T SportsNet. The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's coverage begins at 11 a.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app TuneIn.
Briefly: Fans are encouraged to get to their seats early to help West Virginia recognize its most recent 1,000-point scorer, Daxter Miles Jr. … Miles Jr. became the school's 52nd 1,000-point scorer during Wednesday night's 77-38 victory over Coppin State … Senior guard Jevon Carter moved past Tracy Shelton into 23rd place in career scoring at WVU with 1,326 points … He needs just 95 points to crack the top 20, surpassing guard Alex Ruoff's 1,420 career points … Will Tavares, a 6-foot-6-inch, 205-pound senior guard from Providence, Rhode Island, leads Fordham in scoring with 16.6 points per game … The Rams have won two of their last three games against St. Francis (Brooklyn) and Florida A&M heading into Saturday's game in Morgantown … Fordham's six losses this year have been against mostly quality opponents: Miami, Florida State, Tulane, East Tennessee State, Harvard and Rutgers.
Former Mountaineer assistant coach Jeff Neubauer is in the middle of his third season with the Rams, leading them to one of their most successful seasons in a decade during his initial year in 2016.
Before that, Neubauer had a successful 10-year run at Eastern Kentucky where he led the Colonels to five 20-win seasons and a pair of NCAA Tournament trips in 2007 and 2014.
Neubauer spent three seasons in Morgantown on John Beilein's staff.
A key member of Neubauer's Ram coaching staff is associate head coach Rodney Crawford, who played for Bob Huggins at Cincinnati.
"Rock has done an unbelievable job," Huggins said. "He's kind of moved up the ranks from high school (to college), and they will know everything we do and the options we do off of it.
"Jeff has put him in charge of the defense. Jeff is a very, very bright offensive mind, and he just turned the defense over to Rock and Rock is doing what he knows and that's our stuff," Huggins added.
The 10th-ranked Mountaineers will be heavy favorites against 5-6 Fordham, as they were during Wednesday night's 39-point victory over Coppin State, but Neubauer has been in this position before.
Five years ago, his Eastern Kentucky team trailed WVU at the Coliseum by only three points with 24 seconds left before falling, 74-67.
If West Virginia shoots the way it did on Wednesday night against Coppin State, the Mountaineers could be headed for another nail-biter against Neubauer on Saturday.
"We didn't make shots the two practices before," Huggins noted. "One day our effort was pretty good and the next day it wasn't great, but we didn't make shots either day.
"I didn't hear the music going and the ball bouncing in the practice facility the way I once did," he said. "We haven't been in the gym, and it's hard to explain to those guys. They just think you show up and play, and they don't understand the guys that are great at this game - and even the guys that are good - put in an enormous amount of time."
Saturday's Family Day game is close to being a sellout. As of Friday morning, the Mountaineer Ticket Office had about 500 tickets remaining. Family Day tickets are priced at $70, which includes for tickets and a $25 voucher for concessions, and can be purchased by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU-GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com
The Mountaineers are third in average home attendance in the Big 12 so far behind just Kansas and Iowa State, and a 14,000-plus crowd will push its season average back over 10,000 with some big home dates coming up in January, including the eagerly anticipated matchup against Kentucky in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
"It's been terrific," Huggins said of the fan support this season. "The fans have absolutely been phenomenal. Wouldn't it be great to sell out before Christmas to send the guys home with a lot of enthusiasm and hopefully a big win?"
Tipoff is set for noon and the game will be televised locally on AT&T SportsNet. The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's coverage begins at 11 a.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app TuneIn.
Briefly: Fans are encouraged to get to their seats early to help West Virginia recognize its most recent 1,000-point scorer, Daxter Miles Jr. … Miles Jr. became the school's 52nd 1,000-point scorer during Wednesday night's 77-38 victory over Coppin State … Senior guard Jevon Carter moved past Tracy Shelton into 23rd place in career scoring at WVU with 1,326 points … He needs just 95 points to crack the top 20, surpassing guard Alex Ruoff's 1,420 career points … Will Tavares, a 6-foot-6-inch, 205-pound senior guard from Providence, Rhode Island, leads Fordham in scoring with 16.6 points per game … The Rams have won two of their last three games against St. Francis (Brooklyn) and Florida A&M heading into Saturday's game in Morgantown … Fordham's six losses this year have been against mostly quality opponents: Miami, Florida State, Tulane, East Tennessee State, Harvard and Rutgers.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballRoss Hodge | Coppin State Postgame
Wednesday, December 03
Treysen Eaglestaff, Chance Moore & Honor Huff | Coppin State Postgame
Wednesday, December 03
TV Highlights: WVU 70, Mercyhurst 38
Monday, December 01
Ross Hodge | Mercyhurst Postgame
Sunday, November 30
