Wednesday, November 25
Sioux Falls, S.D.
7:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
South Dakota State
Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
No. 15 West Virginia Tips off 2020-21 Season Wednesday Night in South Dakota
November 24, 2020 04:16 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It's been eight long months since the last time West Virginia University prepared for a basketball game.
Veteran coach Bob Huggins, who enters his 14th season at West Virginia just 19 wins shy of 900 for his career, said his 15th-ranked Mountaineers are eager to play again.
"We're excited, and we are looking forward to playing. It's been a long time," he said Tuesday afternoon from his courtside seat at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. West Virginia will face South Dakota State, from the Summit Conference, in opening game of tomorrow's Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic.
This tournament has sort of evolved about as much as the COVID-19 virus, which has dramatically altered everyday life.
The Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic was originally supposed to be the Battle 4 Atlantis at Paradise Island in the Bahamas before the pandemic shut down the country. The original field included Duke, Creighton, Memphis, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Utah and Wichita State.
Duke was the first to pull out before the tournament switched sponsors and locations, and the Blue Devils were followed by Ohio State, Utah, Creighton and most recently, Wichita State after arriving in South Dakota yesterday.
The Shockers had positive COVID tests among their team and were forced to withdraw.
The updated tournament field, as of this afternoon, is comprised of two original teams, West Virginia and Memphis, plus Saint Mary's, Northern Iowa, Western Kentucky, South Dakota State, Utah State and now VCU, which agreed on short notice to fly out and take Wichita State's place.
The reshuffled bracket features Memphis playing Saint Mary's in the first game tomorrow at 2 p.m. EST, followed by Northern Iowa and Western Kentucky immediately afterward.
The second session, beginning at 7 p.m. EST, will feature West Virginia playing South Dakota State, with Utah State and VCU concluding the opening day of play.
The winner of West Virginia-South Dakota State and Utah State- VCU will meet Thanksgiving Day at 2:30 p.m.
The consolation and championship games will take place on Friday, Nov. 27.
Three of the four games on Wednesday will be televised nationally on ESPN2 with the Northern Iowa-Western Kentucky game airing on ESPNU.
Huggins said Tuesday his team is prepared for just about anything because they have been preparing for just about everyone.
"I think we can guard anybody now," he joked. "We've gone through I think four teams now that we've looked at on film and broken down on film with our guys and actually guarded them in practice. In some ways it was good for them."
The South Dakota State team West Virginia is facing Wednesday night is the preseason pick of many to win the Summit. The Jackrabbits have all five starters returning from last year's team that won 22 games and lost in the tournament quarterfinals to Purdue-Fort Wayne.
Second-year coach Eric Henderson has the returning conference player of the year in 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward Douglas Wilson, who averaged 18.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, and the reigning freshman of the year in 6-foot-4, 185-pound guard Noah Friedel, who averaged 12.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
SDSU played a more traditional two-in, three-out style last year because it boasts Power 5 size with 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward Matt Dentlinger and 6-foot-7, 205-pound wing David Wingett.
Huggins said he's impressed with what he's studied on tape of the Jackrabbits.
"They are very well coached," he said. "They do a great job of spacing in running their offense and they've got multiple guys who can make shots. They are a difficult team to guard in that they space the floor so well and they've got so many guys, who, if you leave them open, they are going to make shots. They pass the ball well, and defensively, they do a great job of making you score the ball over them."
Henderson said his No. 1 concern is West Virginia's size and physicality near the basket with 6-foot-10, 255-pound, junior forward Derek Culver and 6-foot-9, 260-pound sophomore forward Oscar Tshiebwe.
The duo last year combined to average 21.6 points and 17.9 rebounds per game.
"We'll certainly have a strategy put together that puts our players in a position to rebound their best. Obviously, that's going to be a huge factor in the game. How many second-chance points can we hold them to?" Henderson noted. "Hopefully, we can make them miss enough first shots to where rebounding becomes a factor.
"That's certainly one of their strengths, and we've got to do a good job of putting our players in a position to rebound, and it's got to be all five guys. Their big fella (Tshiebwe) led the country in offensive rebounding last year, so we'll have our hands full, and it's all hands on deck."
Henderson said it will also be important for West Virginia's interior guys to score over top of his players.
"We'll throw some different things at them, change defenses a little bit and hopefully our guys will fight like heck, which I know they will, to give us a chance come finishing time," he said.
South Dakota State is familiar with Power 5 competition. The Jackrabbits played four games last year against Power 5 teams, losing to USC, Indiana, Nebraska and Arizona. SDSU's closest game was against Arizona, with the Jackrabbits falling 71-64.
South Dakota State has finished in the top 100 in the KenPom ratings three out of the last five years, including No. 80 last season.
Wednesday night's game will be the first meeting between the two schools.
Huggins said his entire roster is healthy and available for the game.
"I think Governor (Jim) Justice would very, very proud of our guys for what they've done (following health guidelines)," he said. "We're all good.
"Our guys have been great, and we've certainly thrown a lot at them," he added. "I can't say enough about our guys' mentality through this whole thing. Their attitude didn't change, and they readily accepted whatever we've thrown at them."
MSN from Learfield IMG College radio coverage with Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs will begin at 6 p.m. EST.
The ESPN2 announcing crew of Doug Sherman and Chris Spatola will cover the game from Sioux Falls.
The tournament announced Monday no fans will be permitted inside the Sanford Pentagon.
Veteran coach Bob Huggins, who enters his 14th season at West Virginia just 19 wins shy of 900 for his career, said his 15th-ranked Mountaineers are eager to play again.
"We're excited, and we are looking forward to playing. It's been a long time," he said Tuesday afternoon from his courtside seat at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. West Virginia will face South Dakota State, from the Summit Conference, in opening game of tomorrow's Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic.
This tournament has sort of evolved about as much as the COVID-19 virus, which has dramatically altered everyday life.
The Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic was originally supposed to be the Battle 4 Atlantis at Paradise Island in the Bahamas before the pandemic shut down the country. The original field included Duke, Creighton, Memphis, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Utah and Wichita State.
Duke was the first to pull out before the tournament switched sponsors and locations, and the Blue Devils were followed by Ohio State, Utah, Creighton and most recently, Wichita State after arriving in South Dakota yesterday.
The Shockers had positive COVID tests among their team and were forced to withdraw.
The updated tournament field, as of this afternoon, is comprised of two original teams, West Virginia and Memphis, plus Saint Mary's, Northern Iowa, Western Kentucky, South Dakota State, Utah State and now VCU, which agreed on short notice to fly out and take Wichita State's place.
The reshuffled bracket features Memphis playing Saint Mary's in the first game tomorrow at 2 p.m. EST, followed by Northern Iowa and Western Kentucky immediately afterward.
The second session, beginning at 7 p.m. EST, will feature West Virginia playing South Dakota State, with Utah State and VCU concluding the opening day of play.
The winner of West Virginia-South Dakota State and Utah State- VCU will meet Thanksgiving Day at 2:30 p.m.
The consolation and championship games will take place on Friday, Nov. 27.
Three of the four games on Wednesday will be televised nationally on ESPN2 with the Northern Iowa-Western Kentucky game airing on ESPNU.
Huggins said Tuesday his team is prepared for just about anything because they have been preparing for just about everyone.
"I think we can guard anybody now," he joked. "We've gone through I think four teams now that we've looked at on film and broken down on film with our guys and actually guarded them in practice. In some ways it was good for them."The South Dakota State team West Virginia is facing Wednesday night is the preseason pick of many to win the Summit. The Jackrabbits have all five starters returning from last year's team that won 22 games and lost in the tournament quarterfinals to Purdue-Fort Wayne.
Second-year coach Eric Henderson has the returning conference player of the year in 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward Douglas Wilson, who averaged 18.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, and the reigning freshman of the year in 6-foot-4, 185-pound guard Noah Friedel, who averaged 12.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
SDSU played a more traditional two-in, three-out style last year because it boasts Power 5 size with 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward Matt Dentlinger and 6-foot-7, 205-pound wing David Wingett.
Huggins said he's impressed with what he's studied on tape of the Jackrabbits.
"They are very well coached," he said. "They do a great job of spacing in running their offense and they've got multiple guys who can make shots. They are a difficult team to guard in that they space the floor so well and they've got so many guys, who, if you leave them open, they are going to make shots. They pass the ball well, and defensively, they do a great job of making you score the ball over them."
Henderson said his No. 1 concern is West Virginia's size and physicality near the basket with 6-foot-10, 255-pound, junior forward Derek Culver and 6-foot-9, 260-pound sophomore forward Oscar Tshiebwe.
The duo last year combined to average 21.6 points and 17.9 rebounds per game.
"We'll certainly have a strategy put together that puts our players in a position to rebound their best. Obviously, that's going to be a huge factor in the game. How many second-chance points can we hold them to?" Henderson noted. "Hopefully, we can make them miss enough first shots to where rebounding becomes a factor.
"That's certainly one of their strengths, and we've got to do a good job of putting our players in a position to rebound, and it's got to be all five guys. Their big fella (Tshiebwe) led the country in offensive rebounding last year, so we'll have our hands full, and it's all hands on deck."
Henderson said it will also be important for West Virginia's interior guys to score over top of his players.
"We'll throw some different things at them, change defenses a little bit and hopefully our guys will fight like heck, which I know they will, to give us a chance come finishing time," he said.
South Dakota State is familiar with Power 5 competition. The Jackrabbits played four games last year against Power 5 teams, losing to USC, Indiana, Nebraska and Arizona. SDSU's closest game was against Arizona, with the Jackrabbits falling 71-64.
South Dakota State has finished in the top 100 in the KenPom ratings three out of the last five years, including No. 80 last season.
Wednesday night's game will be the first meeting between the two schools.
Huggins said his entire roster is healthy and available for the game.
"I think Governor (Jim) Justice would very, very proud of our guys for what they've done (following health guidelines)," he said. "We're all good.
"Our guys have been great, and we've certainly thrown a lot at them," he added. "I can't say enough about our guys' mentality through this whole thing. Their attitude didn't change, and they readily accepted whatever we've thrown at them."
MSN from Learfield IMG College radio coverage with Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs will begin at 6 p.m. EST.
The ESPN2 announcing crew of Doug Sherman and Chris Spatola will cover the game from Sioux Falls.
The tournament announced Monday no fans will be permitted inside the Sanford Pentagon.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
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