WVU, Elon to Meet Thursday Night in Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic

WVU Probable Starting 5
PLAYER	POS	HT
Jalen Bridges	F	6-7
Isaiah Cottrell	F	6-10
Taz Sherman	G	6-4
Sean McNeil	G	6-3
Kedrian Johnson	G	6-3

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A meeting with 2-1 Elon on Thursday night will tip off West Virginia's four-day stay in Charleston, South Carolina, this weekend as part of the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic.

Other teams in this year's event include 22^nd-ranked St. Bonaventure, Marquette, Ole Miss, Temple, Clemson and Boise State.

The West Virginia-Elon winner will play the Ole Miss-Marquette winner on Friday night and finish the tournament on Sunday with the four placing games.

"We need to play," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Wednesday morning. "I think these tournaments have been good for us over the years. You get a lot of experience, you get to play a lot of guys because it is three games in four days so I like it. I think it's done a lot to help us over the years."

Huggins, who recently tied legendary Indiana coach Bob Knight for fifth place on the all-time NCAA Division I wins list with his 902^nd win and can tie Roy Williams for fourth with his next victory, likes these early season events.

He points to last year's victory against Western Kentucky in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, being very valuable to his team's NCAA Tournament resume.

"That helped us," he said. "Western Kentucky had a heck of a year, and they were a team I think the (selection committee) thought a lot about. In this tournament, St. Bonaventure is probably going to win their league, and they're really a good team. I think this tournament as a good a field as any we've played in."

West Virginia (2-0) is coming off a 74-59 Backyard Brawl victory over Pitt in Morgantown last Friday night when the Mountaineers forced the Panthers into 32 turnovers. WVU got a game-high 18 points from sophomore forward Jalen Bridges and 17 from senior guard Taz Sherman.

West Virginia shot 50.8% from the floor and generated 17 steals.

In the Nov. 9 season-opening win over Oakland, which upset Oklahoma State late last week, WVU turned over the Golden Grizzlies 25 times on 11 steals.

In both games, however, the Mountaineers were beaten badly on the glass. Oakland outrebounded West Virginia 48-33, and Pitt outrebounded WVU 36-20.

The Panthers also shot an alarming 57.5%, mostly on put-back baskets.

"Our bigs are starting to get the hang of what we want done and they're getting a little better, but we've got to continue to work with those guys and get those guys better," Huggins said.

Elon is coming off an 89-72 victory over Bluefield College last Saturday. The Phoenix also have a win over Randolph after opening the season at Florida, where they lost 74-61.

Zac Ervin, a 6-foot-5 wing from Gate City, Virginia, leads Elon with a 15.7 points per game average. Hunter McIntosh, a 6-foot-2 guard from Snellville, Georgia, is averaging 12.7 points per game, while 6-foot guard Darius Burford of Bolingbrook, Illinois, is averaging 12 points per contest.

Michael Graham, a 6-foot-8, 221-pound sophomore forward from Brooklyn, New York, was Elon's top point-getter against Florida with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting. After falling behind by 23 in the first half, Elon outscored the Gators 37-27 in the second half.

"They shoot the ball really well," Huggins said. "When they get on a roll they really make a lot of shots, and defensively, they mix it up a little bit. They're going to play a little 1-3-1, a little 2-3 and play some man. That will be good for us as well."

Elon was picked to finish sixth in the 10-team Colonial Athletic Association, although the Phoenix did earn one first place vote. Elon is coached by Indiana graduate Mike Schrage, now in his third season there where he owns a 25-31 record.

Last year Elon won 18 games and lost on the Colonial tournament finals.

Thursday night's game is scheduled to tip off at 9 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2 (Rich Hollenberg and Debbie Antonelli).

"Before it's said and done, we're going to end up playing three or four freshmen," Huggins said. "They're just getting better and better in practice every day. A couple of them are a lot more prepared to play than what some of the other guys are. We've got so much work to do because we've got guys that have played a lot of basketball, but at a lower level, so they get away with a lot more at a lower level.

"I will say this, the progress that we've made from Dayton (closed scrimmage) until now has been immense," Huggins concluded.

Mountaineer Sports Network coverage with Tony Caridi, Jay Jacobs and David Kahn will get underway at 8 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.

Satellite radio coverage is on XM 380.

All of the games will be played at 5,100-seat TD Arena in downtown Charleston.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jalen Bridges

Isaiah Cottrell

Kedrian Johnson

Sean McNeil

Taz Sherman

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