Tuesday, November 9
Morgantown, W.Va.
7:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
Oakland
Photo by: Denny Medley\Big 12 Conference
Mountaineers Open 2021-22 Hoop Campaign Tuesday Night
November 08, 2021 03:49 PM | Men's Basketball
| 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 |
This year marks veteran coach Bob Huggins' 15th season sitting in the lead seat for his alma mater.
Huggins, who secured his 900th career victory against Morehead State during last year's NCAA Tournament, is one of only two coaches in NCAA history to win at least 300 games at two different Division I schools – 399 wins in 16 seasons at Cincinnati and 310 in 14 seasons at West Virginia.
The other is recently retired Roy Williams.
Huggins trails only Mike Krzyzewski (1,170) and Jim Boeheim (982) among active coaches in career Division I victories, and he could leap frog two more coaching giants by mid-November to move into fourth place in all-time Division I wins.
Hall of Famers Bob Knight (902) and Roy Williams (903) are currently sitting at No. 5 and No. 4 respectively on the NCAA Division I wins chart.
And, Huggins' 1,282 career games coached trail just Krzyzewski, Boeheim, Jim Phelan, Cliff Ellis and Calhoun for the most in NCAA history. This year will be Huggins' 40th season patrolling the sidelines, which makes him one of only 18 in NCAA history to do so.
While the accolades and the honors continue to accumulate for Huggins, his No. 1 mission is to get this current edition of Mountaineers on par with his other strong teams through the years.
Sophomore forward Jalen Bridges said earlier today rebounding and defensive transition are two areas Huggins has been harping on since we last saw the Mountaineer in action against Akron in a charity exhibition game on Oct. 29, a 74-59 WVU victory.
"We've got a lot more to work on than that," Huggins pointed out. "(Oakland) has always run some unconventional things that are really different looks, and I thought it was really important that we kind of learn where they're coming from, and we're continuing to try and get better at what we do.
"But if we've worked really hard on rebounding, I missed it," Huggins added, once again pointing out his displeasure with that aspect of his team's play.
The Zips outrebounded the Mountaineers 36-32.
The last time Huggins put a West Virginia team on the floor at Bankers Life Field House in Indianapolis against Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament, his starting five consisted of Sean McNeil, Deuce McBride, Derek Culver, Emmitt Matthews Jr. and Jalen Bridges.
McBride and Culver left school early to pursue professional careers, while Matthews Jr. transferred back to the West Coast to play for his home-state Washington Huskies.
Only five guys who saw minutes versus the Orange return this season – McNeil, Bridges, guards Taz Sherman and Kedrian Johnson and forward Gabe Osabuohien.
Sherman demonstrated during the charity game win over Akron his ability to score points in bunches, pouring in 29 in only 21 minutes of action on 10-of-14 shooting. The senior from Missouri City, Texas, has the potential to become the first Mountaineer player since guard Drew Schifino in 2003 to average more than 20 points per game for a season.
McNeil is another guy with the ability to score lots of points, although he managed just 10 on 4-of-12 shooting in the charity game.
Huggins used a starting five consisting of Sherman, McNeil and Johnson in the backcourt, with Bridges and 6-foot-10 redshirt freshman Isaiah Cottrell up front against the Zips. That is the tentative starting five listed for Tuesday night's opener against Oakland, coached by Greg Kampe, who is beginning his 38th season with the Golden Grizzlies.
Kampe has won 644 games at Oakland, including a 25-win season five years ago. The Golden Grizzlies slipped to 12-18 last season, but won 12 of their last 21 games and reached the Horizon League championship game before falling to Cleveland State.
Kampe has three starters returning, including 5-foot-11 sophomore point guard Jalen Moore, who averaged 17.9 points and 8.4 assists per game last season. Moore led the country in assists and is one of the preseason favorites for conference player of the year honors in 2022.
Wings Micah Parrish and Trey Townsend are Oakland's other two returning starters. The two combined to average more than 17 points and nearly 12 rebounds per game, with Parrish averaging 12.8 points over Oakland's last 11 games when it was playing its best basketball of the season.
Marquette transfer Jamal Cain, a 6-foot-7 forward, was a former top 100 player who is returning to his native Michigan to play his final collegiate season for the Golden Grizzlies. Kampe says Cain possesses an "NBA body."
"They've got good players. Greg does a great job," Huggins said. "We've known each other for a long time. He was doing what I was doing when I was at Walsh College, and what he's done at Oakland is remarkable."
Oakland lost its charity exhibition game against Eastern Michigan 74-69 on Thursday, Oct. 28.
"I don't know if they will do it against us (Tuesday), but the teams they've played so far they've iso'd a lot," Huggins said. "It's really whoever they think has a disadvantage, and I don't think it's one particular guy. It's more whoever they think they can take advantage of."
Tuesday night's game will be the third meeting between these two schools with the prior two meetings taking place at the WVU Coliseum. West Virginia downed Oakland 76-71 in Morgantown on Dec. 19, 2012 and also defeated OU 95-71 here on Nov. 12, 2010.
The contest will be live streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with Andrew Caridi, Warren Baker and Anjelica Trinone handling the call. Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs airs on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.
The broadcast is also available on channel 983 on the Sirius/XM app.
This year marks Caridi's 26th full season describing WVU men's basketball action, although he called all of the road games during the 1996 campaign and worked TV games as far back as 1989.
A 7 p.m. tip time has been designated for Tuesday's opener. Prior to the game, West Virginia University will honor Huggins for earning his 900th career win last March.
"We've been very inconsistent and a lot of that is my fault because I've thrown a lot of things at them," Huggins admitted. "I want to see what we can do and what we can't do. We've thrown a variety of defenses to try and see how they react and we've changed some things offensively to see how they react to those and that inconsistency may have led to their inconsistency. But as time goes on they will become more accustomed to what we're trying to do and hopefully we'll be capable of doing more than just a couple of things."
Tickets are still available for Tuesday's game and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
West Virginia has a quick turnaround with the "Backyard Brawl" against Pitt looming on Friday night.
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/ Men's BasketballTV Highlights: WVU 80, Wheeling 54
Monday, October 27
Ross Hodge | Wheeling Postgame
Sunday, October 26
Harlan Obioha & Brenen Lorient | Wheeling Postgame
Sunday, October 26
Honor Huff Scores Three Against Wheeling
Sunday, October 26
