Photo by: Denny Medley\Big 12 Conference
WVU Earns 30th NCAA Tournament Bid
March 14, 2021 07:17 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia will be making its 30th NCAA Tournament appearance in school history when it takes on Morehead State Friday in a second-round game in Indianapolis.
An announcement on game times and venues is forthcoming.
The Mountaineers (18-9) earned a three-seed in this year's tournament (10th overall) while Morehead State is the 14-seed (56th overall) after defeating Belmont in the Ohio Valley Conference championship game. The Eagles are 23-7, including winning 19 of their last 20 games.
This will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two schools and the first since 2012 when West Virginia routed Morehead State 83-48 in Charleston. The Mountaineers also own victories over the Eagles in Morgantown in 1981 and in Charleston in 1980. Morehead State is coached by Preston Spradlin, now in his fourth season at the helm there.
"I don't know anything about them, but I'm going home tonight and watch four or five games and then I will be able to fill you in a little bit better," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.
This will be Huggins' 25th career appearance in the tournament and his 10th in 14 seasons at WVU. West Virginia is coming off a 72-69 loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals last Thursday afternoon.
Guards Miles McBride and Taz Sherman tallied a game-high 19 points each, but the Mountaineers couldn't contain OSU's freshman tandem of Avery Anderson and Cade Cunningham, who combined to score 34 points.
It was Anderson's driving layup with 53 seconds left that put the Cowboys ahead for good. West Virginia had an opportunity to tie the game and send it into overtime, but Sean McNeil's successful 3 came well after the buzzer.
Huggins said his guys wanted to get some work in when the team returned from Kansas City on Friday so he had a couple of light practices over the weekend.
"We had an offensive practice yesterday and we had a defensive practice (Sunday)," he said. "It wasn't long but just kind of going over some things. We just tried to kind of refresh them on some things that we had done earlier in the year that may be good for us now."
Huggins said forward Derek Culver, who struggled with a cold in the Oklahoma State loss, was much better yesterday and today.
"He's running well and we've just got to get him to be more assertive around the rim again," Huggins said.
The Mountaineers have lost three out of their last four games, but all three defeats have come against high seeds in this year's NCAA Tournament – No. 1 seed Baylor and No. 3-seeded Oklahoma State.
In fact, all nine of West Virginia's losses are against teams in this year's field of 68: No. 1 overall-seeded Gonzaga, No. 1-seed Baylor, No. 3-seed Texas, No. 4-seed Oklahoma State (twice), eighth-seeded Oklahoma (twice), third-seeded Kansas and seventh-seeded Florida.
The Mountaineers also own victories over NCAA Tournament participants Texas Tech (twice), VCU, North Texas, Georgetown, Oklahoma State, Texas and Kansas.
"The fact that we struggled a little bit down the stretch ... we lost nine games and we're a three-seed so that bodes well for who we've played," Huggins said. "I think we've played as good a schedule as virtually anybody has. When you start looking at teams in the NCAA Tournament and where they're seeded obviously our league helps a lot with that because we had so many ranked teams.
"I think we've played a very competitive schedule and a very well-rounded schedule," Huggins added. "We've just kind of gone over some things we need to do and do better, but I feel good about where we are."
The winner of the Friday's game will face the winner of San Diego State and Syracuse on Sunday. West Virginia and Syracuse were old rivals when the two were in the Big East Conference.
"Obviously, I looked at who else was in our bracket and we've played San Diego State before in Las Vegas, and we've played Syracuse a bunch from back in the old Big East days," Huggins said. "Those two (teams) I know very, very well."
The entire NCAA Tournament this year is taking place at secure venues in Indiana and will feed into the Final Four, which will take place in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday, April 3. The national championship game will be played on Monday, April 5.
"We want to be the ones who get to stay longer," Huggins said.
The coach said the team will depart for Indianapolis sometime tomorrow and will continue its game preparations in a secure location there. Some of the teams in this year's tournament are already in Indianapolis.
An announcement on game times and venues is forthcoming.
The Mountaineers (18-9) earned a three-seed in this year's tournament (10th overall) while Morehead State is the 14-seed (56th overall) after defeating Belmont in the Ohio Valley Conference championship game. The Eagles are 23-7, including winning 19 of their last 20 games.
This will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two schools and the first since 2012 when West Virginia routed Morehead State 83-48 in Charleston. The Mountaineers also own victories over the Eagles in Morgantown in 1981 and in Charleston in 1980. Morehead State is coached by Preston Spradlin, now in his fourth season at the helm there.
"I don't know anything about them, but I'm going home tonight and watch four or five games and then I will be able to fill you in a little bit better," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.
This will be Huggins' 25th career appearance in the tournament and his 10th in 14 seasons at WVU. West Virginia is coming off a 72-69 loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals last Thursday afternoon.
Guards Miles McBride and Taz Sherman tallied a game-high 19 points each, but the Mountaineers couldn't contain OSU's freshman tandem of Avery Anderson and Cade Cunningham, who combined to score 34 points.It was Anderson's driving layup with 53 seconds left that put the Cowboys ahead for good. West Virginia had an opportunity to tie the game and send it into overtime, but Sean McNeil's successful 3 came well after the buzzer.
Huggins said his guys wanted to get some work in when the team returned from Kansas City on Friday so he had a couple of light practices over the weekend.
"We had an offensive practice yesterday and we had a defensive practice (Sunday)," he said. "It wasn't long but just kind of going over some things. We just tried to kind of refresh them on some things that we had done earlier in the year that may be good for us now."
Huggins said forward Derek Culver, who struggled with a cold in the Oklahoma State loss, was much better yesterday and today.
"He's running well and we've just got to get him to be more assertive around the rim again," Huggins said.
The Mountaineers have lost three out of their last four games, but all three defeats have come against high seeds in this year's NCAA Tournament – No. 1 seed Baylor and No. 3-seeded Oklahoma State.
In fact, all nine of West Virginia's losses are against teams in this year's field of 68: No. 1 overall-seeded Gonzaga, No. 1-seed Baylor, No. 3-seed Texas, No. 4-seed Oklahoma State (twice), eighth-seeded Oklahoma (twice), third-seeded Kansas and seventh-seeded Florida.
The Mountaineers also own victories over NCAA Tournament participants Texas Tech (twice), VCU, North Texas, Georgetown, Oklahoma State, Texas and Kansas.
"The fact that we struggled a little bit down the stretch ... we lost nine games and we're a three-seed so that bodes well for who we've played," Huggins said. "I think we've played as good a schedule as virtually anybody has. When you start looking at teams in the NCAA Tournament and where they're seeded obviously our league helps a lot with that because we had so many ranked teams.
"I think we've played a very competitive schedule and a very well-rounded schedule," Huggins added. "We've just kind of gone over some things we need to do and do better, but I feel good about where we are."
The winner of the Friday's game will face the winner of San Diego State and Syracuse on Sunday. West Virginia and Syracuse were old rivals when the two were in the Big East Conference.
"Obviously, I looked at who else was in our bracket and we've played San Diego State before in Las Vegas, and we've played Syracuse a bunch from back in the old Big East days," Huggins said. "Those two (teams) I know very, very well."
The entire NCAA Tournament this year is taking place at secure venues in Indiana and will feed into the Final Four, which will take place in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday, April 3. The national championship game will be played on Monday, April 5.
"We want to be the ones who get to stay longer," Huggins said.
The coach said the team will depart for Indianapolis sometime tomorrow and will continue its game preparations in a secure location there. Some of the teams in this year's tournament are already in Indianapolis.
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