Two Top-50 Teams to Clash Saturday at the Coliseum - West Virginia University Athletics

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia played well offensively during Wednesday night's 85-64 victory over Navy, but it is going to have to play even better if it wants to handle 7-1 UAB on Saturday night inside the WVU Coliseum.

The Blazers are blazing hot with recent blowout wins over Georgia, Jacksonville and, most recently, South Alabama last Sunday.

Coach Andy Kennedy is coming off a 27-win season in 2022 that includes an NCAA Tournament appearance. His top player, 5-foot-11 guard Jordan "Jelly" Walker, is back for a fifth season, and he's currently No. 1 in the country in scoring at 25.7 points per game.

Walker is coming off a 30-point performance in the South Alabama win; he scored 30 in the Georgia win and had a season-high 38 in the opener against Alabama State.

"We've played against a lot of little guys who can really score, and he's one of them," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Friday morning.

Walker's Coliseum appearance on Saturday should only add to the long list of exciting guards to play in the 51-year-old arena.

But UAB is far from a one-man show.

Senior 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward KJ Buffen is contributing 10.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while 6-foot-1 sophomore guard Eric Gaines is contributing 10.1 points per contest.

The Blazers also have impressive size near the basket in 6-foot-11, 260-pound senior center Trey Jemison, who shows averages of 8.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

Jemison had 10 points and 12 rebounds and Buffen had 10 points and seven boards in last year's game against West Virginia in Birmingham, a 65-59 Mountaineer victory.

"Basically, they defend and rebound," Huggins said. "They are playing a lot more zone this year than they played a year ago, so their front line is big and long, and they make it tough to score close."

Last year's defensive performance at UAB was probably West Virginia's best of the season, with guard Kedrian Johnson limiting Walker to just 13 points on 6-of-20 shooting. Walker also committed a game-high seven turnovers.

Huggins believes Johnson will be a key player Saturday night for the Mountaineers.

"I think Keedy can match his speed," Huggins said. "(Walker) just runs away from people, and Keedy did a great job of staying on him. He has the same kind of speed going up and down the floor that he has."

Huggins believes backup guard Joe Toussaint will also have to play a role in attempting to slow down Walker.

"What we're hoping is Keedy can do as good a job as he did a year ago; he's the key for us," Huggins said. "But Keedy is not going to be able to do it for 40 minutes."

Saturday's game could turn out to be a Quadrant 1 matchup for both teams. West Virginia advanced two spots to No. 9 following Wednesday night's blowout victory over Navy and idle UAB moved up three spots to 50.

"It helps us if we win," Huggins said. "They're good. They weren't a great man-to-man team a year ago so they're playing some 1-3-1, dropping into a 2-3 and 1-2-2, three-quarter court stuff and falling back into a 2-3. And they've got great size on the baseline. When you have that kind of size and length along the baseline you get spread out and push it a little bit farther out because you know you've got back up behind you.

"I think, defensively, they're a whole lot better team, and I think changing defenses has been good for them," Huggins added.

Looking at both teams' season scoring averages, Saturday's game could end up being a high-scoring, exciting affair.

"It could be, although we'd probably rather it not," Huggins said.

This will be UAB's first appearance in Morgantown since Feb. 3, 1987, when WVU outlasted the Blazers 79-64. UAB defeated West Virginia 66-62 in the Birmingham Coliseum later that year and also topped the Mountaineers 88-84 in the championship game of San Francisco's Cable Car Classic in 1991.

Saturday's game will tip off at 6 p.m. and will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ (Dave Weekley, Warren Baker and Amanda Mazey).

Mountaineer Sports Network coverage with Tony Caridi, Jay Jacobs and David Kahn gets underway at 5 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile apps WVU Gameday and The Varsity Network.

Satellite radio coverage is on SiriusXM channel 380.

Tickets for Saturday's Family Day game are on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com. Fans can purchase four tickets and a $25 concession voucher for just $65. The matchup with UAB will also be the annual Youth Sports Day, sponsored by UScellular.

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