Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
West Virginia Earns 31st NCAA Tournament Bid
March 12, 2023 07:18 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia will meet Maryland in an NCAA Tournament South Regional first-round game at Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday.
Tip time, television coverage and ticket information will be announced later this evening.
"I had no doubt about getting into the tournament," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said this evening via Zoom. "I thought we were capable of winning five or six more games if we could have made more free throws."
The Mountaineers (19-14) are making the tournament as a No. 9 seed and will take on the No. 8-seeded Terrapins out of the Big Ten Conference.
Maryland (21-12) finished in a four-way tie with Iowa, Illinois and Michigan for fifth place in the Big Ten and defeated Minnesota in its first tournament game before falling to Indiana 70-60 a day later.
Kevin Willard is coaching his first season at Maryland after a successful 12-year run at Seton Hall where he led the Pirates to five NCAA appearances, including a second-round game in 2018.
His best player is 6-foot-1 guard Jahmir Young, a Charlotte transfer who averaged 16.1 points with a team-best 104 assists. The Upper Marlboro, Maryland, resident also produced a team-leading 42 steals.
Three other players are averaging double figures. They are 6-foot-8 guard Hakim Hart (11.5 ppg.), 6-foot-8 forward Donta Scott (11.5 ppg.) and 6-foot-9 forward Julian Reese (11.2 ppg.), who also leads the Terps with an average of 7.2 rebounds per game.
Maryland is averaging 70.4 points per game while allowing its opponents 63.2 points per contest. The Terps have taken 684 triples this year, making 226, for an average of 20.7 attempts and 6.8 makes per game.
Maryland's best victory this year was at home against Purdue on Feb. 16, a 68-54 triumph. The Terps also have an impressive conference home win over Indiana and a non-conference triumph against Miami, Florida, in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tipoff at Mohegan Sun Arena, in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Willard has faced Huggins and West Virginia twice when he coached at Seton Hall, losing 67-48 to the Mountaineers on Dec. 30, 2011, and beating WVU two months later in Morgantown, 56-44.
West Virginia and Maryland last played in the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, where the Mountaineers defeated the Terps 69-59 to advance to the Sweet 16.
Maryland and West Virginia also faced each other in an NCAA Tournament second-round game in Birmingham in 1984 in what was then known as Jefferson Coliseum. Maryland won that contest 102-77.
Overall, West Virginia holds a 24-14 record against the Terps, including a 6-1 mark in neutral site games. The two teams used to play each other annually when Maryland was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
This will be West Virginia's 31st NCAA appearance and its 11th under Huggins, who owns a 14-10 record in the NCAAs at his alma mater. Huggins will be coaching in his 26th NCAA Tournament where his record stands at 34-24.
Overall, the Mountaineers are 38-30 in NCAA Tournament play.
"Our guys are excited to play," Huggins said. "They keep getting better and better."
WVU's last NCAA appearance was in 2021 when it defeated Morehead State 84-67 before falling to Syracuse 75-72 two nights later.
West Virginia has only been a nine-seed one other time since the NCAA began seeding the tournament in 1978. That was in 1986 when WVU lost to eighth-seeded Old Dominion 72-64 in a first-round game at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.
It is also the second lowest seeding the Mountaineers have had under Huggins. WVU got into the tournament in 2012 as a 10-seed and lost to Gonzaga 77-54 in Pittsburgh.
"Our No. 9 seed, I'm good with it," Huggins said.
The winner of Thursday's game is expected to face tournament No. 1 overall seed Alabama two days later on Saturday. The Crimson Tide will play the winner of Tuesday's Texas A&M Corpus Christi-Southeast Missouri State in a first four game.
West Virginia played at Legacy Arena last year when it defeated UAB 65-59. Guards Kedrian Johnson and Kobe Johnson played in that contest.
WVU was one of seven Big 12 teams to get into the dance and all seven were seeded among the top 34 teams in the tournament.
Tip time, television coverage and ticket information will be announced later this evening.
"I had no doubt about getting into the tournament," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said this evening via Zoom. "I thought we were capable of winning five or six more games if we could have made more free throws."
The Mountaineers (19-14) are making the tournament as a No. 9 seed and will take on the No. 8-seeded Terrapins out of the Big Ten Conference.
Maryland (21-12) finished in a four-way tie with Iowa, Illinois and Michigan for fifth place in the Big Ten and defeated Minnesota in its first tournament game before falling to Indiana 70-60 a day later.
Kevin Willard is coaching his first season at Maryland after a successful 12-year run at Seton Hall where he led the Pirates to five NCAA appearances, including a second-round game in 2018.
His best player is 6-foot-1 guard Jahmir Young, a Charlotte transfer who averaged 16.1 points with a team-best 104 assists. The Upper Marlboro, Maryland, resident also produced a team-leading 42 steals.
Three other players are averaging double figures. They are 6-foot-8 guard Hakim Hart (11.5 ppg.), 6-foot-8 forward Donta Scott (11.5 ppg.) and 6-foot-9 forward Julian Reese (11.2 ppg.), who also leads the Terps with an average of 7.2 rebounds per game.
Maryland is averaging 70.4 points per game while allowing its opponents 63.2 points per contest. The Terps have taken 684 triples this year, making 226, for an average of 20.7 attempts and 6.8 makes per game.
Maryland's best victory this year was at home against Purdue on Feb. 16, a 68-54 triumph. The Terps also have an impressive conference home win over Indiana and a non-conference triumph against Miami, Florida, in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tipoff at Mohegan Sun Arena, in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Willard has faced Huggins and West Virginia twice when he coached at Seton Hall, losing 67-48 to the Mountaineers on Dec. 30, 2011, and beating WVU two months later in Morgantown, 56-44.
West Virginia and Maryland last played in the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, where the Mountaineers defeated the Terps 69-59 to advance to the Sweet 16.
Maryland and West Virginia also faced each other in an NCAA Tournament second-round game in Birmingham in 1984 in what was then known as Jefferson Coliseum. Maryland won that contest 102-77.
Overall, West Virginia holds a 24-14 record against the Terps, including a 6-1 mark in neutral site games. The two teams used to play each other annually when Maryland was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
This will be West Virginia's 31st NCAA appearance and its 11th under Huggins, who owns a 14-10 record in the NCAAs at his alma mater. Huggins will be coaching in his 26th NCAA Tournament where his record stands at 34-24.
Overall, the Mountaineers are 38-30 in NCAA Tournament play.
"Our guys are excited to play," Huggins said. "They keep getting better and better."
WVU's last NCAA appearance was in 2021 when it defeated Morehead State 84-67 before falling to Syracuse 75-72 two nights later.
West Virginia has only been a nine-seed one other time since the NCAA began seeding the tournament in 1978. That was in 1986 when WVU lost to eighth-seeded Old Dominion 72-64 in a first-round game at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.
It is also the second lowest seeding the Mountaineers have had under Huggins. WVU got into the tournament in 2012 as a 10-seed and lost to Gonzaga 77-54 in Pittsburgh.
"Our No. 9 seed, I'm good with it," Huggins said.
The winner of Thursday's game is expected to face tournament No. 1 overall seed Alabama two days later on Saturday. The Crimson Tide will play the winner of Tuesday's Texas A&M Corpus Christi-Southeast Missouri State in a first four game.
West Virginia played at Legacy Arena last year when it defeated UAB 65-59. Guards Kedrian Johnson and Kobe Johnson played in that contest.
WVU was one of seven Big 12 teams to get into the dance and all seven were seeded among the top 34 teams in the tournament.
Players Mentioned
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