MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia has proven it can beat the top Big 12 teams in the WVU Coliseum.
 
Now, the Mountaineers must figure out a way to transfer that success to the road. West Virginia, coming off an eye-opening, 91-85 victory over third-ranked Kansas last Saturday at the Coliseum, returns to the road to face Big 12 upstart UCF, now 11-6 and 2-3 following its 57-42 loss at Houston last Saturday.
 
West Virginia is 0-6 in games played away from the Coliseum so far this year, including blowout losses at Houston and Oklahoma to begin league play.
 
West Virginia coach Josh Eilert said there is one commonality in WVU's two recent home wins against Texas and Kansas – rebounding. West Virginia was plus-one on the glass against the Longhorns and was plus-nine against the Jayhawks, including grabbing nine offensive rebounds.
 
WVU had just three offensive rebounds in the Oklahoma loss - all coming from forward Patrick Suemnick - and were beaten by nine on the glass against Houston.
 
"We've got to rebound, first and foremost, and it's a broken record with us," Eilert explained. "Like I told our guys, we can do all the game-planning we want, but if we're not quick to the ball, and we're not taking care of the glass, we're going to have a hard time beating anybody. It's not a coincidence we outrebound Texas by one and we outrebound Kansas by nine and won those games.
 
"When we travel and hit the road, we've got to have that type of intensity that we've had in the last couple of games here in the Coliseum."
 
West Virginia is going to need that and more facing a physical UCF team under eighth-year coach Johnny Dawkins, a Mike Krzyzewski protégé. Dawkins led the Knights to 19 wins in their final year in the American Conference in 2023 and has UCF off to an 11-6 start this year, including Big 12 victories over Kansas and Texas.
 
Against the Jayhawks, UCF overcame a double-digit deficit by switching defenses, according to Eilert.
 
"They were down 16 against Kansas at one point, and they threw some zone at them. They hadn't shown much zone at all prior to the Kansas game, and I think that threw them for a loop," Eilert said. "Things started going in their direction; they saw some shots fall and their defensive intensity just continued to rise throughout the game.
 
"At the end of the day, (Dawkins) is not a zone guy," Eilert said. "He is primarily a man-to-man coach, but he will change defenses on you and his man-to-man is as good as anybody's in the country. They are 24^th in the country in opponents' points per game, so they hang their hat on their defense, and they have a very physical roster from top to bottom."
 
Four of UCF's starting five are transfers, including top scorer Jaylin Sellers, a 6-foot-4, 196-pound off-guard from Columbus, Georgia. Sellers began his college career at Ball State where he averaged 13.5 points and four rebounds per game last year for the Cardinals.
 
He's increased that to 17.1 points per contest at UCF while going to the free throw line a team-best 90 times so far this year.
 
Six-foot-one guard Darius Johnson, the only high school import in UCF's starting lineup, shows averages of 13.5 points and 3.5 assists per game. He's a Boyds, Maryland, resident.
 
Shemarri Allen, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound guard, comes from Cowley Community College after starting his college career at Missouri-Kansas City. He's averaging 7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
 
In the paint, Dawkins relies on 7-foot, 246-pound Ohio State transfer Ibrahima Diallo and 6-foot-8, 215-pound Oregon transfer C.J. Walker. Diallo has grabbed 41 offensive rebounds and leads the Knights with 111 boards and 34 blocks, while Walker displays averages of 7.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest.
 
Diallo and Omar Payne, a 6-foot-10, 228-pound Florida transfer, have combined to score 11.0 points and grab 10.3 rebounds per game while basically spitting the minutes at the five position.
 
Marchelus Avery, a 6-foot-7, 210-pound Northwest Florida State transfer who began his college career at New Mexico State, is UCF's top reserve averaging 8.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per outing.
 
UCF also gets quality minutes and production from 6-foot-11, 216-pound forward Thierno Sylla from Conakry, Guinea. The sophomore is averaging 5.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
 
The Knights are 8-3 in games played at Addition Financial Arena, which seats 9,400. UCF is averaging 6,092 fans per game and had a sellout for the Kansas win and 9,137 for its recent five-point loss to BYU.
 
UCF also shows a 77-52 road loss at Kansas State on its conference ledger.
 
"They really lock in on the defensive end, and they've got good size from top to bottom, so we're going to have to be good with the ball," Eilert said. "We can't be playing on our heels by any means. We must attack them and be the aggressor. 
 
"They force a lot of turnovers, and they get up in you, so we can't back down by any means. We've got to take the fight to them," Eilert added.
 
West Virginia, now 7-11 and 2-3, got 23 points and nine rebounds from guard RaeQuan Battle and 20 points and six boards from forward Patrick Suemnick in its 91-85 upset of Kansas last Saturday.
 
The Mountaineers shot 51.8% overall, including 12-of-21 from 3-point range for 57.1%. At one point in the first half, West Virginia made 9-of-11 from behind the arc.
 
Jesse Edwards, who has missed the last eight games after fracturing his wrist in the Massachusetts loss back on Dec. 16, dressed for the Kansas game and went through pregame warmups. Eilert said there is a possibility the 6-foot-11 forward could be available Tuesday night against UCF, which could help offset the Knights' impressive size in the post.
 
"We've got to be careful with him and make sure we're not pushing him too fast," Eilert cautioned. "He warmed up against Kansas, but I've got to be smart with him, and my responsibility is to do the best thing for our guys. Just because a guy is raring to go and is willing, that doesn't mean that's the best thing for him.
 
"We went light yesterday and did a lot of walking through their sets and got a lot of shots up, but we didn't do any five-on-five contact, so when we travel down to Orlando we will see where he's at and where his comfort level is. It's a fluid situation, and I'm not sure if he will go or not, but the good thing is Pat is playing really well and giving us great minutes," Eilert added.
 
The bottom line for Eilert on Tuesday night is his team must play more aggressively when it is away from the Coliseum.
 
"We don't have a road win. Houston and Oklahoma are two very hard places to play, and Central Florida is going to be no different, but we need to figure out what are we lacking on the road that we're getting at home?" he said.
 
Tuesday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN+ (Pete Sousa and BJ Taylor). Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi begins at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
 
West Virginia will be making its first-ever appearance at Addition Financial Arena and will be playing UCF for just the second time. The only other meeting took place on Nov. 24, 2017, in the semifinals of the AdvoCare Invitational in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, an 83-45 Mountaineer victory.