Wednesday, November 27
Paradise Island, Bahamas
2:30 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
Gonzaga
Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
West Virginia to Meet No. 3 Gonzaga in Wednesday Afternoon Battle 4 Atlantis Clash
November 25, 2024 11:28 AM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The 12-game, three-day Battle 4 Atlantis tournament on Paradise Island in the Bahamas begins with four games on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
Louisville and 16th-ranked Indiana tip things off at noon, followed by West Virginia's game against third-ranked Gonzaga at 2:30 p.m.
The evening session features Oklahoma and Providence at 5 p.m. before concluding with Davidson and 17th-ranked Arizona at 7:30 p.m.
The Gonzaga-West Virginia winner will meet the Indiana-Louisville winner at noon on Thursday with the Oklahoma-Providence and Arizona-Davidson winners meeting afterward. The championship and consolation games will be played on Friday.
The Mountaineers were slated to play in the 2020 Battle 4 Atlantis, but COVID-19 forced the tournament to be moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where WVU won that tournament, which was renamed Bad Boys Mowers Crossover Classic.
"I love (midseason tournaments)," West Virginia coach Darian DeVries said last week. "It's an opportunity, in this particular case, to play in a tournament setting, and we can see how they respond to playing three games in three days, which is similar to post-conference tournaments.
"You can get an idea of, 'At some point guys, this is what it's going to be in March of you are going to have to play one night, a second night and a third night.' It kind of gives you an early glimpse at some of those things," DeVries said.
Wednesday afternoon's contest against coach Mark Few's Bulldogs will be West Virginia's first regular season game in the Bahamas and its sixth all-time meeting against Gonzaga. The Bulldogs claimed the first one in the opening round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament in Pittsburgh, and the two also met in an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 matchup in San Jose, California, with the Zags rallying for a 61-58 triumph.
Gonzaga's other wins against West Virginia came in Spokane in 2013, in Morgantown a year later, and in the 2020 Jimmy V Classic in Indianapolis.
This year's Gonzaga squad has won its five games by an average of 32.2 points, including a 38-point victory over Baylor in the season opener and an eight-point triumph against Arizona State a game later.
More recently, the Bulldogs show a 59-point victory over UMass-Lowell, a 13-point win over San Diego State and a 43-point victory over Long Beach State.
Graham Ike, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward, leads a balanced Gonzaga attack with averages of 14.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
Guard Khalif Battle, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound graduate student, is averaging 14.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, while senior point guard Ryan Nembhard (12.2 ppg.) and senior off-guard Nolan Hickman (11.2 ppg.) are also averaging double figures.
Michael Ajayi, another senior, rounds out Few's four-guard lineup with averages of 6.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
Last Wednesday, West Virginia boosted its record to 3-1 with an 86-43 victory over Iona at the WVU Coliseum. Senior guard Javon Small led the Mountaineers with 23 points. WVU shot 51.8% and limited Iona to just 23.7% on 14 of 59 from the floor.
Small is now leading the Mountaineers with an average of 15.5 points per game and is one of four guards expected to start Wednesday against the Zags.
The others are Tucker DeVries, a 6-foot-7 senior averaging 13.5 points, Toby Okani, a 6-foot-8 senior averaging 6.5 points, and Sencire Harris, a 6-foot-4 sophomore averaging 4.3 points.
Amani Hansberry, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound sophomore, is expected to round out the starting lineup and shows averages of 9.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
Freshman guard Jonathan Powell has been WVU's most productive scorer coming off the bench, averaging 12 points per game. Powell scored all 11 of his points against Iona during a four-minute stretch in the first half.
"For us, we are most likely going to see three different teams," DeVries explained. "From a learning opportunity, you are going to see teams that really post it, we're going to see teams that play great in transition or we're going to see some zone defense, so it's really going to challenge our team."
Wednesday's game will be televised nationally on ESPN with Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli handling the call.
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi and Brad Howe will air on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
ESPN is televising the winner's bracket games while the loser's brackets contests will air on ESPN2.
Louisville and 16th-ranked Indiana tip things off at noon, followed by West Virginia's game against third-ranked Gonzaga at 2:30 p.m.
The evening session features Oklahoma and Providence at 5 p.m. before concluding with Davidson and 17th-ranked Arizona at 7:30 p.m.
The Gonzaga-West Virginia winner will meet the Indiana-Louisville winner at noon on Thursday with the Oklahoma-Providence and Arizona-Davidson winners meeting afterward. The championship and consolation games will be played on Friday.
The Mountaineers were slated to play in the 2020 Battle 4 Atlantis, but COVID-19 forced the tournament to be moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where WVU won that tournament, which was renamed Bad Boys Mowers Crossover Classic.
"I love (midseason tournaments)," West Virginia coach Darian DeVries said last week. "It's an opportunity, in this particular case, to play in a tournament setting, and we can see how they respond to playing three games in three days, which is similar to post-conference tournaments.
"You can get an idea of, 'At some point guys, this is what it's going to be in March of you are going to have to play one night, a second night and a third night.' It kind of gives you an early glimpse at some of those things," DeVries said.
Wednesday afternoon's contest against coach Mark Few's Bulldogs will be West Virginia's first regular season game in the Bahamas and its sixth all-time meeting against Gonzaga. The Bulldogs claimed the first one in the opening round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament in Pittsburgh, and the two also met in an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 matchup in San Jose, California, with the Zags rallying for a 61-58 triumph.
Gonzaga's other wins against West Virginia came in Spokane in 2013, in Morgantown a year later, and in the 2020 Jimmy V Classic in Indianapolis.
This year's Gonzaga squad has won its five games by an average of 32.2 points, including a 38-point victory over Baylor in the season opener and an eight-point triumph against Arizona State a game later.
More recently, the Bulldogs show a 59-point victory over UMass-Lowell, a 13-point win over San Diego State and a 43-point victory over Long Beach State.
Graham Ike, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward, leads a balanced Gonzaga attack with averages of 14.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
Guard Khalif Battle, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound graduate student, is averaging 14.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, while senior point guard Ryan Nembhard (12.2 ppg.) and senior off-guard Nolan Hickman (11.2 ppg.) are also averaging double figures.
Michael Ajayi, another senior, rounds out Few's four-guard lineup with averages of 6.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
Last Wednesday, West Virginia boosted its record to 3-1 with an 86-43 victory over Iona at the WVU Coliseum. Senior guard Javon Small led the Mountaineers with 23 points. WVU shot 51.8% and limited Iona to just 23.7% on 14 of 59 from the floor.
Small is now leading the Mountaineers with an average of 15.5 points per game and is one of four guards expected to start Wednesday against the Zags.
The others are Tucker DeVries, a 6-foot-7 senior averaging 13.5 points, Toby Okani, a 6-foot-8 senior averaging 6.5 points, and Sencire Harris, a 6-foot-4 sophomore averaging 4.3 points.
Amani Hansberry, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound sophomore, is expected to round out the starting lineup and shows averages of 9.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
Freshman guard Jonathan Powell has been WVU's most productive scorer coming off the bench, averaging 12 points per game. Powell scored all 11 of his points against Iona during a four-minute stretch in the first half.
"For us, we are most likely going to see three different teams," DeVries explained. "From a learning opportunity, you are going to see teams that really post it, we're going to see teams that play great in transition or we're going to see some zone defense, so it's really going to challenge our team."
Wednesday's game will be televised nationally on ESPN with Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli handling the call.
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi and Brad Howe will air on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
ESPN is televising the winner's bracket games while the loser's brackets contests will air on ESPN2.
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