MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia will face a stern test on Friday night when it plays Massachusetts at the WVU Coliseum in a matchup of former Atlantic 10 rivals.
The two teams once played regularly when they were together in the A-10 during the Gale Catlett-John Calipari days before the Mountaineers left for the Big East Conference in 1996. UMass, too, will be departing the Atlantic 10 for the Mid-American Conference following this season.
The two programs have played 42 times since 1972, with the most recent game coming last year in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts, an 87-79 UMass victory.
With
Ofri Naveh announcing his decision to redshirt this year, no available returning WVU players appeared in last year's loss to the Minutemen. Forward Josh Cohen scored 19 points, guard Rahsool Diggins contributed 15 and forward Matt Cross added 13 points and 13 rebounds against the Mountaineers in Springfield.
But since then, Cohen and Cross hit the transfer portal, one going to USC and the other to SMU, while Diggins has returned for his senior season.
During Monday night's 103-74 victory over New Hampshire, Diggins made half of his 16 3-point attempts and added a pair of free throws for a game-high 26 points. The former UConn transfer averaged 12.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game last season to share the A-10's Most Improved Player Award with Richmond's Dji Bailey.
"He can score," West Virginia coach
Darian DeVries said earlier today of Diggins. "We are going to have to do a good job on him making sure we are aware of where he is and the types of ways he likes to score, but he's a good player and can really put it into the bucket."
Sophomore guard
Sencire Harris could be the guy drawing the assignment to try and slow him down.
Akil Watson, a 6-foot-9 forward who transferred from Arizona State, came off the bench to score 14 points, while 6-foot-10 Malek Abdelgowad, a Murray State import, added 12 with a game-high 12 rebounds.
South Carolina transfer Daniel Hankins-Sanford, at 6-foot-8, also provides size and strength around the rim for the Minutemen.
"They are going to pound the glass and try to throw it in there and out tough you on the interior," DeVries explained. "Collectively, as a group, that's just their mindset all the way across.
"Any time there is a team that's aggressive on the offensive glass you can create some opportunities in transition, but we've got to do our job first and that means we've got to get the ball," DeVries said. "You've got to make them miss, too, and that will be the challenge. How do we get them to miss the first one and then not let them get the second one?"
UMass (1-0) shot 53.2% overall and connected on 12 of its 35 3-point tries for 34.3%, but New Hampshire managed to hold its own on the glass by grabbing 18 offensive rebounds and only being out-boarded by three.
Frank Martin's teams at Kansas State, South Carolina and now UMass have had a reputation for being physical around the glass.
"They play the same way every year," DeVries said. "They are going to be tough, physical and that's no different this year. We understand what the challenge is going to be on Friday, and it will be a great test for us to see if we can match that type of physicality."
West Virginia (1-0) began the DeVries era by defeating Robert Morris 87-59 on Monday night at the WVU Coliseum. The Mountaineers scored the game's first 21 points and were leading 30-2 just six minutes into the game.
Guard
Tucker DeVries led five double-digit scorers with 18 points, while guard
Javon Small chipped in with 15 and guard
Toby Okani added 13.
Freshmen backcourt players
Jonathan Powell (11) and
KJ Tenner (10) also reached double digits, while sophomore forward
Amani Hansberry barely missed a double-double with 9 points and 12 rebounds.
Like UMass, WVU had issues on the glass by allowing Robert Morris to pull down 16 offensive boards.
"The things that I'm seeing right now is it's not getting overwhelmed, it's more about creating better habits," DeVries noted. "You've got to lay bodies on people, you've got to hit, and most of the rebounds that we're not getting is a lack of executing those type of box outs. That's been our mission from June until now to get better at that, and I anticipate we are going to get there, one way or another."
Friday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN+. Andrew Caridi, Warren Baker and Anjelica Trinone will provide the commentary.
Mountaineer Sports Network Radio coverage with Tony Caridi and Brad Howe starts at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
Tickets are available and can be purchased through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by
logging on to WVUGAME.com.
The Minutemen's last appearance in Morgantown came in 2007 season when WVU defeated them 90-77 in the National Invitation Tournament.
