MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Identical 15-10 teams will be facing off on Wednesday night when West Virginia plays host to Cincinnati at the WVU Coliseum.
 
Since defeating the Bearcats 63-50 at Fifth Third Arena earlier this month, the Mountaineers have lost by five at TCU, defeated Utah by 11, lost by four to BYU and then fell by three in overtime at Baylor last Saturday.
 
In that game, West Virginia saw the Bears score all nine of their points in the extra session at the free throw line and were on the wrong side of a 32-to-17 disparity in free throw attempts.
 
It was a similar deal in Ames, Iowa, last Saturday for rejuvenated Cincinnati, winners of three straight heading into the Iowa State contest. The Bearcats were leading the Cyclones by three with 15 minutes to go before key players Jizzle James and Dillon Mitchell got into foul trouble and were eventually disqualified. Iowa State was 26-of-30 from the charity stripe compared to just nine-of-11 for Cincinnati in the Cyclones' 81-70 victory.
 
"We've got to do a better job of keeping people off the line and certainly some of those fouls are within our control," West Virginia coach Darian DeVries said earlier today. "A lot of it is we're in good position; don't reach at the end of it. There is not a lot, but there are a few of those, and those are the four, six, to eight free throws that we can eliminate. Those are the ones we're concerned about."
 
Which team can keep the other off the free throw line is likely going to be a factor in the outcome of Wednesday night's game.
 
Controlling Cincinnati on the glass will be another one.
 
West Virginia is being outrebounded by an average of 3.6 boards per game, although it managed to stick close to the Bearcats in that category in the first meeting. UC finished the game with a 33-to-31 rebounding edge.
 
However, Cincinnati has had some wild rebounding swings in its last four games. The Bearcats dominated BYU (+15) and Utah (+12) and were outrebounded by UCF (-12) and Iowa State (-18).
 
"Even in our game, I thought they were very aggressive offensive rebounding," DeVries explained. "That's something we've got to continue to make that a priority of keeping them off the offensive glass because they go aggressively."
 
DeVries said when Cincinnati has struggled on the glass it hasn't really mattered because the Bearcats have shot it well.
 
Cincinnati is 2-0 in repeat games so far this season. After losing by 28 at BYU, the Bearcats flipped the script and bested the Cougars 84-66 in the Queen City two weeks later. Cincinnati also recently avenged its road loss at Utah by topping the Utes 85-75 at Fifth Third Arena.
 
James has been on a tear since going scoreless against West Virginia on Feb. 2. He is averaging 22.3 points and shooting 63.4% over his last four contests, including a game-high 25 at Iowa State in just 27 minutes of action before fouling out.
 
The sophomore guard made nine-of-16 from the floor, including five-of-nine from 3-point range and has now overtaken Simas Lukosius for the team lead in scoring by averaging 12.2 points per game.
 
"James has been playing at a high, high level," DeVries noted. "He's averaging 22 points over his last four, and that's a big difference for them. He's making hard ones. He's getting step-backs from 3, getting to the rim and putting a lot of pressure on (teams) to try and slow him down."
 
Lukosius (11.4 ppg.) and Mitchell (10.0 ppg.) are Cincinnati's other double-digit scorers.
 
"Cincinnati's talent is really good," DeVries said. "They are a very good team; we certainly know that and understand that."
 
Guard Javon Small is the only healthy West Virginia player averaging double digits at 18.6 points per game, but senior forward Toby Okani has picked up his scoring in the Mountaineers' recent games against BYU and Baylor.
 
He tallied 16 on seven-of-12 shooting against the Cougars and was one point shy of his season high with 19 points last Saturday against the Bears. Okani was eight-of-15 from the floor against Baylor and is shooting 55.6% over his last two games.
 
Small (19 points) and Joseph Yesufu (16) were the catalysts in the Cincinnati win. 
 
West Virginia and Cincinnati are still in contention for NCAA Tournament bids with the Mountaineers one spot ahead of No. 45 Cincinnati in today's NCAA NET rankings.
 
WVU, at 6-8, is a game ahead of 5-9 Cincinnati in the Big 12 standings in 11^th place with six regular season contests remaining. After Wednesday night, West Virginia has contests left at Texas Tech, at home versus TCU, at BYU and Utah and at home against UCF. Following West Virginia, Cincinnati's remaining games are against TCU, Baylor, Houston, Kansas State and Oklahoma State.
 
The Mountaineers are looking to snap a recent trend of mid-week struggles at the WVU Coliseum. Dating back to 2021, for whatever reason, West Virginia is just 5-11 in its last 16 mid-week conference games in Morgantown, including dropping three straight to Arizona State, Houston and BYU this season.
 
"Certainly, on the weekends we've gotten bigger crowds, and the atmosphere is really lively, and we've had a little bit of misfortune this year with some bad weather on weekday games that has impacted a little bit the people getting here, but that's not why we've lost," DeVries said. "We've got to do our part and go play well. Whether it's Wednesday or Saturday, let's go play ball."
 
The overall series with Cincinnati is now tied at 12 each following West Virginia's victory earlier this season.
 
Wednesday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
 
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Brad Howe and studio host David Kahn gets things started 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 by logging on to WVUGAME.com.