Mountaineers to Tip Off 2026-27 Campaign on Monday Night Against Niagara

Monday, November 2

Morgantown, W.Va.

7 p.m.

West Virginia University

Niagara

Tickets From $12 - $106

Guard Finley Bizjack scores a basket during West Virginia's exhibition game victory over Wheeling University Wednesday night at Hope Coliseum.

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

October 31, 2026 05:49 PM | Men's Basketball

West Virginia Game Notes

By: John Antonik

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia officially tips off its 2026-27 season on Monday night against Niagara of the Metro Conference.

It will be the Purple Eagles' first-ever visit to Morgantown and the seventh overall meeting in a series that began in 1918 and hasn't been played since Jan. 5, 1952, a 74-71 West Virginia victory at Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium.

The present iteration of Purple Eagles are coached by former Duke star Greg Paulus, who is now in his eighth season at the Niagara helm. Paulus engineered back-to-back seasons of 16 wins in 2024-25 before slipping to just eight victories last year, prompting a total roster rehaul.

This season, Paulus welcomes 11 new players, led by Wright State transfer Logan Woods, a 6-foot-5 guard who led Niagara with 12 points in a recent 71-58 exhibition loss to Syracuse in Buffalo. Cole Farrell, a Long Beach State transfer, also contributed double digits with 10 points against the Orange.

Syracuse, playing without Temple transfer Aiden Tobiason, saw the Eagles whittle a 17-point second-half lead to four before pulling away late. Niagara made 7 of 18 from 3-point range and had nine different players get into the scoring column.

The starting lineup Paulus used against Syracuse included Woods, 6-foot-2 Fresno State transfer Bastien Rieber, 6-foot-2 sophomore guard Samuele Miccoli, 6-foot-9 forward Fidel Rotta and 6-foot-4 freshman guard Ruey Ruey.

West Virginia, meanwhile, is also breaking in a revamped roster that returns just two significant contributors from last year's team that posted a 21-14 overall record and defeated Oklahoma in overtime to win last year's College Crown in Las Vegas.

A recent court order has extended 6-foot-9 forward Brenen Lorient's collegiate career by an additional season, while guard Amir Jenkins returns for his sophomore campaign although he remains sidelined indefinitely while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

Freshman point guard Miles Sadler, touted as the highest-rated recruit to sign with West Virginia, leads a backcourt that includes Butler transfer Finley Bizjack, an All-Big East Third Team choice in 2026, and Utah transfer Seydou Traore, who earned the start in last Wednesday night's exhibition win over Division II Wheeling.

Sadler and Bizjack were the team's top two scorers in preseason exhibition games against Maryland, Glenville State and Wheeling, with Bizjack pouring in a team-best 25 in a 90-81 overtime loss at Maryland.

Lorient and 6-foot-10 Georgia Tech transfer Mouhamed Sylla were the other players in the starting lineup against Wheeling.

"Starting is probably one of the least important things to me, personally, but I know it's super-important to people," Hodge said following Wednesday night's 43-point exhibition victory over the Cardinals. "We easily could have nine or 10 starters in their own way."

As Hodge indicated, the bench is full of capable performers who will give him plenty of options to consider during the early season portion of the schedule.

St. John's transfer Joson Sanon was a five-star prep prospect who originally signed out of high school with Arizona State, while 6-foot-3 guard Martin Somerville attended Florida State last season after beginning his college career at UMass-Lowell.

Other guard options include 6-foot-3 freshman Keonte Greybear, considered the nation's 24^th-best point guard prospect from Frisco, Texas, and 6-foot-3 Jelani McKoy, a teammate of Sadler and 6-foot-10 forward Aliou Dioum at Belle Vista Prep in Arizona.

Boise State transfer Javan Buchanan benefited from the same court decision that Lorient is using for an extra year of eligibility and is coming off an All-Mountain West honorable mention campaign in 2026.

Amadou Seini, a promising 7-foot-1 freshman center, set the FIBA U19 World Cup rebounding record and pairs with four-star ESPN.com prospect Dioum to give the Mountaineers impressive size off the bench.

"You're looking at more combinations of people that are playing, and when they play, because they're not all going to be able to play at the same time," Hodge mentioned. "Martin has been tremendous; Joson was great to start (the Wheeling game), and Javan, so you have a lot of capable players in a lot of different ways you can play - depending on who you're playing against, and it'll be somebody different each night with this group."

Redshirt freshman guard MJ Feenane and Wheeling Central freshman forward Max Olejasz round out the 2026-27 Mountaineer roster.

This year begins the 118^th season for Mountaineer men's basketball, which has produced 1,895 all-time victories to rank 20^th among all Division I schools.

West Virginia is seeking its 32^nd NCAA Tournament appearance in school history and their first since 2023 – Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins' last year guiding the program.

Monday night's game will tip off at 7 pm and will stream live on ESPN+ (Nick Farrell and Nate Adrian).

Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Brad Howe and David Kahn will get things started at 6 pm on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.

Tickets remain on sale and can be purchased through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by logging on to WVUGAME.com.