West Virginia 1/31 7:00 ESPN+

[GoBearcats31]

A rivalry of sorts renews this Wednesday in Morgantown, when UC faces WVU for the first time since 2012.

Obviously it was a wild offseason with all the Huggins drama. WVU loaded up in the transfer portal but many of their expected top contributors were two-time transfers who were initially ineligible this year.

WVU went 5-8 in the nonconference with no notable wins, but multiple bad losses. They are 2-5 in Big 12 play, with home wins over Texas and Kansas. They are on a 2-game losing streak, with road losses this past week at UCF (13) and Oklahoma State (4).

#152 in the NET (Quad 3 game for UC) and #135 in KenPom (173rd offensive efficiency and 123rd in defensive efficiency).


Top players:
- Fifth year guard/wing RaeQuan Battle (16.3 points, 4.4 rebounds) via Montana State via Washington
- Fifth year 6'11 center Jessee Edwards (13.8 points, 8.3 rebounds) via Syracuse
- Fifth year 6'9 forward Quinn Slazinski (13.7 points, 4.5 rebounds) via Iona via Louisville
- Senior guard Noah Farrakhan (11.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists) via EMU via ECU
- Senior guard Kerr Kriisa (11.0 points, 4.5 assists) via Arizona -- 11 points, 7 assists in a Maui win over UC last year

Team scores 68.3 points per game, including 33% from 3 and 72.9% from the line (UC is scoring 77.7, including 33.1% from 3 and 67.6% from the line)

[Carthage World]

Their talent exceeds their results. They made 12/21 3s against Kansas so they can clearly put up some points on the right night.

I expect a tight game.

[Gmann]

This is the kind of game I hate. There is no real upside for winning it and significant downside for losing it. WVU has already proved they can beat good teams at home. I hope we ready to go.

[GoBearcats31]

This is the kind of game I hate. There is no real upside for winning it and significant downside for losing it. WVU has already proved they can beat good teams at home. I hope we ready to go.

The upsides:
- Another Big 12 win
- Another road win for the resume
- Build more confidence

I get what you are saying but at least we are not talking those previous AAC games against a sub-200 opponent where even a win would hurt your metrics due to strength of schedule.

[Gmann]

Agreed. So glad to be in the B12.

[leeraymond]

During conference play I really do not pay that close attention to overall stats. I pay close attention to the conference stats. Everything changes once conference season starts. If I am Miller, I am concerned with WV's 3 point shooting. They have been shooting fairly well from the 3 point line during conference play. They are shooting 37.6 % from 3 during conference play and have shot 45.5% from 3 for their last three games. Kriisa (G) shoots 46.5 (conference), Slazinski (F; 6"9') shoots 40% (conference); Wilson (G) shoots 45% (conference); and Harris (F; 6"7') shoots 50% (conference). WV has hit 33 threes in their last 3 games (11/game). Nevertheless, UC has better scoring and defensive stats in the conference. UC cannot afford to get down early in this game. WV has good size and they have some very good transfers. I am amazed that they do NOT have more wins. This WV team has some real talent. UC should play this game as if it is a NCAA tournament game.

[GoBearcats31]

This is only the third season in the last 34 years that Bob Huggins has not coached either UC or WVU

[GoBearcats31]

Eric Rothman / Tim Welsh on the ESPN+ call

[sedz]

Hi everyone, I'm coming over from bearcattalk, where I've been a moderator for the last 5 years or so.

West Virginia has been a wildly inconsistent team this year, even after adding Battle, Farrakhan, and Kriisa into the fold. Despite going just 5-8 in the non-conference, WVU held second half leads against Virginia, St Johns, and SMU and took Ohio St to overtime. But they also lost to Radford and Monmouth at home. Then just a few days after taking down Kansas, they were down 21 late at UCF.

West Virginia doesn't have any consistent strengths, with getting to the foul line and keeping opponents off the foul line being their only top 100 "four factors" (though in conference they are putting opponents on the line more than any other team). They are a bad shooting team, especially inside the arc, and they normally don't force many turnovers. But of course they have had great games in those areas, including making double digit threes in their past three games and forcing 22 turnovers against Texas.

Quinn Slazinski has been their best player in conference play. He's shooting 40% on more than a few attempts per game, is hitting 50% inside the arc, and gets to the line 4 times per game where he makes 78%. He's a three level scorer who will be a tough cover. Kriisa is their most efficient scorer, but he's been a turnover machine, as has Kobe Johnson. Wings Kriisa, Josiah Harris, and Seth Wilson are the outside shooters to be aware of. PG Farrakhan is an awful shooter, with a field goal percentage under 32. We should be daring him to shoot. Battle is second on the team in minutes in conference, but he has been bad, hitting only 23% from three on over 4 attempts per game and not creating for anyone else.

Patrick Suemnick is their only good rebounder on the offensive end. They leave a lot of defensive rebounds to Farrakhan, who can then look for shooters on the break.

Outside of Slazinski, this is a team full of one dimensional players that should be very easy to gameplan against. I would put Skillings on Slazinksi and try to bother him with length. Put Newman on Kriisa and play him very tight on the perimeter, gambling for steals. Have Day Day back off Farrakhan and get in passing/driving lanes. And put Aziz on Suemnick, who is only 6'8 but has an offensive profile of a 5. I'll take my chances with Simas on Battle.

Things can go very wrong if you let one dimensional players play to their strengths though. We seem to do a bad job from the opening tip of executing gameplans, then make great adjustments at halftime. It's almost like we aren't advance scouting teams and instead coaching on the fly. I'm happy that we're making good adjustments, but I'd like to see us come out executing a gameplan for 40 minutes.

On offense I want us to continue attacking the rim like we did in the second half against UCF.

[Lobot]

Hi everyone, I'm coming over from bearcattalk, where I've been a moderator for the last 5 years or so.

West Virginia has been a wildly inconsistent team this year, even after adding Battle, Farrakhan, and Kriisa into the fold. Despite going just 5-8 in the non-conference, WVU held second half leads against Virginia, St Johns, and SMU and took Ohio St to overtime. But they also lost to Radford and Monmouth at home. Then just a few days after taking down Kansas, they were down 21 late at UCF.

West Virginia doesn't have any consistent strengths, with getting to the foul line and keeping opponents off the foul line being their only top 100 "four factors" (though in conference they are putting opponents on the line more than any other team). They are a bad shooting team, especially inside the arc, and they normally don't force many turnovers. But of course they have had great games in those areas, including making double digit threes in their past three games and forcing 22 turnovers against Texas.

Quinn Slazinski has been their best player in conference play. He's shooting 40% on more than a few attempts per game, is hitting 50% inside the arc, and gets to the line 4 times per game where he makes 78%. He's a three level scorer who will be a tough cover. Kriisa is their most efficient scorer, but he's been a turnover machine, as has Kobe Johnson. Wings Kriisa, Josiah Harris, and Seth Wilson are the outside shooters to be aware of. PG Farrakhan is an awful shooter, with a field goal percentage under 32. We should be daring him to shoot. Battle is second on the team in minutes in conference, but he has been bad, hitting only 23% from three on over 4 attempts per game and not creating for anyone else.

Patrick Suemnick is their only good rebounder on the offensive end. They leave a lot of defensive rebounds to Farrakhan, who can then look for shooters on the break.

Outside of Slazinski, this is a team full of one dimensional players that should be very easy to gameplan against. I would put Skillings on Slazinksi and try to bother him with length. Put Newman on Kriisa and play him very tight on the perimeter, gambling for steals. Have Day Day back off Farrakhan and get in passing/driving lanes. And put Aziz on Suemnick, who is only 6'8 but has an offensive profile of a 5. I'll take my chances with Simas on Battle.

Things can go very wrong if you let one dimensional players play to their strengths though. We seem to do a bad job from the opening tip of executing gameplans, then make great adjustments at halftime. It's almost like we aren't advance scouting teams and instead coaching on the fly. I'm happy that we're making good adjustments, but I'd like to see us come out executing a gameplan for 40 minutes.

On offense I want us to continue attacking the rim like we did in the second half against UCF.

Welcome and very nice 1st post.

[GoBearcats31]

Morning numbers:

*KenPom - Cincinnati 29 / West Virginia 135
NET - Cincinnati 33 / West Virginia 152 (Quad 3 road game for UC)
Line per ESPN.com: UC favored by 4.5 points


*KenPom has UC at #68 in offensive efficiency, #15 in defensive efficiency


Tickets available for as low as $2 https://www.stubhub.com/west-virgini...matedFees=true

[GoBearcats31]

Appears Vik partook in the walk through today https://twitter.com/GoBearcatsMBB/st...104719/photo/2

[red_n_black_attack]

Any updates on CJ? Would be nice to get him a little game action before we play three straight Top 15 teams

[GoBearcats31]

Curious how juiced up WVU's arena might be. Looks like they have not been selling out. It holds about 14,000. They had 12,301 in December for a rivalry game with Pitt and 12,208 for a Saturday night home game versus #3 Kansas. Have had lesser crowds versus Texas and Kansas State.

[Bearcat9796]

Curious how juiced up WVU's arena might be. Looks like they have not been selling out. It holds about 14,000. They had 12,301 in December for a rivalry game with Pitt and 12,208 for a Saturday night home game versus #3 Kansas. Have had lesser crowds versus Texas and Kansas State.

hoping some bearcats made the trip