With each team coming off a come-from-behind win, West Virginia and North Carolina Central square off Tuesday night in Morgantown, W.Va.
West Virginia (6-2) has won two straight games and is in the midst of a 16-day, four-game homestand that kicked off with a 73-60 win over Georgetown in the Big 12-Big East Battle on Friday night.
North Carolina Central (4-7) comes off a 78-77 road win over Gardner-Webb on Saturday night.
Javon Small led the Mountaineers with a game-high 26 points against Georgetown as they overcame a second-half deficit with a decisive run.
“The way we played in the second half (against Georgetown), I’ll take that team everywhere,” West Virginia coach Darian DeVries said. “You have to be able to do that every single night, every single possession you don’t always get to go on a 16-0 run to pull you out of it. That’s where we are still growing as a team.”
Eduardo Andre was questionable for the Georgetown game after he missed the Mountaineers’ 83-76 overtime win against Arizona on Nov. 29. But the fifth-year senior center returned with four points, three rebounds and four blocks.
“It was good to have him back in the lineup for a reason,” DeVries said. “That presence, especially defensively and the ability to block shots, that’s a huge deal for us.”
Against Gardner-Webb, Po’Boigh King led NCCU with 28 points, well above his 17.4 points per game average, as the Eagles rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit to win on a late 3-pointer from Isaac Parson.
On offense, the Eagles take care of the ball. They are seventh in the nation in turnover margin at plus-7.5 per game. They seek extra possessions on defense and are second nationally with 18.9 turnovers forced per game
“We’re good enough, we just need to fine tune some things,” NCCU coach LeVelle Moton said. “We’ve got to cross some T’s, dot some I’s and close. We can’t be a really good basketball team until we get the mindset that when winning time presents itself in the last five minutes, (the other team) has to earn it.”
–Field Level Media
