West Virginia (8-2), returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 18 following an eight day layoff after their win over UAB on Dc. 10 at 5 p.m. The Mountaineers will welcome Buffalo (5-5) to the Coliseum looking to avoid a let down after a long break.
Head coach Bob Huggins focused on condition for his team over the long layoff.
“The biggest thing we did is just try to maintain conditioning, we did a lot of transition things and try to keep them in shape and get a lot of shots,” Huggins said.
West Virginia continued their strong scoring start to the season, scoring 81 points against the Blazers, led by Kedrian Johnson’s 17 points. Tre Mitchell, Emmitt Matthews Jr, and Joe Touissant also scored in double figures in the win.
Tre Mitchell earned Big 12 player of the week honors, with 13 points and 7 rebounds over UAB, to go along with 19 points and 6 rebounds in the win over Navy earlier in the week.
Following their win over UAB, the Mountaineers are 8th in NET rankings, 17th in ESPN’s Power Index Rankings, and 20th in Kenpom. West Virginia also received 20 votes in the AP poll this week.
Buffalo has had an up and down start to their season, going 1-4 in their first five games, then going on a four game winning streak that was snapped when they were defeated by Tulane on December 10th.
The Bulls are led by Sophomore guard Curtis Jones and Junior guard Zid Powell. Jones averages a team high 15.1 points per game, while Powell is just behind averaging 13.8 points per contest.
Buffalo does have much size, with their tallest starter, Jonnivius Smith, coming in at 6-foot-9 averaging 4.5 points per game to go along with 4.3 rebounds a game.
“They’ve got big guards, and they don’t have real, big inside guys, so when you look at them, they’re from 6-7 to 6-4 or 6-5,” Huggins said.
Buffalo comes into the game 186th in Kenpom, 212th in NET, and 239th in ESPN’s Power Index Rankings.
West Virginia is currently averaging 80.5 points per game through 10 games, while the Bulls average 75.8 points per contest.
West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins will be honored for his Hall of Fame induction before the game on Sunday.
Photo by Aaron Parker
