Mountaineers, Hoyas to Meet in a Friday Night time Huge 12-Huge East Battle – West Virginia College Athletics

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Georgetown will likely be making its first WVU Coliseum look in 12 years when the 2 outdated Huge East rivals meet in a Huge 12-Huge East Battle on Friday evening.
 
In video games thus far, Villanova defeated Cincinnati 68-60 and Windfall downed BYU 83-64 on Tuesday evening.
 
Wednesday’s motion noticed Creighton upset top-ranked Kansas 76-63 and 25^th-ranked Connecticut upend 15^th-ranked Baylor 76-72.
 
Sixth-ranked Iowa State acquired the Huge 12 on the proper aspect of issues with an 81-70 win over No. 5 Marquette, whereas Texas Tech disposed of DePaul 76-62.
 
TCU and Xavier will meet tonight in Fort Value forward of Friday evening’s West Virginia-Georgetown matchup. Extra video games are on faucet this weekend, together with Kansas State at St. John’s and Butler at Houston on Saturday. The problem concludes on Sunday with Oklahoma State enjoying at Seton Corridor.
 
The 7-1 Hoyas present an intriguing problem with their nice dimension paying homage to the outdated John Thompson-coached Hoya groups that featured the likes of Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning.
 
Freshman middle Thomas Sorber, a 6-foot-10, 255-pound freshman from Trenton, New Jersey, has been a double-double machine for Georgetown this yr and is main the staff in scoring (15.8 ppg.) and rebounding (8.9 rpg.).
 
Sorber scored a team-best 23 factors throughout Monday evening’s 86-62 victory over UMBC, displaying wonderful scoring capability across the basket. He additionally leads the Hoyas with 14 blocks and has additionally made 14 steals.
 
Sophomore Drew Fielder additionally supplies excellent dimension, standing 6-feet-11 inches and weighing 235 kilos, whereas contributing 7.0 factors and 5.3 rebounds per sport. 
 
TCU switch Micah Peavy, who was a think about each Horned Frog victories over West Virginia final yr, is a 6-foot-8, 220-pounder who’s averaging 14.8 factors and three.8 rebounds per sport.
 
For good measure, the Hoyas can deliver 7-footer Julius Halaifonua and 6-foot-9 Kentucky switch Jordan Burks off the bench. Burks is getting 18.6 minutes per sport and reveals averages of 6.5 factors and three.8 rebounds per sport.
 
Regardless of the spectacular dimension, the Hoyas are solely out-rebounding their opponents by a mean of 4.5 boards per sport.
 
Coach Ed Cooley’s beginning backcourt consists of 6-foot-2 Harvard switch Malik Mack, averaging 13 factors per sport, and 6-2 Illinois switch Jayden Epps, averaging 13.9 factors per contest.
 
Georgetown, as a staff, is capturing simply 28.6% from 3, connecting on 53 of its 185 makes an attempt.
 
The Hoyas’ seven victories have come in opposition to Lehigh, Fairfield, Mount St. Mary’s, Saint Francis, Wagner, UAlbany and UMBC, whereas its lone loss was an 84-63 verdict to Notre Dame at Capital One Enviornment.
 
All eight of their video games have both been performed in Washington, D.C. both at Capital One Enviornment or their on-campus facility, McDonough Enviornment.
 
“It is a large sport for us,” West Virginia coach Darian DeVries stated earlier immediately. “They’re enjoying properly; they have a very good report, they usually’re doing a little good issues. It is an ideal sport for our fan base and an ideal problem for us as properly.”
 
West Virginia’s seven outings thus far this yr have been far tougher, together with a 24-point loss at rival Pitt and up to date video games in opposition to third-ranked Gonzaga, Louisville and 24^th-ranked Arizona within the Bahamas, all three additional time affairs.
 
WVU outlasted the Zags 86-78 earlier than falling a day later to Louisville 79-70. The journey ended with the Mountaineers defeating Arizona 83-76 to earn votes on this week’s two main polls.
 
Guard Javon Small scored 31 within the Gonzaga victory and added 26 a day later in opposition to Louisville. Tucker DeVries was West Virginia’s prime level producer in opposition to Arizona with 26, together with an 8-for-12 capturing efficiency from 3.
 
Ahead Toby Okani contributed a season-high 20 factors in opposition to the Wildcats.
 
Darian DeVries stated his staff took benefit of the week to get some relaxation.
 
“Saturday was an extended journey day, Sunday was a restoration day, Monday was a observe and Tuesday was off,” he stated. “We have to get our legs again a little bit bit as a result of it was not simply three video games, however three and alter.”
 
Small, not too long ago named Huge 12 Participant of the Week, boosted his season scoring common to 19 factors per sport. DeVries is contributing 14.9 factors per contest, capturing a team-best 46.9% from 3, whereas 6-foot-8 sophomore ahead Amani Hansberry is scoring at a 12.6 points-per-game clip.
 
West Virginia (5-2) is capturing 35.4% from 3, connecting on 75 of its 212 makes an attempt. The Mountaineers are outscoring their opponents by a mean of 8.4 factors per sport.
 
The final time Georgetown performed right here on Jan. 7, 2012, John Thompson III was teaching the Hoyas and Bob Huggins was main the Mountaineers.
 
West Virginia received that sport 74-62 behind guard Truck Bryant’s 25 factors and ahead Kevin Jones’ 22 factors and 16 rebounds. Hollis Thompson was Georgetown’s prime level maker with 20.
 
The 2 groups have performed twice since, each at McDonough Enviornment. The Hoyas defeated West Virginia 77-65 in an NIT matchup in 2014, and WVU topped Georgetown 80-71 on Dec. 6, 2020.
West Virginia and Georgetown have met 53 instances since 1922, together with 23 video games in Morgantown the place West Virginia holds a 15-8 edge. The 2 have performed 27 contests in Washington, D.C., and thrice on impartial websites, as soon as coming within the 2010 Huge East Event Championship at Madison Sq. Backyard the place the Mountaineers received 60-58.
 
The Hoyas maintain a 27-26 edge within the collection.
 
Friday evening’s sport will tip off at 7 p.m. and will likely be televised nationally on ESPN2 (Chuckie Kempf and Jon Crispin). 
 
“I am excited,” DeVries stated. “That is actually going to be the primary time we get a full crowd and get to see what the Coliseum has to deliver.”
 
Mountaineer Sports activities Community radio protection with Tony Caridi, Brad Howe and David Kahn will get issues going at 6 p.m. on stations all through West Virginia, on-line by way of WVUsports.com and the Varsity Community and WVU Gameday apps.
 
Tickets can be found and could be bought by means of the Mountaineer Ticket Workplace by logging on to WVUGAME.com. Followers attending the sport are inspired to put on their gold in accordance with Friday evening’s Gold Rush promotion.