WISE, Va. – UVa-Wise men's basketball faces West Virginia State Monday night in the Cavaliers' first Mountain East Conference road game of the season.
 
Storylines – vs. West Virginia State University
The Cavs head to Institute, West Virginia, Monday for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off against the Yellow Jackets who are coming off of a high-scoring 109-105 MEC loss to Concord University Saturday. West Virginia State holds a 2-1 overall record and a 0-1 mark in conference play after beginning the season with a pair of home wins against Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association members Chowan University (75-71) and Elizabeth City State University (78-68) in the Yellow Jackets' 2015 Earl Lloyd Conference Challenge. UVa-Wise is 0-4 all-time versus West Virginia State with the two teams' last meeting being an 89-83 decision in Wise on Feb. 12, 2015.
 
The Yellow Jackets are coached by Bryan Poore who is in his 17th year at the helm of the program. Coach Poore has accumulated 288 wins and 192 losses in his 16 seasons at West Virginia State, including 11 winning seasons. However, the Yellow Jackets last winning season was in 2011-12 when they went 14-13 overall. West Virginia State was picked to finish 10th in MEC this year according to the preseason poll voted upon by the league's head coaches. The Yellow Jackets are being led by 2014-15 All-MEC selection redshirt senior forward Markee Mazyck who is averaging 25.7 ppg to go along with seven rpg.  Junior guard Robert Fomby (13 ppg) leads the team in rebounding at 8.7 rpg, while freshman guard Brent Beauer (12 ppg) leads the Yellow Jackets in assists at 3.7 apg.
 
About UVa-Wise
UVa-Wise is coming off of a 79-64 loss against the University of Charleston Saturday evening in the Cavs' home and MEC opener inside the David J. Prior Convocation Center. The Cavs were out-rebounded 55 to 31 in Saturday's setback and struggled to get points in the paint, only scoring 12 compared to 40 points by the Golden Eagles. There were some positives for the Cavs Saturday against Charleston as sophomore point guard Philip Owens II scored a game-high 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting and dished out five assists. Redshirt freshman shooting guard Camryn Fort had a career-high 16 points and six rebounds, while junior transfer forward Gervelle Kidd went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc to record a career-high 12 points. The Cavs will look to continue their excellent free-throw shooting Monday night as UVa-Wise has gone 57-for-64 (.891) at the foul line this season.
 
Following tomorrow night's game the Cavs will remain on the road and travel to Harrogate, Tennessee, after Thanksgiving for a non-conference matchup with nationally-ranked Lincoln Memorial University Saturday at 4 p.m.