WISE, Va. – UVa-Wise returns to game action after an eight-day break for final exams. The Cavaliers (2-7) take on rival and nearby King University in a road contest Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.
 
The Cavs face a Tornado squad that is 5-5 on the year with a 3-2 home record and a 2-4 mark in non-conference games. Like UVa-Wise, King has not played a game in eight days. King and UVa-Wise have played one common opponent this season, Lincoln Memorial University. The Tornado opened up their season with a 92-70 neutral-site loss to the then second-ranked Railsplitters, while the Cavs were defeated 105-62 at home by then No. 12 Lincoln Memorial on Nov. 26.
 
King has earned home wins over Young Harris College (83-81, OT), North Greenville (71-67) and Tusculum College (83-78) this season but has suffered home losses to Lander University (87-83) and Barton College (101-99, 2OT).
 
The Tornado are led by reigning All-Conference Carolinas First Team honorees Hunter LeVeau and C.J. Good. Senior 6-foot-5 forward LeVeau leads the team in scoring at 16.9 points per game, averaging 3.6 made 3-pointers a contest while also grabbing 5.6 rebounds per game. Senior 5-foot-10 guard Good, a National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-Region selection in 2015-16, is averaging 15.7 points per game this season, shooting 50.5 percent from the field and 49.3 percent from beyond the arc. He is also averaging 3.4 made 3-pointers per contest after leading all of NCAA Division II a year ago with a 3.97 3-point field goals per game average. As a team King is averaging 11.3 made 3-pointers per game, ninth-most nationally, and has made 113 3-point field goals this season, 10th-most in the nation.
 
Head coach George Pitts is in his 11th year at the helm of the Tornado men's basketball program and earned his second Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year award last season. Coach Pitts guided King to its first ever Conference Carolinas Tournament title in 2015-16 and second regular season crown.
 
UVa-Wise is 4-2 against King since the 2012-13 season as head coach Blake Mellinger holds a 3-2 all-time record against the Tornado since taking over the program in 2013. Last season, the Cavs upset the then 14th-ranked Tornado 100-87 inside the David J. Prior Convocation Center on Dec. 20, 2015. Handing King only its second loss of the season at the time, UVa-Wise hit a school-record 18 3-pointers to claim the 13-point victory.
 
The Cavs are coming off a 99-67 exhibition loss at NCAA Division I USC Upstate last Saturday. UVa-Wise kept the game within single digits for the entirety of the first half before the Spartans shot 57.1 percent in the second half to earn the win.
 
Redshirt junior forward and Fairmont State University transfer Taiwo Badmus (London, England) has been an offensive force for the Cavs so far this season, averaging 21.9 points per game and scoring 20 points or more in each of the last four games.
 
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