Storylines – vs. Wheeling Jesuit University
First year Head Coach John Peckinpaugh's Cardinals will take the court against UVa-Wise Saturday afternoon following an 88-68 loss to Concord at home Thursday night. The 1-14 Cardinals have yet to win a Mountain East Conference matchup as the team will attempt to get its second win of the season against the Cavaliers. Last season, the Cardinals went 2-1 against UVa-Wise, defeating the Cavs inside the Prior Center before falling to UVa-Wise on a last second shot inside the McDonough Center. The two teams met for the final time last season in the MEC quarterfinals where the Cardinals topped the Cavs 72-58 in Charleston before going on to win the league tournament title and finishing the season with a 26-6 record. Coach Peckinpaugh comes to Wheeling Jesuit after a stint as an assistant coach at Division I Purdue-Fort Wayne. The Cardinals have struggled to start this season after having to revamp the roster with just one returner from last year's squad. Freshman guard Franck Kamgain and sophomore guard Brendan Hoban have aided the Cardinals as the team's top scorers averaging 13.9 and 13.3 points per game, respectively. Freshman forward Tariq Woody leads the team in rebounding with 7.5 per game while the team is averaging 33.3 rpg and 78.5 ppg on 44.2 percent (425-for-962) shooting from the floor. Wheeling will hit the road next week for a three-game road trip starting with a league contest against Notre Dame College.
About UVa-Wise
UVa-Wise will look to snap a four-game losing streak and get their first road win of the season Saturday afternoon against Wheeling Jesuit. Blake Mellinger's team was routed Thursday night by No. 9 West Liberty on the road, 108-93. Six players scored in double-figures for the Cavs led by redshirt freshman
Briggs Parris who netted a game-high 23 points in the loss. Parris, who is the Cavs second leading scorer with 14.9 ppg, remains at the top of the individual league rankings with his 45.1 percent (55-for-122) three-point shooting. The redshirt freshman will look to settle back into a rhythm from beyond the arc after connecting on just four shots from downtown in the past three games while still averaging 3.9 three-pointers per contest for a second-place league ranking. Junior guard
Michal Seals continues to steer the team averaging 20.1 ppg as his 8.4 assists per game continue to lead the nation in the category. UVa-Wise will look to get off to a strong start from the field early with the team improving to a 41 percent (202-for-484) first half field goal percentage while shooting 44 percent (222-for-496) from the floor in the second half. The team will look to chief rebounder junior
Eric Okenchi to crash the boards with the forward averaging 7.9 rebounds per game along with 12.4 ppg. The Cavalier men's defensive presence continues to stifle opponents ranking third in the league in field goal percentage defense (45.8 percent) and first in the conference in three-point field goal percentage defense (30.6 percent) while forcing 14.3 turnovers and posting 6.9 steals per game. UVa-Wise will stay on the road following Saturday's game visiting West Virginia State and Concord University next week before returning home.
