Storylines – vs. Wheeling Jesuit University
The Cardinals of Wheeling Jesuit come to Wise with a 4-17 overall record, 3-12 in the MEC, and are currently on a two-game winning streak posting victories at home over Shepherd, 78-72, and on the road against Concord, 98-89. Wheeling Jesuit is recording 78.4 points per game and shooting 45.1 percent from the field while opponents are averaging 88 ppg and are shooting over 50 percent from the field so far this season. Freshman Franck Kamgain leads his team in scoring registering 14.1 ppg on 46.3 percent shooting from the floor. Freshman Tariq Woody's 6.6 boards per game make him the top rebounder for the Cardinals while averaging 11 ppg and shooting 61 percent from the floor. As a team, Wheeling Jesuit is shooting at 35.4 percent from behind the arc and 69.5 percent from the free throw line. The Cardinals picked up a 10-point home win over UVa-Wise back in January, 78-68, and have gone 3-2 against Mountain East Conference opponents since then. Following Saturday's matchup, Wheeling Jesuit will stay on the road to take the court against Charleston Thursday before returning home for a pair of games against West Virginia State and Glenville State.
About UVa-Wise
UVa-Wise returns to the Prior Center Saturday afternoon for a matchup against Wheeling Jesuit following a heartbreaking loss to No. 5 West Liberty Thursday night. The Hilltoppers survived a ferocious effort by the Cavs with a 112-100 victory. Freshman
Kaeleb Carter notched a career-high 22 points in the loss while fellow freshman
Cameron Whiteside finished with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor and led the Cavs with six rebounds. Redshirt freshman
Briggs Parris connected on 5-of-9 from downtown on his way to a team-high 27 points with junior Tahj Eason also scoring in double figures for UVa-Wise with 10 points. As a team, the Cavs shot 54.5 percent from the field to 50 percent for the Hilltoppers while West Liberty knocked down 38-of-42 (90.5 percent) from the foul line. Now sitting at 7-14 overall and a 4-11 mark in the Mountain East Conference, UVa-Wise will look to even the score against Wheeling following a loss to the Cardinals back in January. Parris (16.6 ppg), junior
Eric Okenchi (12.5 ppg), Whiteside (11.9 ppg) and Carter (10 ppg) continue to shine for the Cavs with Parris' 43.4 percent shooting (82-for-189) from three-point range ranking him fifth in the league while his 3.9 three-pointers per game place him third in the conference. After Saturday's game, the Cavs will get back on the road for a four-game road trip with contests against Fairmont State and Shepherd next week.
