Shanna Rose | WV Sports Chat
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia meets Wake Forest on Saturday for the Holiday Hoopfest at the Charleston Coliseum.
The Mountaineers (7-2) are coming off two straight defensive performances in which opponents were held under 50 points. In both contests, WVU limited the opposition to 33 total points in the second half.
Wake Forest (6-3) enters the matchup following an 86–68 loss to Oklahoma earlier this week. The Demon Deacons also dropped an 85–84 decision to Michigan at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Nov. 11 and fell 84–83 to Texas Tech in the Bahamas on Nov. 20.
“Tempo-wise, (Wake Forest) is probably similar to Xavier,” Mountaineers head coach Ross Hodge said. “They do a really good job of creating points off of your turnovers. They’re aggressive defensively and that lends itself to offense. The other thing they’ve done really well to this point is they are a very good offensive rebounding team.”
Sophomore guard Juke Harris (19.9 points per game, 7.1 rebounds) leads the Demon Deacons and is tied for fifth in the ACC in scoring. Washington transfer Mekhi Mason (10.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg) is second on the team, and Nate Calmese adds 8.6 points per game after averaging 15.2 last season at Washington State.
Myles Colvin comes off the bench for Wake Forest and averages 11.9 points.
“They can drive the ball from multiple positions, can shoot the ball from multiple positions and get you into rotations,” Hodge said. “When the shot goes up, they really go rebound it well. We’ve got to try and make it as hard on them for as long as we can.”
The Demon Deacons average 85.2 points per game, and it will be interesting to see how they fare against a WVU team that ranks second in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 57.5 points per contest.
Honor Huff leads WVU, averaging 15.8 points per game. The senior guard led the nation in made 3-pointers last season and has hit 31-of-75 from beyond the arc so far this year.
Senior Brenen Lorient is averaging 11.1 points and six rebounds, while Chance Moore is averaging 11 points and 5.3 rebounds in four contests. In his season debut against Clemson, the senior scored 16 points.
Troy transfer Jackson Fields made his debut this week against Mercyhurst after missing the first seven contests with a wrist injury. He is averaging nine points and 3.5 rebounds.
Treysen Eaglestaff has found his scoring rhythm in recent games, averaging 11.3 points over WVU’s last four outings.
Harlan Obioha rounds out the starting five for WVU, averaging 6.8 points and 5.3 rebounds.
The Mountaineers have had seven different leading scorers through their first nine games.
WVU and Wake Forest will meet for the 11th time in school history. The Mountaineers hold a 7–3 series lead in a matchup that began in 1948.
The last meeting between the two teams took place on March 19, 2005, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Cleveland, where WVU defeated the second-ranked Demon Deacons.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m., and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
Photo Credit: Dale Sparks- All Pro Photography- WVU Athletics
