West Virginia
Scouting report: 3 keys for Cincinnati Bearcats basketball to win on road at West Virginia
UC’s Wes Miller,Thomas, Iowa State’s Jones, Otzelberger on Cyclones W
UC’s Wes Miller, Day Day Thomas, Iowa State’s Curtis Jones, TJ Otzelberger on Cyclones win
Trying to recover from their most uneven loss of the season, the Cincinnati Bearcats basketball team is headed to Morgantown for a rematch with West Virginia Wednesday night.
Both teams were on the road Saturday, with UC taking on No. 10 Iowa State. West Virginia was in Waco against Baylor. Both played spirited games but home-court advantage ruled with the Bearcats fading in the second half to the Cyclones in Ames 81-70 and the Mountaineers falling in overtime to the Bears, 74-71.
“We’ve just got to go back, look at film and see what we’ve got to do better,” UC guard Day Day Thomas said. “We got outrebounded, so that’s something we’ve got to focus on in practice.”
The Bearcats were outclassed 37-19 on the boards against the bulkier Cyclones of Iowa State.
“I wasn’t pleased from where I was sitting with some of our awareness to go clear out weak side,” UC coach Wes Miller said. “Shoot, we work on that every day in practice.”
UC must go against grain to gain key Big 12 road win
Welcome to the Big 12 where the home floor is a considerable advantage. Both teams are now 15-10 and fighting for relevancy with West Virginia’s Big 12 record (6-8) slightly better than UC’s (5-9).
On Feb. 2, UC spotted the Mountaineers a 15-point halftime lead, then fell woefully short against West Virginia at Fifth Third Arena 63-50. UC had only one player in double figures as Day Day Thomas had 10 points. Jizzle James was held scoreless in 19 minutes and Aziz Bandaogo had just one basket in 18 minutes.
Since then UC has gone 3-1, with the Mountaineers just 1-3.
At WVU Coliseum last season, UC blew a 10-point lead with 6:22 remaining and was outscored 19-5 from there as the Mountaineers won 69-65. The Bearcats then beat West Virginia back-to-back on March 9 and March 12 scoring 182 points overall in those contests.
UC winning Wednesdays
UC is 3-0 this season with wins vs. Alabama State, at Colorado and at UCF. During Wes Miller’s four years with the Bearcats, they have enjoyed an 18-6 mark on Wednesday.
3 keys for Cincinnati Bearcats basketball at West Virginia Mountaineers
1. UC’s mantra should be ‘Let’s get Small’
Javon Small led West Virginia with 19 points and nine assists Feb. 2 at Fifth Third Arena and last year helped Oklahoma State knock off the Bearcats at home. The senior has battled UCF’s Keyshawn Hall for the Big 12 scoring lead this season and averages 18.6 points per game. At Baylor, Small had 22 points and played 40 minutes.
Small has been held below double-digits just twice, with both coming in home losses vs. Houston and BYU. Obviously, that would be a goal for the Bearcats in Morgantown Wednesday.
2. Holding teams below 70 helps UC Bearcats chances
West Virginia has had just four losses at WVU Coliseum, all in the Big 12. Arizona beat them Jan. 7, 75-56 after beating UC by five. Arizona State beat them 65-57 Jan. 21 after losing to UC by seven. The Mountaineers lost to Houston at home, 63-49 Jan. 29 and to BYU Feb. 11 73-69 after the Bearcats beat the Cougars three days earlier by 18 points.
The common denominator is West Virginia was held below 70 points in all four losses.
3. Winning boards should lead to winning games
UC beat West Virginia on the boards 33-31 Feb. 2, but dug themselves a 15-point hole at halftime and shot just 31%. In all of the West Virginia home losses, they were decisively outrebounded. UC will have to hold down 6-foot-8, 240-pound Amani Hansberry who pulled down 11 to lead both teams in their last game.
For motivation, the Bearcats are coming off a game on the glass at Iowa State where they were dominated 37-19.
“There’s always going to be some plays where they get you with size or positioning but I think we’re going to look at those possessions on tape and see an inability to clear out the weak side and go body-to-body,” Miller said.
Among UC’s rebounding deficiencies this season, Dan Skillings Jr. is more than two rebounds below his 6.4 average last season at 3.7 per game. Aziz Bandaogo, held to three rebounds at Iowa State, is also nearly two rebounds behind last year at 5.8 per game compared to 7.4 rebounds. Dillon Mitchell tops UC at 6.4 per game, but that’s more than a full rebound below his figures at Texas last year of 7.5 per game.
Cincinnati Bearcats at West Virginia Mountaineers
Tip: 7 p.m. Wednesday (WVU Coliseum (14,000)
TV/Radio: ESPN2/700WLW
Series: Even 12-12 (West Virginia won 63-50 at Fifth Third Arena Feb. 2)
West Virginia Mountaineers scouting report
Record: 15-10 (6-8 Big 12)
Coach: Darrian DeVries (second year, 15-10)
Offense: 69.4 ppg
Defense: 64.4 ppg
Projected starting lineup
(Position, Height, Stats)
Toby Okani (G, 6’8″, 8.9 ppg)
Jonathan Powell (G, 6’6″, 8.4 ppg)
Javon Small (G, 6’3″, 18.6 ppg)
Amani Hansberry (F, 6’8″, 9.4 ppg)
Sencire Harris (G, 6’4″, 5.8 ppg)
Cincinnati Bearcats scouting report
Record: 15-10 (5-9 Big 12)
Coach: Wes Miller (fourth season, 78-53, overall 263-188)
Offense: 72.1 ppg
Defense: 65.1 ppg
Projected starters
(Position, Height, Stats)
Simas Lukošius (G-F, 6’8″, 11.4 ppg)
Jizzle James (G, 6’3″, 12.2 ppg)
Dillon Mitchell (F, 6’8″, 10 ppg)
Day Day Thomas (G, 6’1″, 8.4 ppg)
Aziz Bandaogo (C, 7′, 8.1 ppg)
Players to watch
Javon Small has had an impact at every school he’s played from East Carolina to Oklahoma State last season to the West Virginia Mountaineers. Small averages just over 18 points a game and has had a high game this season 31 against Gonzaga. Small leads the Mountaineers in points, assists and steals.
UC’s James was held scoreless vs the Mountaineers in their last matchup, only the second time in his career that he didn’t score. Since then, his game has picked up and he seems to be playing with much more confidence. His games at Fifth Third Arena vs. BYU and Utah were his first back-to-back 20-plus-point games since the last two games of the NIT last March. He made it three when he scored 25 at No. 10 Iowa State, despite fouling out with nearly three minutes left.
Rankings
KenPom.com: West Virginia is No 46, Cincinnati is No. 54
NCAA.NET: West Virginia is No. 44, Cincinnati is No. 45
BUCKHANNON, W.Va (WDTV) – WestCare West Virginia cut the ribbon for its Hope in the Mountains complex on 22 N. Locust Street. The new facility will treat men with substance abuse issues with the hopes of fighting the drug epidemic in West Virginia.
Each room in the complex includes 56 beds, a television set and clean bathroom. Stephen Wright spoke ahead of the ribbon cutting along with Buckhannon officials. He said this facility differs from others on how they approach treatment.
“We really focus on the individual and the individual needs and focus on their progress in the program versus a number of days that a person is in treatment. So it’s really individualized,” said Stephen Wright, chief operating officer of WestCare Appalachia. “So we still need aftercare, outpatient counseling, and those things. But this really gives an opportunity for an intervention to break that cycle for individuals struggling with addiction. Because lots of times they must be separated from the living circumstances that they’re in at that time.”
Copyright 2026 WDTV. All rights reserved.
A federal appeals court agreed to rehear West Virginia’s request to lift an injunction barring enforcement of state restrictions against drugmakers seeking to limit discounts to pharmacies under a federal program.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted Thursday West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey’s request to rehear en banc arguments over a preliminary injunction. All active judges in the court will review the case after a three-judge panel in March ruled to keep the state’s SB 325 temporarily blocked while litigation plays out over the law.
The court said the case is scheduled for oral argument …
West Virginia
Heavy rain, flooding affect multiple north-central West Virginia counties – WV MetroNews
BARBOUR COUNTY, W.Va. –Rainy conditions in the Mountain State are expected to subside after six days of continuous rainfall across West Virginia.
On Wednesday, the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch and a flood watch for most of the state as rain continued moving across the region.
NWS Meteorologist Tom Mazza said north-central West Virginia counties—including Wirt, Calhoun, Lewis, and Barbour—were hit hardest by rain showers throughout the day.
“That whole stretch just south of Clarksburg, Clarksburg got a little flooding too, but that area did get hit with the flooding, along with tree damage, so severe thunderstorms there as well,” Mazza said.
In Jane Lew, located in Lewis County, West Virginia, the town hall posted on Facebook that the town park will be closed due to flooding. Officials said it will remain closed until they can assess the damage caused by the flooding.
In Harrison County, the town of Lost Creek also experienced heavy rain and flooding.
Barbour County Emergency Manager Corey Brandon said they received several rounds of heavy rain throughout the day Wednesday.
He said this caused flooding in areas that typically experience flooding during heavy rain events.
“Which resulted in a lot of water getting out of the ditch line, and also our streams and creeks getting out of their ditch lines and causing a lot of problems for a lot of low-lying areas,” Brandon said.
He said they saw a lot of rain in the Clemtown, Moatsville, and Nestorville areas, which they hadn’t seen since 2018.
Brandon said they also had to relocate an elderly woman because rising water was nearly blocking the only access road to her home.
“She had some mobility issues, so the fire department requested that we get her out of the house just in case something were to happen overnight and weren’t able to get to her after that point,” he said.
Brandon said emergency services and the Philippi Fire Department were able to reach her and relocate her to a hotel until the water recedes.
He said that while crews were assisting the woman at her home, areas they typically monitor were beginning to recede.
Brandon said officials are now monitoring local rivers to ensure they do not rise out of their banks.
“Now were anxiously awaiting for the streams and creeks to subside and now we’ll be watching the local rivers to make sure that they stay in their banks as well,” he said.
said that after the rain seen since last Thursday, the region should experience a brief dry spell.
“Leftover showers in the morning (Thursday), clouds and fog, with a gradual clearing during the day Thursday, then it looks like we have several days of nice weather, seasonal spring weather to allow us to dry out,” he said.
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