West Virginia Mountaineers Vs. Western Carolina Catamounts Preview: Season 108 Episode 8 - The One In Our State’s Capital

After a HUGE win at Virginia, the Mountaineers return to action at the Civic Center to continue the stat-padding portion of the schedule.

By JohnLowe24@JohnEverett24 Dec 7, 2016, 8:30am EST

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Skyline of West Virginia capital where task force trys to solve sniper deaths.

OPENING THOUGHTS

Oh my goodness, wow!

I still can’t believe it! We beat UVA!

I actually had to watch it again twice to make sure it really happened. Side note, it is nice to see UVA lose in anything after the whole 2002 Continental Tire Bowl thing. If you don’t know about that, you can click here.

If you actually look at the game, you can actually see that WVU walked into John Paul Jones Arena (a place where the Cavaliers had not lost since January 31, 2015) very buttoned up. They turned turnovers into points, they stuck with UVA on the glass, and they were actually good from the foul line!!

It was just an amazing win against a premier ACC program. I feel pretty confident in the Mountaineers from here on out and if they can challenge UVA on the road, they can challenge Baylor and Kansas.

Now we head into the boring part of the schedule. No conference games until December 30th and no big-time games until January 10th, but let’s celebrate the big win and pack the Civic Center on Wednesday!

WHEN/WHERE

Date: Wednesday, December 7th

Tip-Off Time: 7:00 PM ET

Where: Charleston Civic Center, Charleston, WV

Tickets: General Public

WATCH/LISTEN

TV: ROOT Sports Pittsburgh

Radio: WZST Variety 101 (100.9 FM in Morgantown) and the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG (Radio Affiliates)

Streaming Audio: Locate the Mountaineers Sports Network from IMG on TuneIn Radio (or the TuneIn app for smartphones)

Satellite Radio: Sirius 134; XM 201

ODDS

Spread: WVU by 34-35

O/U: 134.5-136

THE ENEMY

Where are they from? Cullowhee, North Carolina

Series History: WVU leads the series 1-0

Last Time: West Virginia 82, Western Carolina 55 on December 18, 2002 in Morgantown

SB Nation Blog: Mid-Major Madness

Record: 3-5

Record in 2015-16: 16-18 (10-8 Southern); Lost to Vermont in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational

Head Coach: Larry Hunter (coached Ohio U. in the 1990s)

NCAA Basketball: Southern Conference Tournament-Wofford vs Western Carolina

KEYS TO THE GAME

Try not to rely on 3-pointers. The Mountaineers shot 12.5% from beyond the arc in the first half, when WVU didn’t look so good. We’re not the Warriors, so let’s just not even try to be.
NO ELBOWS TO THE FACE, DAX!!

HOW AFRAID SHOULD WE BE (ON A SCALE OF 1-10)?

One. I’m as afraid of the Catamounts as I am of Mr. Narwhal from Elf. Yes, I’m beginning to go with Christmas references.

Shout out to SmithFire13 and BartimusPrime on that reference.

PREDICTION THAT WILL BE WRONG

WVU is on a roll right now and Western Carolina is nowhere even close to being in their league right now. Last time the Mountaineers played this kind of game in Charleston (by which I mean not the Capital Classic), they had trouble putting away James Madison; however the Dukes are far better than the Catamounts. I think WVU wins big and Bob Huggins, once again, complains about lack of attendance.

West Virginia 91, Western Carolina 59