Wheeling, W. Va. - After a busy weekend at the Atlantic Region Crossover, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (1-1, 0-0) has a quick turnaround as they head back out on the road on Wednesday and Thursday. They are preparing for two big non-conference match-ups as they take on Malone University on Wednesday and follow that up with a matchup against Akron on Thursday.

Over the weekend, Wheeling showed they could battle, taking both of their games down to the final seconds of regulation. They split the contests, defeating a very good East Stroudsburg team on Friday and coming back with a one-point loss to Winston-Salem on Saturday. Wheeling's top scorers from last season, Jordan Reid and Jarett Haines picked up right where they left off, mixed in with some solid performances from other guys around the court.

Reid led the way averaging 18.5 points between the two games, with a 20-point effort on Friday and an 18-point effort on Saturday. He finished the weekend shooting 48% (12-25) from the floor and 25% (1-4) from beyond the arc. Haines also put in two double-digit performances, averaging 13.5 points per game, and added a 42.3% mark from the floor. However, Haines was able to spread the ball around efficiently, leading the team with four assists and rounding out an overall solid offensive effort.

On the defensive side of the ball, Andrew Taylor shined, putting up his biggest performance in the second game on Saturday. He secured the team's first double-double of the season by scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in the loss to Winston-Salem and totaled 20 points, 20 rebounds, and a team-high four steals for the weekend. Reid and John Korte also played big parts in the Cardinals' defensive game, finishing with 11 rebounds each. 

The Cardinals are currently on one of their longest road stretches of the season to kick off the 2021-2022 season. They play their first four games on the road over the course of seven days, and in total play six games over the first 12 days of competition. For Head Men's Basketball Coach Chris Richardson he wants his team to focus on playing a full 40 minutes of basketball each time out.

"We are a blue-collar community, and we want to be a blue-collar team," said Richardson. "I thought for the most part over those 80 minutes of basketball this weekend we were a blue-collar team. That is going to have to be who we are every night. We have a lot of things to work on and clean up, but one thing we don't have to clean up is that fight and hopefully we can keep doing that moving forward."

The Match-ups

Malone: The Cardinals and Pioneers have matched up one time in the team's history, with that match-up coming on November 20th, 2019, in the Alma Grace McDonough Center. Wheeling welcomed the Pioneers by beating them 82-52 and earning the program's first win against the Pioneers. Former Cardinal Emmanuel Ansong led the scoring effort with 23 points in that game and was one of four Cardinals to finish the day in double figures.

Akron: The second matchup of the week is a less familiar one as Wheeling faces off against Akron for the first time in program history. The Zips are off to a 1-1 start to their season and just defeated Point Park University 102-46. The Zips had five players finish in double digits in that game, and continued to pound the basket throughout the night. Wheeling is looking to go in and show what they can do against a Division I opponent.

The Details

Tip-off for Wednesday's game is scheduled for 8 PM, and Thursday's match-up will tip-off at 5 PM. You can watch the Malone game live by clicking HERE and follow Live Stats by clicking Here and listen to the Akron game HERE.