Wheeling, W. Va. - In January, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (7-13, 6-8) spent a lot of time on the road, with only four home dates. They begin February on a different note, with five of their final seven games being played in the Alma Grace McDonough Center. They kick off their streak of home games on Wednesday when they take on The University of Charleston in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play.
Last time out, Wheeling played a nail bitter against Davis & Elkins, and came away with a 74-73 win to improve them to 6-8 in conference play. The Cardinals battled throughout the first half, but just couldn't overtake the Senators and trailed 35-33 heading into the locker room. It would take every bit of their 41 second-half points, but they were able to hold on for the 74-73 victory. Davis & Elkins put up a desperation three-pointer as time was running out, but the shot went too high securing the Cardinal's sixth conference win of the season.
Senior Jordan Reid continued his hot streak on offense, scoring a team-high 25 points, and eclipsing the 20 point mark for the fourth straight game. Reid has been on fire during that stretch, scoring 30+ points once, 25+ points three times, and averaging 26 points per game. He has moved into the top 30 all-time in scoring in Wheeling Men's Basketball history and currently sits 28th with 1,195 career points. He has been a driving force for the offense since he came to Wheeling in 2018, and looks to continue that success during the push for the MEC playoffs.
Despite only having two scorers finish the night in double figures, Wheeling also had a slew of help from the bench in what head coach Chris Richardson called a complete team win. Guys like seniors Jordan Beale and Brent Price came off the bench and played valuable minutes for the team. Beale gave Wheeling a spark with a season-high 10 points in the game and Price played solid defense. Even Zion Suddeth, who played just two minutes in the game, made his mark with a big steal and a bucket that swung the momentum back Wheeling's way.
As we enter the final month of the regular season, the official push for the MEC playoffs is on with the top 10 teams making the tournament, and the top six getting a bye to WesBanco arena. Wheeling currently finds itself in seventh place in the conference at 6-8 and is just one game back of Concord for that coveted sixth place spot. If Wheeling can continue to win, they could punch their ticket straight to WesBanco arena. However, it won't be easy with their next three games coming against teams ahead of them, including a battle with Concord on February 9th. The Cardinals will look to just keep winning as they march towards the playoffs.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Golden Eagles will be meeting for the second time this season and the 38th time overall in what has been a very tight all-time series. In the first 37 meetings between the two teams, Wheeling has gone 19-18 against the Golden Eagles, including a 92-79 loss earlier this season. When the two teams play in Wheeling, the Cardinals have a 7-8 record against the Golden Eagles as they look to even up the score Wednesday.
In their last matchup, Wheeling saw five different players get into double digits, with graduate student Jordan Reid leading the way with 20 points. The Cardinals shot 42.9% from the floor in that game, and will look to make more shots this time around. It took a complete team effort on Saturday when Wheeling defeated Davis & Elkins, and it will take a team effort again on Wednesday.
The Details
Tip-off for Wednesday night's game is scheduled for 7:30 pm inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
