Wheeling, W. Va. – After opening the weekend on the hilltop at the West Liberty Classic, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (0-2, 0-0) continue their road stretch on Tuesday night. They travel 267 miles to Buffalo, New York as they take on D'Youville University on Tuesday with tip-off at 7 PM. The Cardinals are looking to get their first win of the 2023-2024 season under their belt as they prepare for the start of Mountain East Conference (MEC) play this weekend.

Wheeling Men's Basketball started out the season at the WLU Classic where they would face off against Seaton Hill and Shippensburg the first game would be played Friday where Wheeling would fall just short in a 97-96 overtime affair. They had lots of positives in this first game with Marcus Johnson putting up 30 points in the game, Caleb Murray getting 18, and William Gabbert also having 18. They hit an alley oop play with 0.2 seconds remaining to force the overtime period as they showed fight throughout the evening.

Shippensburg would unfortunately get the win in the next game on the 11^th, but Wheeling was very much in the game after the first half only being down 16. They were able to cut that lead to as little as six points during the second half, but couldn't get the comeback. They still had a lot of positives to look at after the game with Trey Stoffer putting up 12 points, Marcus Johnson kept up his good play with 11, and Sean Ealy had 8.

Wheeling first played D'Youville last season where they were able to get the win with a score of 73-58, so although they don't have a long history against each other this should still be a great matchup. Wheeling will be relying on their top players in this matchup and it all starts with Marcus Johnson who is averaging 20.5 points per game to start the season with a shooting percentage of 48 percent. Johnson was the Cardinal's second leading scorer a season ago, when he averaged 18.1 points per game. He has provided a spark both in the rebounding game as well as on the offensive side, and leads the team in both points per game and rebounds per game (8.0).

After serving as the "6^th man" for the team throughout the 2022-2023 season, William Gabbert is taking advantage of a more extended role in 2023-2024. The junior, who is averaging 13.5 points per game and shooting at 47 percent, made his first collegiate start this weekend against Seton Hill and has been one of the most efficient shooters on the floor. Gabbert shot 47.8% from the floor and 41.7% from three-point range over the weekend, hitting a career-high four three pointers and 18 points against Seton Hill. Caleb Murray was also strong in his first collegiate starts, averaging 12.5 points per game and equaling Gabbert's 18-point effort in the first game of the season. Both players look to provide a spark on the floor and get the Cardinals heading in the right direction as they approach MEC play.

D'Youville isn't short on star power with Nasir Hammonds who is averaging 16.5 points per game and is shooting at an impressive 57 percent and Chase Jenkins who is averaging 12.5 points per game and has a shooting percentage of 50 percent.

Tip-off for Tuesday night's game is scheduled for 7 PM inside the College Center Gymnasium on the campus of D'Youville University. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.