Wheeling, W. Va. - The 2025-2026 season tipped off for the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (1-1, 0-0) this past weekend at the West Liberty Tip-off Classic. The season-opening road trip continues for the Cardinals on Wednesday night when they travel to Slippery Rock with tip-off at 7 PM. Wheeling looks to keep moving the ball around the court as they continue preparations for their 2025-2026 Mountain East Conference (MEC) schedule in two weeks.
In the second half of the weekend doubleheader, the Cardinals battled Clarion University as they looked to sweep the weekend. It was a back-and-forth game throughout the first half, with Wheeling shooting a healthy 42.11% from the floor over the first half. The two teams would go run for run throughout the first 20 minutes of play and by the halftime break the Cardinals were staked to a 44-40- lead. It was their first halftime lead of the season and they continued to push that lead over the first four minutes of the new half. However, Clarion would tie the game with 16 minutes to play, and overtook the Cardinals after the 15-minute media timeout. Wheeling continued to battle throughout the second half, but a 50% mark from the floor was enough to push Clarion to the 91-82 win to round out the weekend. It finished off a 1-1 weekend for the Cardinals as they showed off their depth throughout the tip-off classic.
Leading the Cardinals throughout the weekend was redshirt freshman Ayden Goll, who led the team in both scoring and assists throughout the weekend. He would finish the two games averaging a team-best 16.0 points per game, while leading the team with 11 assists on the weekend. His biggest effort of the weekend would come against Clarion, where he put up 18 points and six assists to lead the team in both categories. Against the Golden Eagles, Goll thrived from the free throw line, where he accounted for 10 of his 18 points, going 10-11 from the free throw line. He added a 14-point showing in the weekend opener against California (Pa.), where he shot a weekend best 45.4% from the floor. Goll will look to continue to lead the offensive effort down the stretch as he helps push the Cardinals forward.
Leading the defensive effort for the Cardinals was Kris English, who had an all-around strong weekend for the Cardinals. The junior transfer tied for the team lead with 4.5 rebounds per game, while averaging 12.0 points per game and adding an assist to round out the effort. His top performance would also come against Clarion, where he finished with 14 points and six rebounds, while shooting a team-best .538 from the floor to round out the weekend. Joining him in the rebounding game was Tee Harris Jr., who equaled his 4.5 rebounds per game effort. The junior would also tie for the team lead with one block on the weekend, while finishing just shy of the double-digit scoring average at 9.0 points per game. Harris would come out on fire against CAL-U, finishing with a team-best 15 points and six rebounds, while shooting .583 from the floor.
As they enter their second week of non-conference play, the Cardinals will continue their run through the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) on Wednesday when they travel to Slippery Rock. Of their first four non-conference games, three of those are coming on the road with the Cardinals being road-warriors in the early portion of the season. The Cardinals were just 2-9 away from the Alma Grace McDonough Center last season, and are looking to improve upon that total in 2025-2026. Wheeling has two more non-conference games on the schedule before kicking off MEC play, and will split those final contests between road and home. Head Coach Chris Richardson likes to challenge his team with a tough preseason schedule to help get them ready for what they will have to face when they get into the thick of their MEC schedule.
The Match-up
The Cardinals and The Rock are meeting for the sixth time in program history on Wednesday night, with Slippery Rock leading the all-time series at 3-2. Wheeling is making their second trip up I-79 for the match-up, where they are 0-1 all-time compared to a 1-2 record when they host Slippery Rock. The Cardinals have averaged 73.8 PPG in the all-time series, and have never scored more than 78 points in any of their five previous meetings with Slippery Rock.
Their last meeting came back on November 13th, 2024, in a game that Slippery Rock would win 85-77 inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. Former Cardinal Sean Ealy led the way, finishing with 17 points, including an 8-12 mark from the free throw line in the effort. Tee Harris Jr. Would add 14 points and four rebounds, while former Cardinal S.J. Hutchinson finished with a team-high six rebounds while adding 10 points in the effort.
The Details
Tip-off for Wednesday night's game is scheduled for 7 PM inside the Morrow Field House on the campus of Slippery Rock University. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
