Wheeling, W. Va. - Over their first three games of the season, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (1-2, 0-0) has had to go on the road. On Sunday, they take the court inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center for the first time this season when they play host to Winston-Salem State with tip-off at noon. The Cardinals are looking to get back on track before they start the Mountain East Conference (MEC) portion of their schedule following the Thanksgiving break.
Last time out, the Cardinals traveled up I-79 to take on Slippery Rock as they continued their run against the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). The Rock would jump out to a commanding 11-3 lead over the first five and a half minutes of play, but the Cardinals were able to keep things close. They would trail by 10 with 6:58 to go in the half before hitting a 6-0 run that got them back to within four points by the final media timeout. They would head into halftime with the score sitting at 36-27 and put together a final push over the second half. Slippery Rock would continue to push the lead over the first 10 minutes, and held a game-high 20 point lead with 10 minutes to play. Despite the Cardinals cutting the lead in half by the four minute mark, it wouldn't be enough as they fell 82-71 to round out the day. The Cardinals shot 41.86% from the floor over the second half and look to keep that efficiency going into Sunday's match-up.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was junior Tee Harris Jr., who finished tied for the team lead with 19 points while grabbing a team-best five rebounds in the effort. It was the second time that the junior has gotten into double digits this season, shooting 32.1% from the floor and a perfect 3-3 when he came to the free throw line. It was a season-high effort for Harris in terms of points and fell just one rebound shy of his season-high of six, which he set in the opener against CAL-U. He has been the Cardinal's leading rebounder this year, averaging 4.7 rebounds/game over his first three games, and is shooting .444 from the floor. He will continue to be a big presence under the net for the Cardinals this season and looks to build off his hot start.
Tying with Harris for the team lead in scoring was Ayden Goll, who hit double digits for the third game in a row. His 19 points against Slippery Rock were a season-high for the redshirt freshman, who shot 41.2% from the floor and 2-5 from the free throw line. Goll leads the Cardinals averaging 17.0 points per game, and sits eighth among scorers in the conference. He has built on his point total in each of the first three games and looks to continue that trend on the home floor. Coming off the bench was Lamar Dampier, who put together a career-best performance in the effort. After not scoring in either of his first two appearances, the redshirt freshman would set a career-high with 10 points, while shooting a perfect 4-4 from the floor. He would add three rebounds and one assists to round out the effort as he proved to be a lethal weapon off the bench for the Cardinals.
After being road warriors to start the season, the Cardinals begin a stretch of play that will see them at home for four of the next six. Included in that are the first three MEC games of the season, with Point Park and Charleston both coming to the Alma Grace McDonough Center during the stretch. The Cardinals defended the nest well last season, going 8-7 across their 15 home games from a season ago. After three games of play, the Cardinals currently sit as the sixth highest scoring team in the conference while holding a margin of –5.7 for the season. As they get ready to start conference play after the Thanksgiving break, the Cardinals look to get back in the win column and give themselves momentum down the final three week stretch of the first half of the season.
The Match-up
The Cardinals and Rams are meeting for the second time in program history, with Winston-Salem leading the all-time series at 1-0. It will be the first meeting between the two teams in a non-neutral site locations, with their first meeting coming at the WLU Tip-off classic. The first meeting of the series came back during the 2021-2022 season, with the Cardinals scoring 65 points in the first meeting.
That meeting would come back on November 13th, 2021, in the second half of the West Liberty Tip-off Classic, with Wheeling falling 66-65. Former Cardinal Andrew Taylor would lead the way in the effort, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds to record the lone double-double of the day. Former Cardinal Jordan Reid added 17 points, while former Cardinal Jarett Haines wrapped up the day with 13 points.
The Details
Tip-off for Sunday's game is scheduled for noon inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
