MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - The West Virginia Mountaineers (12-4) will have to conquer the second-ranked team in the land, the Iowa State Cyclones (15-1), in a sold-out Saturday game at the WVU Coliseum.
This game is marked as Jerry West Day, and the team will be wearing throwback uniforms, remembering the legacy of the late Jerry West. The first 300 Mountaineer Maniacs will receive a number 44 Jerry West retro WVU T-shirt jersey, as an incentive to line up early before tip-off.
Jerry West was a native of Chelyan, W. Va., and was a standout star throughout his playing career at East Bank High School, WVU, and the Los Angeles Lakers. West led the Mountaineers to their only NCAA tournament final appearance, and his number, 44, is retired in the rafters of the Coliseum.West is the only person to be named in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, he was inducted as a player, a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 U.S. Men’s Basketball team and most recently as a contributor, winning eight championships with the Lakers as an executive. West is a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team.
The Mountaineers are coming off a road split with a win against the Colorado Buffaloes and a loss against the 10th-ranked Houston Cougars. The Cougars extended their nation-best home winning streak to 32 games. WVU is led by Oklahoma State transfer guard Javon Small, who is scoring 19.4 points per game, stealing the ball 1.8 times and assisting on 5.2 shots as well, leading the team in each category.
College hoops guru, Jon Rothstein, called Small “the best all-around guard in the Big 12,” and the stats back it up. Small is first in the Big 12 in scoring, top five in both assists and free throw percentage and top 10 in steals. Small is the heartbeat of the Mountaineers.
The invading Cyclones have won 12 straight games, and the team’s only loss of the season was against current-top-ranked Auburn. In Iowa State’s last game, they obliterated the ninth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks at home, 74-57. Senior guard Curtis Jones led the team in scoring against Kansas with 25 points and five makes from downtown. He also leads the team in points per game with 17.8, shooting 41.4% from deep. Jones joined the Cyclones from MAC school Buffalo before the 2023-24 season.
The game is set for tipoff at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18. U92 will provide full coverage, with Tanner Mountz on play-by-play and Brian McQuillen will bring color commentary. Starting at 4:30, Brett Berner, Conor Bratchford, DJ McDermott and Brayden Laslo will have pregame, halftime and postgame coverage.The broadcast can be heard locally on 91.7 FM, u92themoose.com, an Alexa At-Home Device, or the RadioFX and TuneIn apps.
Photo sources from Uni Watch.