CHARLESTON, W.Va. - It doesn't seem that long ago since West Virginia State held off a late Charleston rally to defeat the Golden Eagles 60-59 at Eddie King Gym.
But the truth is, a lot has changed since that Jan. 17 matchup.
The Golden Eagles seem to have taken that loss to heart, reeling off 10 consecutive wins since, and they'll be trying to register an 11th as the Kanawha County rivals square off again in both teams' regular-season finales at 4 p.m. today in Institute.
With those 10 wins, UC clinched the West Virginia Conference's No. 2 seed and made an appearance in this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II men's basketball poll at No. 25.
But after the Eagles' last loss, things looked pretty bleak.
"I knew we were capable, but 10 games ago I wasn't sure if we were going to get there," UC coach Mark Downey said of his team's current lofty position. "We talked about that as a team. We wanted as many wins as possible, and to these guys' credit, they found a way to keep winning one more game. Hopefully, we'll continue that."
The Charleston win was the second of a four-game streak for State and it looked as though the Yellow Jackets had put their early-season inconsistencies behind them. But then the Jackets dropped three in a row, culminating in a 31-point drubbing at the hands of Alderson-Broaddus.
State has since won four of its last five, continuing a string of ups and downs all season. Coach Bryan Poore said his team will need the same kind of effort today to have a chance of pulling off a similar result from the teams' first meeting.
"The stars were aligned right," Poore said. "Everything thing fell into place. We did a pretty good job defending them, they didn't shoot well and we rebounded with them. That same scenario is going to have to happen again for us to have a chance [today].
"They've handled our last meeting better than we have. They took it, assessed some things, got on a roll and haven't lost since. We took it and didn't continue to have the same focus."
Poore has liked his team's mentality over the past couple of games and feels like the Jackets (14-9 overall, 12-9 West Virginia Conference) could be on the verge of consistency just in the nick of time.
"It's really kind of coming in halves and spurts," Poore said. "At Glenville, I felt like we were pretty focused. We didn't always make the right play, but overall the whole game we were executing and we were focused. In the second half of the Pitt Johnstown game I thought we played really well and we really shut them down."
As for UC (22-5, 17-4), a national ranking has been a goal for a while and the Golden Eagles came close several times earlier in the season. Downey said the recognition is a good thing, but warned of the dangers that coincide.
"It's something when you're building a program that you want," Downey said. "For the guys it's nice. It lets them know that people on a national level are seeing what we're doing and it helps the program and helps people get excited about the program in town.
"They've got to get in the mindset that now they're going to get everyone's best shot. We've built a little something here with the winning streak and the ranking and being high in the region rankings and being second in the league. The guys just need to be ready and know that they're going to have a target on their backs."
Aside from a rivalry game, aside from the chance to sweep the second-place team in the conference, there is another form of motivation looming over this contest for State. The Jackets can clinch a first-round home game in the WVC tournament with a win, a fact Poore said he has shared with his players many times.
"We have talked about it, I don't try to make it a big deal but I try to make sure the players understand," Poore said. "Come Saturday night, if we lose and it comes down to that, I can tell them we've got to go on the road to play the game and they can't say I didn't tell them. Playing at home in college basketball is an advantage, and at this time of year we need every advantage we can get."
The UC-State women's game will tip off at 2 p.m. in a rematch of a 102-79 win for UC on Jan. 17. State enters the game at 10-15 and 7-14 in the conference, while UC is 12-13, 11-10.
