CHARLESTON, W. Va. – The University of Charleston Basketball teams are set to take on the Cardinals from Wheeling University on Wednesday evening with tip set for 5:30 p.m. (Women's) and 7:30 p.m. (Men's) at the Wehrle Innovation Center. The Golden Eagles come into Wednesday after both teams picked up wins over Fairmont State this past Saturday.
Media Coverage:
Live Stats and video feed will be available for Wednesday's games through the links supplied below:
Men's Basketball Outlook:
The #25 ABCA ranked Golden Eagles became victors for the second consecutive game on Saturday after picking up a win over the Falcons of Fairmont State on Saturday by a score of 80-71. The game swung back and forth through the first half of play before Charleston used a 46-38 scoring advantage in the second half to defeat the opposition by nine points. The Golden Eagles were led offensively by
Drew Rackley, who recorded 18 points while four Charleston players reached double figure scoring marks in the contest.
The game bounced back and forth through the first five minutes of play with the Fairmont State leading 11-7 before a layup from Junior
Lamont McManus cut into the Falcons lead and gave McManus 1,000 points for his career. At the first media timeout, Charleston trailed to the opposition 13-9 behind six points from Falcon forward Dale Bonner. Over the next five minutes of play, the Golden Eagles put together a 11-2 run to regain the lead at 20-15 with 9:59 remaining in the opening half. Rackley led all scorers through the first 10 minutes of the game with eight points while pulling in a rebound, dishing an assist, and recording a steal.
Over the next four minutes, the Golden Eagles extended their lead to 27-21 with 6:43 remaining in the half on a pair of buckets from McManus and a converted three-point attempt from
Eddie Colbert III
Over the last five minutes of the half, Fairmont State regained the lead before Charleston took it back with just seconds remaining in the half, leading 34-33 headed into the break. For the half, both teams shot under 46.0% from the field with just a combined seven three-point attempts made on 26 shots. The Golden Eagles outrebounded the opposition 23-13 in the half and recorded 24 of their 34 points in the paint. The Golden Eagles turned the ball over 11 times compared to the Falcons seven. The Golden Eagles were led offensively by Rackley, who recorded 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists while Isaiah Sanders led all Fairmont scorers with 17 points.
The teams exchanged buckets evenly through the first five minutes of the second half with the Golden Eagles holding a 43-42 lead at the 15:00 mark. The first media timeout of the second half came with 13:34 remaining in the game as an 8-2 run had Charleston leading 51-44. The Golden Eagles extended their lead to double digits on their first possession out of the media timeout as Seth O'Neal converted the and-one opportunity on a layup inside the paint.
Charleston used a 10-4 run out of the timeout to take a commanding 61-48 lead with 9:26 remaining in the contest prior to the next media timeout. The teams continued to exchange buckets over the final ten minutes of the half as Charleston capped the game off with an 80-71 victory.
Full recap and box score
here
As a team, the Golden Eagles have struggled from beyond the three-point arc in their last three games. Charleston, who ranks 18
th in Division II, converting 40.0% of shots from deep, has shot just 13-of-45 (28.9%) as a team in their last three contests. Despite the struggles from beyond the arc, the Golden Eagles have succeeded on shots down low as a team, shooting 59-of-68 (60.2%) over the last three games on all shots within the arc. As a team, the Golden Eagles have been rebounding the ball effectively, pulling in 40 rebounds in each of their last two games. Such a mark had been accomplished just four times this season prior to their last two contests.
Scouting the Opponent:
Wheeling comes into the contest holding a record of 10-8 (7-7 MEC) and finds themselves in the middle of the MEC standings. The Cardinals had dropped four straight contests before narrowly defeating the Senators of Davis & Elkins College by a score of 72-68 on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals are led offensively by Jordan Reid, who averages 17.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest while Jarett Haines (15.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg) and Emmanuel Ansong (14.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg) round out the other top scorers.
This season, Wheeling has played an overall clean style of basketball as the Cardinals rank 1
st in the MEC in both fewest personal fouls per game (15.4) and fewest turnovers (12.9 per game). In addition, the Cardinals rank 2
nd in the MEC in scoring defense, allowing just 73.5 point per contest behind the Golden Eagles, who allow 70.4 points per game
Things to Know for Wednesday:
- Despite allowing just 73.5 points per contest, the Golden Eagles scored 95 points against the Cardinals in their last matchup on December 14th.
- Charleston converted 37-of-57 shots from the floor (64.9%) against Wheeling on December 14th. The next best shooting performance this season against the Cardinals came on December 11th, as WVSU converted 52.2% of their shots. The Golden Eagles recorded their best game from the floor this season against Wheeling.
- Expect all Golden Eagles to contribute to the scoring efforts on Wednesday as on December 14th, seven Golden Eagles reached double-digit scoring marks.
Matchup History:
The Golden Eagles and the Cardinals have squared off 22 times in their history with Wheeling holding a 14-8 advantage. Despite the disadvantage, Charleston has come out on top against Wheeling in each of their last three contests with their largest margin of victory coming in their last contest on December 14
th (W, 95-61).
Women's Basketball Outlook:
The University of Charleston Golden Eagles Women's Basketball team (16-4, 11-3 MEC), improved to 9-1 at home this season after defeating the Falcons of Fairmont State by a score of 88-78 on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Eagles were led by Erykah Russell, who recorded her 2
nd double-double of the season as she recorded 24 points and 14 rebounds. In the matchup, Charleston did what they needed to do in holding Sierra Kotchman, a 40.5% three-point shooter, to just 4-of-13 from beyond the arc.
Charleston continued to control the game holding their largest lead of the game with just over six minutes to play holding a score of 74-75. Charleston continued on a 12-2 run through the final frame, leading on back-to-back threes from Reeves to gain a 15-point lead. Charleston shots 60.0 percent in the fourth quarter to take the 88-78 win over the Fairmont State Falcons.
Charleston shot 50.0 percent through the third quarter holding a 58-51 lead with just under three minutes to play. Charleston led up to that point by Erykah Russell with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Anna Hayton went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe to give Charleston their second largest lead of the game with a score of 60-53. The falcons climbed their way back into the game, going on an 8-4 run to bring the score to 61-64 with just under a minute to play. Charleston held the lead to end the quarter with a score of 68-63.
The Golden Eagles went 18-for-31 in the half, holding their opponents to 15-for-29. The teams were dead even, each tallying six turnovers, and scoring seven aside on the opportunities.
The contest remained close for throughout the second quarter as the Golden Eagles held a 28-26 lead with 6:31 to go in the half. Charleston outscored their opponents 14-12 in the quarter to hold a 39-35 lead. Charleston capped their lead with a 3-pointer from freshman, Dakota Reeves bring the score to 44-40 to end the half.
The Golden Eagles took an early 8-5 lead midway through the first quarter, but a quick 8-2 run from the Falcons gave Fairmont the 13-11 lead with less than five minutes to play in the quarter. Dakota Reeves answered at the four-minute mark to give UC back the lead. By the end of the first frame, the game saw 8 lead, and a single tie.
Full recap and box score
here
After Glenville State defeated Notre Dame on Saturday, the Golden Eagles and Falcons sit one game behind the Pioneers in the MEC Standings. On Saturday, the Golden Eagles and Falcons engaged in a clean game that lasted just 1:22 minutes due to limited foul calls in the opening frame. After turning the ball over a season-high 25 times against Frostburg State a week ago, Charleston responded with their fourth cleanest game of the season, committing just 11 turnovers. The Golden Eagles come into the contest ranked 9
th in Division II in field-goal percentage (47.4%), 8
th in three-point percentage (38.6%), and have the 17
th highest scoring margin as the team averages 79.1 points per contest.
Scouting the Opponent:
Wheeling comes into the contest holding a record of 8-12 (7-7 MEC). The Cardinals have found their stride as they have each of their last three MEC games against West Liberty, Wesleyan, and Davis & Elkins in their most recent contest. The Cardinals are led offensively by Lilly Ritz, who averages 19.9 points and 14.3 rebounds per contest. Ritz, the sophomore out of Cambridge, Ohio., ranks 3
rd in Division II in rebounds per game and holds the second highest rebounding performance in the country this season (26) which she did so just a week ago against West Liberty.
Things to Know for Wednesday:
- The Golden Eagles posted their second-lowest field-goal percentage on December 14th against the Cardinals (38.8%) despite converting on a season-high 14 made three-point attempts, 10 of which came from the hands of Dakota Reeves to set a UC single-game record.
- Charleston grabbed a season-high 52 rebounds against the Cardinals on December 14th, their most since 12/30/17 against Bluefield State (56).
- On December 14th, the Golden Eagles held Wheeling to a season-low in points (43), field goals made (19), free throws made (2), free throws attempted (3), and assists (5).
Matchup History:
The Golden Eagles and Cardinals have squared off 19 times in their history with Charleston holding a 13-6 advantage. The matchup has shown a wave of streaks, as the Golden Eagles won the first 10 matchups before losing the next six and most recently winning the last three. Charleston's largest margin of victory came last season when they held the opposition to just 26 points and 14.3% from the field.
