Fort Myers Tip-Off

Virginia (4-1) vs West Virginia (2-2)

6 p.m., FS1

Virginia suffered its first loss of the season on Monday in lopsided fashion and now the Hoos will look to rebound. They’ll play in the consolation game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off tonight when they face the West Virginia Mountaineers

Just after the Cavaliers were rolled by Wisconsin on Monday, West Virginia surrendered a lead as big as 12 points in a 70-58 setback to SMU. The Mountaineers were outscored 45-22 in the second half, and dropped to 2-2 on the young season. WVU began the year ranked 64th in Kenpom and have now dropped out of the top-100, after losses to SMU, and earlier, to Monmouth at home. West Virginia did get a win over a top-100 Missouri State team in the season opener, however.

After 16 years under Bob Huggins, WVU made a coaching change in the offseason after a series of off-court events, promoting assistant Josh Eilert to the interim role. The Mountaineers were picked ninth in the Big 12 preseason poll following a 19-15 2022-23 season that ended in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Tonight’s game will be the first between the Hoos and Mountaineers since the 2017-18 season, when WVU beat UVa by seven at home following a road win at JPJ the year prior.

West Virginia has dropped 38 spots in KenPom since the beginning of the season, currently at No. 102 heading into today’s consolation game. WVU is outside the top-100 on both offense and defense, and has plenty of room to improve on both ends of the court. Like UVa, West Virginia ranks near the bottom nationally in tempo at 338th, and ranks 345th in average offensive possession length.

Offensively, the Mountaineers are 110th nationally in efficiency and have some pretty poor shooting numbers thus far. They are making 30.7 percent of their 3s and an abysmal 41.8 percent of their twos, which is a bit surprising given the size they have in the frontcourt They do a solid job on the offensive glass and are top 100 in free throw rate.

West Virginia’s defense will test UVa with backcourt pressure at times, and both they and SMU played full-court defense in their game on Monday. WVU ranks 101st nationally in defensive efficiency. The ‘Eers are seventh nationally in free-throw rate allowed and are top 100 in two point field goal percentage allowed, offensive rebound rate allowed and block rate. However, WVU doesn’t force many turnovers, ranking 330th nationally in turnover rate, and 334th in steal rate.

Quinn Slazinski, Forward

Now on his third school, the 6-foot-9 forward is the team’s leading scorer at 16.3 points per game. Slazinski began his career at Louisville before two years at Iona and is having his best scoring season to date by a significant margin. He has scored in double figures in each game, and had 13 points in Monday’s loss to SMU.

Jesse Edwards, Forward

A name likely familiar to UVa fans, the former Syracuse center now anchors the frontcourt for West Virginia. Edwards was a big get for WVU out of the transfer portal, and is averaging a double-double at 15.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per contest. He had 18 points and nine boards in the loss to SMU and is off to a great start to his career with the Mountaineers.

Kobe Johnson, Guard

In his third year with WVU, Johnson is scoring 11 points and bringing in 3.5 rebounds per contest. The Canton (OH) native had a quiet night against SMU with just 4 points, but had a big game last week against Jacksonville State, going for 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Both UVa and WVU will be desperate for a win in this game but for different reasons. UVa will be looking to put a lopsided loss and a rough overall performance against Wisconsin in the rear view. West Virginia will be looking to shrug off a collapse against SMU and needs to grab a signature win as its metrics have slipped and the Mountaineers already have two losses, including a bad one to No. 271 Monmouth.

Looking at how the two teams have played over the first few weeks, this is game that UVa should be favored in but could end up being a challenge if the Hoos run into the same problems they had against Wisconsin.

West Virginia is one of the biggest teams UVa will play, ranking 16th nationally in average height in the lineup. If UVa struggles to rebound and allows second-chance points, it could be a long night.

With that said, the Cavaliers should have the advantage in the backcourt and that could be enough to get them over the line, assuming that their shooting can take a step forward after a brutal night against the Badgers.