Rhode Island MBB Schedules West Virginia in December 2018
As reported by Jon Rothstein, Rhode Island MBB is slated to play West Virginia at Mohegan Sun during December 2018.
First off, West Virginia is a perennial powerhouse in the Big 12 and in college basketball, as a whole. Since 2005, the only years that the Mountaineers were not in the NCAA tournament was in 2007, 2013, and 2014. No matter what the outcome of this matchup is, this is a quality addition to Rhode Island MBB's 2018-2019 schedule.
The nation will be able to witness the defensive knowledge of Dan Hurley tested against the wits of legendary Bob Huggins. "Press Virginia" as they are better known as will keep continuous defensive pressure on the ball for the full 40 minutes of game time. Up front and center, sophomore Sagaba Konate is a force in the paint. I already watched Konate put up five blocks vs. Kansas, including a crazy two-handed block on a dunk attempt by Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk. Additionally, Konate had seven blocks vs. Baylor, six blocks vs. UCF, five blocks vs. NJIT, five blocks vs. Oklahoma, and six blocks vs. Texas. While starting guards Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr. are graduating, Jordan McCabe, an ESPN top-100 guard and the #18 PG in the class of 2018 will be arriving to Morgantown, WV. Also, talented center Derek Culver will be added to the squad, after being offered by the likes of Arizona, Cincinnati, Clemson, Florida, Kansas, Purdue, Virginia Tech, Xavier, and many other great college basketball programs. Bob Huggins has a relatively young team heading into next season but they certainly are talented.
Although this game will be looked at as neutral site game, Mohegan Sun is much closer to the University of Rhode Island than West Virginia University. There is no way that anyone can forget the benefit that Mohegan Sun provided to the 2016-2017 iteration of Rhode Island MBB. In the HOF Tip-Off tournament, the Rams' win over Cincinnati proved to be the most notable win on their NCAA tournament resume. Then, in the championship game, they lost to Duke but playing the Blue Devils still helped their computer statistics. Assuming that a similar Rhode Island crowd shows up to Mohegan Sun for this game, the Rams can pull out another important victory in the same venue in Uncasville, CT.
