MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia will take on Ohio State Saturday night at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, as part of the Cleveland Hoops Showdown.
It will be the third time the Mountaineers and Buckeyes will be playing in Cleveland, the prior two meetings coming on Dec. 30, 2023, and Dec. 29, 2019, when the venue was called Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Ohio State, then coached by Chris Holtmann, pulled out a 78-75 overtime victory over West Virginia, led by interim coach Josh Eilert. Roddy Gale Jr. paced the Buckeyes with 32 points while RaeQuan Battle was tops for the Mountaineers with 24.
Four years prior, freshman guard Deuce McBride came off the bench to pour in a game-high 21 points, including the go-ahead basket inside of four minutes to play, to give West Virginia a 67-59 victory before an announced crowd of 16,781.
The game pitted second-ranked Ohio State, which owned early season victories over Villanova, North Carolina and Kentucky, against the 22nd-ranked Mountaineers owning a 10-1 record.
West Virginia has recorded some other memorable triumphs in the sporadic series, spanning 18 games since 1941.
In 2010, the 21st-ranked Mountaineers rallied from 12 points down at halftime to upset the 11th-ranked Buckeyes 71-65 at the Coliseum on the day the school dedicated a statue in honor of Hot Rod Hundley.
In 2008, West Virginia routed 15th-ranked Ohio State 76-48 at Value City Arena and also registered a memorable 69-67 double-overtime win over the Buckeyes at St. John Arena for only its second-ever victory in the series in 1982.
Overall, the Buckeyes own a 10-8 advantage, although West Virginia has won eight of the last 10 meetings since 1981. From 1940 to 1981, Ohio State won all eight games between the two schools.
On Saturday, coach Ross Hodge’s Mountaineers will look to slow down 6-foot-2 Buckeye senior guard Bruce Thornton, who comes into this weekend’s action ranked fifth in the country in scoring with an average of 21.7 points per game.
The Fairburn, Georgia, resident poured in 34 points in a recent 88-80 loss to 13th-ranked Illinois and tallied a season-best 38 points in a 94-68 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne.
Against Illinois, Thornton became only the third Ohio State player in the last 40 years with a game of 34 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Scoring support for second-year Ohio State coach Jake Diebler comes from 7-foot center Christoph Tilly, averaging 13.8 points per game, from 6-foot-2 guard John Mobley Jr., averaging 13.7 points per contest, and from 6-foot-6 guard Devin Royal, averaging 13.6 points per outing.
Ohio State (7-2) ranks 10th in the country in effective field goal percentage at 60.1%, providing an intriguing contrast to West Virginia’s third-ranked scoring defense that is permitting just 58.4 points per game.
“Similar to the Wake Forest game when you are facing a really good offensive team like Ohio State, and in particular a really good offensive player like Bruce Thornton, the last thing you want to do is give them easy (baskets),” Hodge said. “Whether that’s an easy look or your turnovers leading to easy baskets. They are going to put you in enough difficult positions as is and you don’t want to do anything to add to that.”
The 8-3 Mountaineers limited Little Rock to 58 points in a 32-point victory at the Coliseum earlier this week and have topped 90 points in two of their last three games.
Guard Honor Huff tallied 24 against Little Rock and is leading the team with a 17.3 points-per-game average. Chance Moore, who became eligible in late November, is averaging 12 points and 5.8 rebounds in six games, while 6-foot-8 forward Brenen Lorient is averaging 10.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
The Mountaineers have nine players averaging better than five points per contest.
The two teams have two common opponents: Mount St. Mary’s and Pitt. West Virginia defeated Mount St. Mary’s 70-54 and Pitt 71-49 in Morgantown, while Ohio State dropped Mount St. Mary’s 113-60 in Columbus and lost 67-66 at Pitt late last month.
Saturday night’s game will tip off at 8 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPNU (John Schriffen and King McClure).
Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Brad Howe and David Kahn begins at 7 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
The first game of the four-team event pits Ohio University against St. Bonaventure at 5 p.m.
Tickets are available for both games and can be purchased through SeatGeek.
