West Virginia awaits Florida in PK85 finale

It isn’t the results that West Virginia hoped for heading into the PK85, but a solid performance at the event is still well within grasp for the basketball program.

The Mountaineers dropped the opening contest to Purdue, who will play Duke for the championship on the Legacy side of the bracket after knocking off Gonzaga 84-66.

West Virginia fell to the Boilermakers 80-68 while dealing with a combination of foul trouble and sickness to several key pieces on the roster.

West Virginia was able to race past Portland State 89-71 in their second game in the tournament as the Mountaineers shot 61-percent from the field and had 20 assists on 31 made baskets.

While the defense forced a total of 23 turnovers, the offense was carless with the ball as well with 19 of their own which allowed the Vikings to remain in the contest and many were largely unforced.

“I’m going to fire some guys. Obviously if they continue to turn it over we’re going to have to put somebody else in there,” head coach Bob Huggins said.

Two of the key players on the roster in Emmitt Matthews and Tre Mitchell were dealing with illness and foul trouble against Purdue, but they were much better against the Vikings. And with the day off Saturday, Huggins expects those two to be even closer to 100-percent.

“We’re getting better. We were pretty sick particularly Emmitt,” he said. “We had other guys that had the stomach flu and they were throwing up all day.”

“If we can get them back to 100-percent I’d feel a whole lot better,” Huggins added.

The Mountaineers will close the tournament against Florida. The matchup is set for 8:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU, and like West Virginia the Gators dropped their opener to Xavier 90-83 before getting past Oregon State 81-68.

The Gators, who are 4-2 on the season, are led in scoring by forward Colin Castleton who averaged 20.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He suited up against the Mountaineers in 2020, an 85-80 Florida win, and scored 21 points while grabbing 7 rebounds.

The other player in double figures is Will Richard who is at 14.5 points and 5.0 rebounds.

It’s a golden opportunity for West Virginia to grab an early season win and leaving Portland with a 2-1 record after dropping that opener to a Purdue team that is proving to be a difficult matchup.

It isn’t what anybody necessarily wanted coming into the event, but If the Mountaineers can take care of business you’re not going to hear a lot of complaining about their time out west.

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