The Mountaineers aim to get back on Track vs. Navy

The West Virginia Mountaineers host the Navy Midshipmen on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor

Morgantown, WV - West Virginia is looking to get back in the win column Wednesday night as the Navy Midshipmen (5-3) visit the WVU Coliseum.

The Mountaineers (6-2) fell to Xavier on Saturday after leading by as many as 11 points and an advantage throughout most of the game. West Virginia was up 68-65 with just under eight minutes remaining before Xavier outscored WVU 19-6 to stun the Mountaineers 84-74.

“We just threw the ball around. We didn’t pass the ball - we threw the ball, said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins. “So, we spent a good amount of time yesterday trying to sure up some of our half court sets that have been really good to us in the past that we made shambles of.”

Dec 3, 2022; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers forward Tre Mitchell (3) drives to the basket against Xavier Musketeers forward Zach Freemantle (32) in the second half at Cintas Center / Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

The Hall of Famer also noted the Mountaineers worked on ball screen defense after voicing his displeasure with the team giving up straight line drives following the Xavier loss.

All three of Navy’s losses have come on the road but did notch one win away from the Academy in the season opener against Lipscomb.

The Midshipmen rank 10th in the country in three-point percentage, shooting 41.0% on the season.

“I think pretty much of the service teams, they execute really well,” Huggins said. “I think their execution is really good, they just don’t have the size and such that the people, for instance, our league would have, but they’re skilled and very disciplined.”

Forward Tyler Nelson (6’6”, 220-lbs) leads the Midshipmen in scoring at 15.4 points per game behind a team-best 53.1% from the three-point line while swiping a team-leading 1.4 steals per game. The junior has averaged 17.6 points in the last three games.

Senior Daniel Deaver (6’8”, 221-lbs) is grabbing a team-leading 6.3 rebounds per game, dishes a team-high 4.0 assists per game and he is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.3 ppg. The forward nabbed a career-high 12 rebounds in the loss to VMI on Saturday.

Nov 9, 2021; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Navy Midshipmen forward Tyler Nelson (5) shoots the ball over Virginia Cavaliers forward Jayden Gardner (1) during the first half at John Paul Jones Arena. Navy defeated No. 25 Virginia in the 2021 season-opener 66-58 / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Austin Inge (6’0”, 187-lbs) rounds out the trio of Midshipmen averaging double figures at 10.0 ppg. The junior guard is coming off a career-best 21-points versus VMI.

West Virginia is 6-7 all-time versus Navy. The two teams will meet for the first time since Feb. 5, 1972. WVU won that game in Morgantown, 84-81. Before that, WVU and Navy met in the first round of the 1960 NCAA Tournament at Madison Square Garden where the Mountaineers came away with a 94-86 win.

West Virginia lost the first ever meeting 31-15 on Feb. 8, 1923, and dropped the second meeting in 1925 before the Mountaineers notched the first win the series in 1931 and avenged the loss with a 41-36 win in Annapolis (MD). The first 11 meetings in the series were all played at Navy from 1923-48 with WVU going 4-7 during the span. 

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