West Virginia Hosts North Carolina Central for the First Ever Meeting Between the Two Programs

The Mountaineers are seeking their first winning streak of the season against the Eagles.
West Virginia University guard Javon Small.
West Virginia University guard Javon Small. / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

West Virginia welcomes the North Carolina Central Eagles (4-7) to the WVU Coliseum for game two of a four-game homestand Tuesday night.

The Mountaineers (6-2) are fresh off a 73-60 win against an old Big East rival Georgetown last Friday night in the Big 12-Big East Battle and have won back-to-back games for the third time this season.

West Virginia point guard Javon Small is leading the team in scoring and is second in the Big 12 and seventh among Power Fours schools, averaging 19.9 points per game and has saved his best performances against the better teams on the early portion of the schedule.

The Oklahoma State senior transfer has averaged 24.3 ppg the last four games, including a season high 31 points versus a top three Gonzaga team at the Battle 4 Atlantis midseason tournament and notched his fifth consecutive 20-plus performance against Georgetown. In addition, his 2.5 steals per game ranks him third in the league and tied for eighth in the country.

Although he has yet to eclipse his career-high 34 points he put up against BYU in the regular season finale a year ago, he’s upped his season average 4.8 ppg.

“He had to play a big role at Oklahoma State too,” said WVU head coach Darian DeVries. “I think A) he’s really confident. He’s a veteran point guard. I think one of the things that’s helped him here too is we’re able to get a little bit of spacing for him. We got some shooting around him that allows him to get into spaces a little bit better.”

Senior forward Tucker DeVries is averaging 14.9 ppg and leads the team with a 47.3% three-point shooting percentage.

North Carolina Central has won three out of its last four games, including avenging a loss to Garnder-Webb in the second game of the season, after starting the season 0-3.

Head coach Levelle Moton became the all-time winningest coach in program history last season and currently sits with 268 wins since 2009. He also ushered in a new era for the NC Central after the program elevated to Division I in 2011. Since then, He’s led the school to five MEAC tournament regular season, four conference tournament championships and NCAA tournament appearances.

Junior guard Po’Boigh King was selected to the Preseason All-MEAC first team and senior guard Keishon Porter was named to the third team Both returning players bring back the most experience after playing their first season with NCCU in 2023-24.

King leads the team in scoring, averaging 17.2 ppg while Porter is second on the team at 10.9 ppg.

West Virginia and North Carolina Central tip-off at 7:00 p.m. EST and the action will stream on ESPN+.


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Christopher Hall
CHRISTOPHER HALL

Member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.