MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY

No. 15 UCONN at WEST VIRGINIA

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Where: WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia

Records: UConn 8-1, West Virginia 7-1

TV: ESPN2

Radio: UConn Sports Network, 97.9 FMESPN Hartford, Sirius-137, XM-206, SXM App-965, WAVZ-New Haven (1300 AM), WGCH- Greenwich (1490 AM), WATRWaterbury (1320 AM), WILI-Willimantic (WILI 1400 AM)

KEEP AN EYE ON

Musket mania: This will mark UConn’s first true road game before a full-capacity crowd since March 8, 2020 at Tulane. And it’ll be the first time the Huskies will play in front of a truly hostile, big crowd since Feb. 1, 2020 at Memphis. The team’s freshmen and sophomores have yet to have such an experience.

With students still on campus, there figures to be a good-sized, energetic crowd on Wednesday night — complete with the school’s Mountaineer mascot, which fires off a musket prior to the game.

“We’ll prepare our guys,” Dan Hurley said following UConn’s win over Grambling on Saturday. “I’ll let them know they’ll shoot the musket ... People will be screaming at them, it’s gonna be intense. But, there’s nothing better than what we’re about to experience.”

Press Virginia ... or not?: West Virginia was known as “Press Virginia” in recent years thanks to its relentless, fullcourt pressure defense. But the Mountaineers have largely abandoned that style this season, showing three-quarter court pressure at times but not much more than that.

“We don’t really play pressure,” coach Bob Huggins insisted. “If you look at who we’ve played, if we really were good at pressure, it wouldn’t have been as close as what it’s been. We’re just trying to fix one thing at a time.”

Still, with UConn’s troubles breaking the press against VCU and Auburn, and with R.J. Cole the only true ball-handling point guard with experience on the roster, it would behoove the Mountaineers to turn up the pressure a bit on Wednesday night.

Huggy Bear’s hosannas: Listening to Huggins on Tuesday afternoon, you’d think UConn was the best team in the country.

“They’re athleticism, at least potentially — I don’t want to make it too hard on Danny — is special.”

And, still listening to Huggins, just about the worst team in the country? His own Mountaineers.

“We’re not the most assertive, aggressive group,” Huggins said. “I’m worried about us more than anything. We’re struggling. It’s hard to sit here and put them in order when there are multiple concerns.”

In truth, WVU (7-1) has lost to the Big East’s Marquette, beat a couple of lowly high-majors (Pitt, Clemson) and held serve against some low-majors. Sean McNeil, a senior guard and WVU’s second-leading scorer (12 ppg) missed Saturday’s win over Radford with a lower back issue and is “day-to-day,” per Huggins.

Taz is a devil: WVU is led by Taz Sherman, a 6-foot-4 graduate guard who averages 21 points per game. Cole is the Huskies’ top scorer at 16.3 per contest — including 23 ppg over his last three.

“He’s really good,” Huggins said of Cole. “He can score, he can defend, he’s a really good rebounder for a 6-foot-1 guy. From the outside looking in, it looks like he’s the guy that runs the show. He’s the guy that makes everything happen, makes sure everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”