MEN’S BASKETBALL GAME DAY

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), WATR-Waterbury (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.

“I can’t wait,” sophomore wing Andre Jackson said. “I’ve been waiting on it for a while. Last year was COVID, so I didn’t get to play true away games ... so, this is definitely gonna be something I haven’t really experienced since high school, or at all, at this college stage.”

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.

“It’s been a while since we’ve played in an environment like (Wednesday),” added coach Dan Hurley. “The game definitely has an extra element to it ... it’s exciting.”

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.”

Hurley scoffed at that notion.

“I think they’ll turn on our film from the Bahamas and they’ll break out their press,” Hurley said.

Indeed, UConn had trouble breaking the press against VCU and Auburn in the Battle 4 Atlantis, and with R.J. Cole the only true ballhandling point guard with experience on the roster, it would behoove the Mountaineers to turn up the pressure a bit on Wednesday night.

“We’ve spent a lot of time working on it, our spacing, different ways to attack it,” Hurley said. “We don’t have tons of handling guards, so we’ve got to be very organized, very fundamental.”

Taz is a devil: WVU is led by Taz Sherman, a 6-foot-4 graduate guard who averages 21 points per game.

“He’s an NBA-level guard,” said Hurley. “He makes tough, tough shots, he’s got tremendous counter-moves. You’ve got to be disciplined when you’re guarding him, because he’s gonna isolate you in a spot. And he’s got all types of footwork and stepthroughs and spins.”