WVU to Bout Xavier in Consolation Game of Charleston Classic — How Good Are They?

It'll be the Mountaineers and the Musketeers on Sunday afternoon.

West Virginia University head coach Ross Hodge | Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

The first round of the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic is in the books, and the championship game will take place between Clemson and Georgia on Sunday. The Bulldogs held on to narrowly beat Xavier 78-77 to improve to 6-0 on the season, meaning West Virginia will face the Musketeers in the consolation game at 3:30 p.m. ET.

West Virginia led Clemson for 26 minutes and 38 seconds and led by as many as 11 before the Tigers caught fire on the offensive end and stormed back from behind to pull off the victory.

"On our end, we felt like it was really just a tale of two halves, simply put," head coach Ross Hodge said. "You look at the first half, we held them to 25 points. They shot 37% from the floor, 15% from three, and then, the second half it flipped. We gave up 45 points. They shoot 56% from two and 55% from three, and for us, it’s not typically a recipe for success. I would imagine a lot of that 45 came in the last eight minutes of the game.

"Simply put, I felt like down the stretch they were able to execute at a higher level than we were. They got the ball where they wanted it – they finished. We had a hard time getting the ball where we wanted it, and when we did, we didn’t finish. So, I think you have to give them a ton of credit."

In addition to the defense falling apart late in the second half, the free-throw shooting was far from ideal, with the Mountaineers connecting on just 63% of their attempts.

A look at Xavier

The Musketeers are 3-3 in the young season and have not played well, even against low majors. Xavier lost by 19 to Santa Clara and only beat Marist by four and Le Moyne by five. They have played much better in their past two outings, taking down Old Dominion by 30 and, of course, falling to Georgia by one.

They've shot the three-ball well, connecting on 35% of their attempts, and do a good job of sharing the ball, averaging over 16 assists per game, which has led to four players averaging double figures in scoring.

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