WVU to Face Big Ten Opponent in One of Its Three Preseason Games

Two more scrimmages are still being worked out.

WVU Athletics Communications

West Virginia head men's basketball coach Ross Hodge met with the media a few days ago to provide an update on how things are going with practice and workouts, while also dropping the announcement of an exhibition.

The Mountaineers will head to College Park on October 17th to take on Buzz Williams' Maryland Terrapins. The two played one another in a closed-door scrimmage last year and will meet again in front of the public this fall. Hodge noted that there are discussions about Maryland returning the favor next year.

“You’re looking for creative ways to generate some excitement surrounding the exhibition schedule and opportunities to get better," Hodge said. “You can do it any way you want to do it. You could do a closed-door scrimmage. You could do all exhibitions that are open to the public. You could do them all on the road. You could do them at home. You could do a neutral. You can play all Division I opponents. You could play a Division II opponent. You can do whatever you want, in that regard."

Beginning this season, teams are now allowed to play three preseason games of any kind. This is the first one that WVU has announced. You can expect at least one, if not both, of the other two games to take place inside Hope Coliseum, possibly against a Division II team within the state, which is something the Mountaineers have done over the years. Last year, they faced Wheeling, and two years ago, they hosted Charleston.

“I would think that the newness of our team and the opportunity to actually put on game uniforms and play in game environments- that’s what we would like to probably take advantage of with this team. I don’t know if we’ll do a closed-door (scrimmage).”

If this game against Maryland ends up being the first preseason game for the Mountaineers, then we are only 75 days away from getting our first look at this year's squad. The season opener is scheduled for Monday, November 2nd at 7 p.m. ET, when they will take on Niagara.

As for the Terps, they struggled mightily in year one under Buzz Williams, going just 12-21 overall and 4-16 in conference play. They brought in a top-15 recruiting class, however, led by consensus five-star wing Baba Oladotun, so this will be a good measuring stick for Ross Hodge and his staff.