Get ready for some reunions and reminders at Hope Coliseum tonight. West Virginia (9-5, 0-1 Big 12) plays host to Cincinnati (8-6, 0-1) in a 7 p.m. game on ESPN2. The Bearcats are likely to feature two former Mountaineersand create one of the Big 12’s best offense-defense matchups.
Former WVU starters Kerr Kriisa and Sencire Harris, the former two seasons ago for then-INTERIM coach Josh Eilert, the latter last season for one-and-done coach Darian DeVries, are at Cincinnati now. Kriisa has started 12 ofg 14 games and averages 7.3 points and 3.8 assists and shoots 33.3 percent from 3-point range. Suspended for the first nine games in his season at WVU, Kriisa averaged 11.0 points and 4.7 assists and shot 42.4 percent from 3-point range in his 23 games — all starts. He transferred to Kentucky and started once in nine games and was granted an extra year in the offseason.
Harris has two starts in 14 games but has played the most minutes outside of the ordinary starters. He’s averaging 6.9 points and 2.8 rebounds but has maintained his role as a defensive dynamo for a team that hounds opponents on the 3-point line and will have its eyes on WVU’s Honor Huff, who leads the NCAA in 3-point attempts and is fourth in made 3s.
“Obviously, Sencire is a great defender, as we all know,” Mountaineer coach Ross Hodge said. “He was an all-Big 12 defender here last year. They use him both to guard the ball and then, at times, they choose to have him guard 2-guards or players who aren’t initiating the offense. I could see him kind of going two ways. They could obviously put im on Honir and say, ‘Hey, this is your job to stop him,’ or they could put him on the ball where he’s up there hawking your point guards and making it difficult to enter your offense. They’ve really used him both ways.”
Harris averaged 5.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.7 steals for the Mountaineers and was one of eight WVU players who entered the transfer portal after last season. Abraham Oyeadier returned, but Harris, Amani Hansberry (Virginia Tech), Jonathan Powell (North Carolina), Jayden Stone (Missouri, Ofri Naveh (Oral Roberts), KJ Tenner (Murray State) and Tucker DeVries (Indiana) moved on.
UPDATE: Ross Hodge says forward Brenen Lorient is ‘questionable’ for tonight’s game
“I talked to a good majority of those guys,” Hodge said. “I did talk to Sencire. I talked to Hansberry. I talked to J.P. They were all incredibly complimentary of this place and really enjoyed their time here in Morgantown. The timelines and all that stuff, they ultimately made a decision they felt like was going to be in their best interest, but obviously, I had a lot of respect for what those guys did here last year.
“Again, they were all very complimentary of West Virginia, of Morgantown and of the fan base. They enjoyed their time here. It just didn’t quite work out in retaining any of them. But we did talk to those guys.”
Cincinnati’s enjoyed a boost from a familiar name, but one that hasn’t worn a WVU uniform. Guard Jizzle James, son of NFL Hall of Fame running back Edgerrin James, was dismissed from the team in August after “dealing with personal issues throughout the summer,” head coach Wes Miller said at the time. James, the team’s leading scorer last season, was reinstated after 10 games this season.
Cincinnati is 2-2 with him in the lineup. He’s started the past two games and averages 11.5 points and 3.5 assists and shoots 40 percent from 3-point range and 47 percent from the floor. Tonight’s game will be his sixth against the Mountaineers, the most he’s played against a single opponent. He’s scored two, eight, four, zero and 13 points in two wins and three losses.
“He gives them another dynamic playmaker who can get in the paint, who can make late-clock shots,” Hodge said. “He gives them some provided experience — Big 12 experience. He’s played in a lot of games and gives them another primary ball-handler and a playmaker who can make plays for others and/or make shots for himself.”