After struggling to find its footing for a large stretch of the season, the University of Charleston men's basketball team has started putting together a string of good games as the Golden Eagles head into the final month of the regular season.
Winner of two straight and coming off a performance in which it held Urbana to the fewest points it has allowed against a Mountain East Conference team this season, UC (12-9, 6-9 MEC) will look to keep that rolling this weekend as it caps a four-game home stand against Notre Dame College (15-6, 9-6) at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Wehrle Athletic Arena.
"They're a very good team, and they're huge. They don't have a lot of depth and won't play very many guys," UC coach Dwaine Osborne said of the Falcons. "And they might have the best player in our league with several very good complementary players there."
In the first meeting between the two schools this season, Charleston fell to the Falcons 75-70. The Golden Eagles hope their home-court advantage will be kind again and help them overcome a Notre Dame team that is among the best in the conference with how physical and tough it is inside.
The Falcons are second in the conference in rebounding, have two players averaging at least 10 rebounds per game and are first in the MEC in blocked shots.
"We had a war up there the first time," Osborne said of UC's 75-70 loss Dec. 3 at South Euclid, Ohio. "Hopefully we'll shoot it better and play a little better this time. We know we're going to have to be aggressive and rebound the ball, which is difficult against a big team like that."
Notre Dame also has the league's top two scorers. Six-foot-8, 240-pound junior Will Vorhees averages 27 points and 11 rebounds while junior guard Kyauta Taylor averages 21.9.
Vorhees has scored at least 25 points 12 times this season, including two 40-point outbursts.
"It's tough, I don't think many people have had an answer to how to contain him," Osborne said. "Justin [Coleman] did a really good job against him the first time we played, I thought, and he still got 22.
"You can't give him easy buckets or let him get in a rhythm. You have to try to keep him in a state of discomfort."
n While Charleston tries to stay hot at home, West Virginia State looks for a cure to its road woes as the Yellow Jackets visit Urbana at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Earlier this season, WVSU (6-15, 3-12 MEC) beat a short-handed Blue Knights squad by 11 in Institute and will look to sweep the season series. Urbana (9-12, 4-11) may be without players again due to injuries.
"They've had some of their bigs get hurt recently and we don't know if they're going to play or not," West Virginia State coach Bryan Poore said. "We're going into this one with the mindset that we may have to make some adjustments on the fly once we see who all they have back and how they're going to be playing."
The Yellow Jackets are just 1-10 on the road this season, with the lone victory coming against UVa-Wise on Nov. 21. Dating back to last season, West Virginia State is just 2-22 in road games.
"To win on the road, you have to have a tough mindset. You have to be able to make the tough plays," Poore said. "Those are the kind of things you need because you're typically not going to out-shoot teams on the road. We've been lacking in those kind of plays where you make the tough stop late or get some extra possessions.
"Those are the kind of things that come when you have that toughness and we've missed that over the last couple of years. That's how you win on the road."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.