WVU Basketball Ends Non-Conference Play Against Mercyhurst

Mercyhurst hasn’t been a division-I team for very long, and Sunday’s game against WVU basketball will be the Lakers’ toughest test yet.

Mercyhurst (6-8), is making the transition up from division-II this season, moving from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference to the Northeast Conference. The Lakers’ schedule so far has been a mix of division-I and division-III teams. Sunday’s contest at WVU will be the team’s second game against a major conference opponent. The game will tip off at 2 p.m. inside the WVU Coliseum and be broadcast on ESPN+.

For West Virginia (8-2), Sunday is the Mountaineers’ final non-conference game before the start of Big 12 play at the end of the month. A win against Mercyhurst would match West Virginia’s win total from last season.

Senior forward Jeff Planutis leads the Lakers in scoring, averaging 15 points per game. Aidan Reichert leads the team in rebounds, averaging 4.9 per game with 11.4 points.

“Offensively they run really good stuff,” WVU coach Darian DeVries said. “They get you moving with a lot of flares and have multi-dimensional guys that can all play pretty positionless.”

Half of Mercyhurst’s wins have come against division-III teams. Its only game against a major-conference opponent was an 81-55 loss at California last month. The Lakers have lost four of their last five games, only beating division-III Penn State Altoona in that span.

Opponents have shot well against the Lakers, shooting 46.9% from the floor and 38.3% from range.

“Primarily (they play) man-to-man and they’ll switch almost everything on ball screens,” DeVries said of their defense.

WVU basketball is still navigating the loss of star senior Tucker DeVries, who has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury. On Friday, Coach DeVries said freshman Jonathan Powell will stay in the starting lineup.

Sunday is WVU’s last tune-up before conference play begins on Dec. 31. The Mountaineers don’t get to ease into conference play either, traveling to Allen Fieldhouse to challenge No. 8 Kansas at 2 p.m.

For a related story, WVU basketball wants to make the most of its break before Big 12 play.