MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — As part of a segment that will air on the WVU Coliseum scoreboard during games, Mike Carey played the part of the guinea pig for a student’s card tricks.
Getting the West Virginia women’s basketball team back into the national top 25 rankings, Carey hopes, isn’t so much a slight-of-hand trick.
The No. 25 Mountaineers (3-0) will host Coppin State at 10 a.m. Thursday inside the WVU Coliseum, marking their first game as a ranked team since Nov. 23, 2018.
“It’s good. Do I think we deserve to be in the top 25? Absolutely,” Carey said on Wednesday. “I think with the players we have returning and with the players we have here, we are a top 25 team. Now, do we stay in it? That’s up to us. We have to win. We have to continue to get better and you have to get a little bit lucky and not have any major injuries.”
With only sophomore center Jada Wright (knee) out of the lineup, the Mountaineers are basically back to full strength now that senior guard Tynice Martin has rejoined the rotation.
“Tynice is an All-American basketball player, but she also brings maturity and leadership,” Carey said. “She is someone who really cares about the program. We’re very excited to have her back. It’s going to take her a while to get back into the swing of stuff, but she’ll do it. She’s a great athlete and very smart and intelligent, so it won’t take her that long to get back into it.”
Martin scored six points on two 3-pointers during Sunday’s 74-37 victory against Radford, her first game of the season after being suspended during the preseason, because of a violation of team rules.
The early start is part of Education Day and WVU is welcoming nearly 9,000 kids from area elementary and middle schools to the game, which is free to the public.
“I’m sure our girls will be more awake than I am,” Carey said. “It will be a great atmosphere. With the grade-school kids that are here, I just hope they cheer when we score, because they’re just cheering all the time. It’s going to be a great atmosphere.”
Kysre Gondrezick continues to be WVU’s top offensive threat. The junior guard is averaging 22.0 points per game, which ranks 20th nationally.
“She’s proved that she can score on lay-ups, pull-ups and threes and that’s something we need,” Martin said of Gondrezick said. “It’s going to be dangerous having her on one wing and me on the other. I’m going to be excited to see how we play against other opponents.”
The rest of West Virginia’s story is based on the Mountaineers’ defense.
WVU is third in the country in points allowed at 40.7 per game, a number that will likely improve against the Eagles (0-4), who are averaging just 46.3 points per game offensively.
In its most recent game, Coppin State fell on the road to Marshall, 60-47.
“To this point, we haven’t played great teams, so you’re defensive numbers are going to be inflated,” Carey said. “We’re about to get into the thick of the good part of our non-conference schedule, so then we’ll see where our numbers are.”
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