West Virginia may be headed back to Madison Square Garden next season.
That was the tease from Ross Hodge on Thursday night during his radio show, when the Mountaineers’ head coach said the staff will try to line up a game at the Garden in the near future.
“We’re going to try to get a game in the (Madison Square) Garden next year. Going to try," Hodge said.
When Tony Caridi asked whether the opponent would likely be an East Coast team, Hodge kept it simple: “Yeah, probably. Probably somebody that plays in the Garden.”
That points pretty clearly toward St. John’s, which plays most of its home games at Madison Square Garden.
West Virginia last met St. John’s three years ago, on December 1st, 2023, when the Red Storm came into Morgantown and won 79-73. That game came during Josh Eilert’s stint as interim head coach, and the Mountaineers were missing several key players, including Kerr Kriisa, RaeQuan Battle, Akok Akok, and Noah Farrakhan.
A trip to the Garden would fit into a long line of West Virginia games at the famous venue over the years. The Mountaineers have faced a steady run of Big East and national opponents there, including Georgetown, Villanova, St. John’s, Providence, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Louisville, Mississippi State, Clemson, Connecticut, Davidson, Marquette, Cincinnati, Virginia, and Florida.
This year’s non-conference schedule is already loaded, with matchups against North Carolina, Pitt, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Auburn, and a pair of opponents still to be revealed in the Players Eight Tournament in Las Vegas later this month.
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Ex-WVU QB Nicco Marchiol Gets Another Chance To Reopen Old What-Ifs
Nicco Marchiol is about to get another meaningful shot, and for West Virginia fans, that alone is enough to stir up some old memories. The former Mountaineer quarterback is set to start for Northwestern against No. 19 Iowa, giving him his first extensive action since last season and putting him back in the kind of spotlight he once occupied in Morgantown.
Marchiols WVU tenure included some of the programs most memorable moments in recent years, including two wins over Pitt, but his path never settled into a clean arc. Coaching changes and shifting offensive schemes helped shape a career that never quite found full traction, and his limited playing time this season at Northwestern has only added to the sense that his story has remained unfinished. Now he gets another chance to change the conversation, even if one familiar thread from his West Virginia days still hangs in the background. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Has A Chance To Silence Doubters Against Texas Tech
West Virginia heads into Week 10 with a chance to do more than just add another win. A victory over Texas Tech would not only give the Mountaineers a quality result in a big conference matchup, it could also push them back into the AP Top 25 conversation and give the program another chance to show it belongs in the national picture.
The challenge is obvious, though, because ESPNs Bill Connellys SP+ model leans toward the Red Raiders in this one. With Mike Hawkins Jr. and Texas Techs Thomas Castellanos among the players to watch, the matchup has the feel of a late-night test that could tell a lot about where West Virginia stands, and the 9:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN should make it a national showcase for a team trying to quiet plenty of outside skepticism. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginia Is Rolling But One Bigger Test Is Already Looming
West Virginia kept the momentum going at Hope Coliseum with a 91-53 win over Stetson, and the performance had the kind of balance that can travel well once the schedule stiffens. Freshman Miles Sadler led the way with 25 points on 11-for-16 shooting, while Joson Sanon added a sharp perimeter touch by knocking down 6 of 8 from beyond the arc. The Mountaineers also shot 42% from three-point range and tightened up defensively after halftime, holding Stetson to 25% shooting in the second half.
The bigger question now is how much of that can carry into a more demanding stretch, because this was the sort of game where West Virginia could settle in early and control the tone. The offense looked comfortable, the shots were falling, and the defense never let Stetson find much rhythm, but the next tests will tell more about how real this early roll is and whether the Mountaineers can keep the same edge when the margin for error shrinks. [Read more 🡒]