MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Junior guard Beetle Bolden likely will miss the rest of the season with a high ankle sprain, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins revealed Monday.
“He’s probably done,” Huggins said. “We brought him back too soon the last time.”
Bolden has been sidelined for nine games this season with a variety of injuries that include knee, elbow and hand ailments. He has missed the past seven games after landing awkwardly on his ankle Jan. 26 at Tennessee.
Appearing in 18 games, Bolden was the Mountaineers’ top perimeter player, averaging 12.2 points and 2.5 assists. He has made 121 3-pointers over his first three seasons, with a career 3-point accuracy that stands just a fraction below 40 percent, though this season he fell off to personal-low of 34 percent.
Summer trip to Spain
Taking advantage of an NCAA rule that allows basketball teams to take an offseason foreign trip once every four years, Huggins said the Mountaineers will visit to Spain this summer.
“We’ll get to practice for two weeks” before traveling, Huggins said. “We’ll go to Spain for 10 days.”
Huggins said that prized recruit Oscar Tshiebewe should be enrolled and eligible to practice and play with the team on the trip.
Final details are still being prepared, but Bryan Messerly, WVU’s director of communications, said the team could play between three and five games while overseas. The trip is planned for Aug. 3-13.
For the first time, the Mountaineer Athletic Club is making it possible for fans to travel with the team. A $5,000 package covers round-trip airfare, transportation to and from the airport in Spain, tour activity tickets, bus rides, admission to games and nine nights of hotel accommodations.
West Virginia’s last offseason trip was to the Bahamas in 2015.
Graduation dates
Former West Virginia forward Wes Harris, who was dismissed from the team earlier this month for a violation of athletic department policy, has entered his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal.
Huggins said Harris, a junior who redshirted one season while at Lawson State Community College, is on pace to finish his degree this May and could be eligible at another Division I school next season as a graduate transfer.
With next year’s roster seemingly in flux, Huggins also said Bolden, Chase Harler and Lamont West are scheduled for May graduation, but did not say if any of them planned to move on.