MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia is off to the start it desired having won each of its first two games.
Now the Mountaineers, fresh off Friday’s 68-53 victory at Pitt, face their first quick turnaround at 7 p.m. Monday against Northern Colorado at the WVU Coliseum.
West Virginia finished 5-11 last season in games played with two or fewer days between them.
“Last year, a lot of times we turned around into a quick game and didn’t play the same,” sophomore forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. said. “Regardless of who we play, we have to play the same way. If they’re not in our jerseys, we have to go 100 percent to beat them.
“A quick turnaround is good, because when tournament play comes you can have back-to-back-to-backs.”
Monday’s matchup, which is part of the Cancun Challenge, is the first meeting between the Mountaineers and Bears (2-2).
West Virginia welcomes Boston University on Friday, before departing for Riviera Maya, Mexico, where it will face Northern Iowa and an opponent to be determined Nov. 26-27.
Coming off a 15-point road win against the Panthers, the Mountaineers play their first of three non-conference games with two or fewer days of preparation.
“These quick turnaround games are going to be big, especially going into conference play,” Matthews said. “Knowing how to take care of your body, making sure you’re getting the right fluids and eating vegetables. Maintaining a healthy mind to be able to go out there and play right physically.”
That will be particularly important for freshman phenom Oscar Tshiebwe, who posted his first double-double at West Virginia in the win at Pitt. Tshiebwe actually had done that by halftime with 12 points and 12 rebounds en route to a dominant, 20-point, 17-rebound effort.
“Make sure you’re treating your body like the machine that it is, especially (Tshiebwe) getting (nearly) 20 and 20 and working his tail off,” sophomore point guard Jordan McCabe said. “He has to recover and learn what it’s like.
“We’re not playing high school basketball. You don’t get the whole week to rest and think about the next opponent.”
In Friday’s win, West Virginia held Pitt to three second-half field goals as the Mountaineers turned a one-point halftime lead into a runaway rivalry win. Matthews scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half, while Sean McNeil added 11 and made three three-pointers in a reserve role.
“Our team is deep,” Matthews said. “We have guys that have responded and when they come in the game, they’re ready to play intense and pick it up for however long they’re in for. Depth is going to be big for us.”
Matthews leads four West Virginia players averaging double-figure scoring with 15 points. Tshiebwe (12.5) and fellow starters Derek Culver (10) and Jermaine Haley (10) aren’t far behind.
Tshiebwe is also the team’s top rebounder with 22 boards through two games and has four of the team’s 10 blocks.
After being slowed by foul trouble that limited Tshiebwe to 12 minutes in the season-opening win over Akron, the prized recruit had a discussion with his head coach in advance of the Pitt game.
“The conversation we had was about good players do what they’re good at doing,” Bob Huggins said. “If you can really run, and Oscar can really run, then run. Don’t trot.
“(Against Pitt) he got our other guys open shots cause he ran and collapsed the defense. (Against Akron) not in a selfish way, he was looking to score instead of doing what he does. He rebounds the ball as well as probably anybody in college basketball.”
Northern Colorado will have the quicker turnaround having suffered a 77-72 overtime loss at Northern Iowa on Saturday.
The Bears, who finished 21-11 a year ago, were led by Jonah Radebaugh’s 24 points.
Bodie Hume added 17 in the loss, and the 6-foot-6 sophomore guard leads the team with an average of 17.5 points.
Northern Colorado has already played a team from the Big 12 Conference having opened its season with a 69-45 loss at Texas.
“I really don’t know what to expect from our guys,” Huggins said. “We need to play some games.”