Ross Hodge’s West Virginia Mountaineers will play two games this weekend as part of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic in South Carolina. They will be a part of a 4-team bracket that includes Clemson, Georgia, and Xavier, with opening games held on Friday evening and the 1st-place and 3rd-place games held on Sunday afternoon. Let’s preview all 4 teams as they get ready to do battle in Charleston, South Carolina.
When & Where to Watch
Friday’s action will tip off with West Virginia and Clemson at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the Georgia/Xavier matchup set to follow; both games can be found on ESPN2. Sunday’s championship game is set for 1 PM ET, with the 3rd-place game to follow, both of which will air on ESPN.
West Virginia Mountaineers
On and off the court, it would’ve been hard to envision a better start to the Ross Hodge era in Morgantown. West Virginia is off to a 5-0 start that includes a 22-point win at home last week against Pitt in the Backyard Brawl. In Charleston, the Mountaineers will have impact transfer Chance Moore eligible for the first time after sitting out the first 5 games of the season. The 6’6 senior averaged 13 points per game at St. Bonaventure last season. Off the court, just a few days ago, West Virginia picked up a commitment from standout point guard Miles Sadler. Sadler is the highest-rated recruit in program history to commit to the Mountaineers. He chose WVU over Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, UCLA, and USC.
While the two games this weekend will be West Virginia’s first away from the Hope Coliseum in Morgantown, this appears to be a confident group with hopes to show continual improvement, even against stiffer competition.
Clemson Tigers
The Clemson Tigers roster features several transfer portal pickups and freshmen under head coach Brad Brownell. The two on-court leaders of last year’s team, Chase Hunter and Ian Schieffelin, ran out of eligibility after helping Clemson reach consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including an Elite 8 run in 2024. We'll take a closer look at Clemson as WVU's opening-round opponent in a separate article, but here's a quick beginner's guide.
Clemson is off to a 4-1 start this season, with their lone loss coming on the road against Georgetown in a 79-74 game that the Tigers led at halftime. So far this season, the Tigers have displayed a rather impressive, balanced scoring attack offensively. Remarkably, they have 8 players averaging between 11.4 and 6.6 points per game. You would be hard-pressed to find a more well-rounded offensive attack this season than that of the Clemson Tigers thus far. Defensively, they are allowing just 58.6 points per game, while the Mountaineers rank 4th nationally, allowing just 54.8 points per contest.
Georgia Bulldogs
West Virginia is not the only team in the Palmetto Bracket with an unblemished record thus far. Georgia is off to a 5-0 start after making the NCAA Tournament in a loaded SEC last season. The Bulldogs lost their two leading scorers from last season, with Asa Newell seeing rotation minutes with the Atlanta Hawks and Silas Demary Jr. transferring to UConn. Georgia’s biggest impact transfer this season has been the team’s leading scorer, Jeremiah Wilkinson, a sophomore guard who transferred from California.
Similar to Clemson, but with more offensive firepower, the Bulldogs have several different players who can score in a variety of ways. Georgia is averaging over 99 points per game, which is 7th nationally. This is a deep team who plays lots of different players. No one on the team averages more than 22.8 minutes per game, and they have 11 players who see 12+ minutes per game. The 6’11 sophomore big man from Nigeria, Somtochukwu Cyril, has taken his game to another level in the early part of this season. He is averaging over 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game.
Xavier Musketeers
Squaring off with Georgia on Friday night will be Xavier, led by new head coach Richard Pitino after Sean Miller departed for the head coaching job with the Texas Longhorns. Xavier is off to a 3-2 start under Pitino with a pair of 19-point losses to Iowa and Santa Clara. Xavier was picked to finish 8th out of 11 Big East teams in the preseason poll.
As expected with the hiring of a new head coach in the era of the transfer portal, nearly the entire Musketeers roster is made up of transfers. Xavier has 3 players scoring in double figures this season: Tre Carroll (FAU), Roddie Anderson III (Boise State), and Jovan Milicevic (New Mexico). Through 5 games, the Musketeers are shooting just 39.5% from the field, which is last among Big East teams.