With two starters out of action for West Virginia men's basketball on Tuesday as the Mountaineers hit the road to play No. 7 Kansas to open Big 12 play -- including the team's starting center Amani Hansberry -- backup center Eduardo Andre has stepped up in a breakout performance to help put WVU in a spot to pull off a potential upset.
8 points, 4 boards & an assist for E early 🔥 @EastLDNAndre
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) December 31, 2024
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Andre filled in the lineup as the starting center and immediately made a splash, scoring the first points of the game and knocking down the first 4-of-6 buckets from the field for WVU to allow the Mountaineers to jump out an early lead they have yet to look back from. WVU holds a big 33-20 lead while Andre leads all scorers with 12 points -- he also is tied for the lead in rebounds for WVU with five boards in the first 20 minutes and has blocked a pair of Kansas shot attempts.
The game comes the week after Andre had his best scoring performance of the season so far, relieving Hansberry from injury against Mercyhurst and scoring 14 points total -- it was his first double-digit performance scoring-wise this season. Andre will need to continue his strong performance to help WVU pull off their second Top 10 upset of the year.