West Virginia men's basketball is coming off a massive road win in Salt Lake City, and there's plenty to talk about regarding the Mountaineers at the moment. Let's take a closer look at a couple stories regarding WVU's huge victory and their ongoing pursuit of an NCAA Tournament bid.
West Virginia Stands Strong In Latest CBS Bracketology
Jerry Palm, a college hoops expert at CBS Sports that handles the outlet's Bracketology, updated his predictions for the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday morning
The Mountaineers are listed still as "on the bubble" but find themselves in the bracket and have not drifted into Last Four Teams In status.
Palm has the Mountaineers as a No. 10-seed seed in the East region, squaring off against long-time rival and No. 7-seed Maryland. The two programs met in the 2023 NCAA Tournament as eighth and ninth seeds, with Maryland escaping with a win in Bob Huggins' last game coaching WVU.
WVU should be in good shape compared to their competition on the bubble -- the Mountaineers are tied with Baylor and Ohio State for most Quad 1 victories with six, and are tied with Cincinnati for most combined Quad 1 and Quad 2 victories with 10.
Eduardo Andre Earns Legendary Status With Incredibly Gutsy Performance
One notable standout during WVU's win on Tuesday night against Utah was senior center Eduardo Andre.
You couldn't tell from just looking at the box score -- he managed just four points, three rebounds, and two assists on the night. But it was what he went through to accomplish that stat line and his presence late in the game despite it that made his performance significant.
Andre took a strong elbow to the face late in the first-half of play, and he crumpled to the court in Salt Lake City and stayed down for a considerable amount of time. The scene of WVU Head Coach Darian DeVries hovering over his injured center was reminiscent of the iconic Mountaineer moment shared between Bob Huggins and an injured DeSean Butler in 2010.
Andre held a towel to his nose once he finally arose from the floor and left the court -- he didn't appear concussed, but he likely was in considerable pain. The white rag on his face noticeably soaked through with his red blood rather quickly as he removed himself from play. A diagnosis has yet to be released, but one would assume a broken nose and possibly even some other bones in the facial area.
However, Andre didn't stay out of the rotation with his newly mangled face, as many other players might do. He decided to have the medical personnel and athletic trainers on site patch up his nose and dry up the bleeding as much as possible, and he was a constant figure in the team's lineup through the end of the game.
[Eduardo] was playing with four cotton pins in his nose, he will probably need a quart of blood tonight," DeVries told Mountaineer Sports Network after the game.
In fact, Andre played his best ball in the second half of action, with most of it coming in the late crucial stretch in the final five minutes of action where the Mountaineers clawed out the crucial victory.
All four of his points, 2-of-his-3 rebounds, and 1-of-his-2 assists came in the final 17 minutes of play. And aside from an early second-half jump shot, all of those stats were earned in the final four minutes.
Andre also play a significant role in a crucial sequence for the Mountaineers in the final minutes -- he pulled down a defensive board and slid an assist to guard Javon Small on a converted three-point bucket that earned WVU the eventual game-winning lead.
The next defensive trip resulted in a missed shot which Andre also pulled off the glass, and on the other end of the floor he would slam home a massive dunk off a dish from Javon Small that extended the team's lead to five points and forced a Utah timeout.