The West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball squad will be filled with fresh faces this season as they debut a new head coach in Ross Hodge, who leads a roster that returns just one player – Abraham Oyeadier, who redshirted and saw no action last year. There will likely be a number of challenges ahead for the rebuilt WVU basketball program, and on Tuesday, the Mountaineers learned exactly one of those challenges will be.
Hodge already knew he'd be leading WVU into action during the holidays at the 2025 Charleston Classic, and Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports and College Hoops Today broke the news on Tuesday that the first-round opponent for the Mountaineers has been determined. WVU will face off against an ACC opponent, as they've been matched up with the Clemson Tigers for the opening round of the tournament. On the other side of the bracket, Georgia is set to meet Xavier in first-round action.
NEWS: Georgia will play Xavier and Clemson will face West Virginia in the first round of the 2025 Charleston Classic, according to multiple sources.https://t.co/K3I9pyrG02
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 12, 2025
The Mountaineers and the Tigers have played six times since 1952, with WVU holding a 5-1 advantage in the series. The two teams most recently met in the same tournament they'll play in this upcoming season, when the Mountaineers downed Clemson 66-59 in the 2021 Charleston Classic third-place game. Clemson finished 27-7 during the 2024-2025 season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Holiday tournaments against competitive out-of-conference opponents can be a proving ground for a first-year coach like Hodge – WVU fans need look no farther than last year, where the Mountaineers pulled off a pair of Top 25 upsets at The Battle 4 Atlantis under Darian DeVries, who was also in his first season with the program.