MORGANTOWN — Mike Carey will be in an unusual position inside the Coliseum on Tuesday:
The visitor’s bench.
Now an assistant coach with UCF (10-8, 1-7 Big 12), which visits No. 23 WVU at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Carey spent 21 years as the Mountaineers’ head coach before stepping down after the 2021-22 season.
He will be recognized prior to tip-off for his contributions to the program, which included 11 trips to the NCAA tournament and a Big 12 tournament championship in 2017.
WVU (17-2, 6-2) traveled to UCF earlier this season and came away with a 76-59 victory.
“I had never met coach Carey, but I did talk to him before that game and shook his hand,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “I thanked him for what he did here. He was here for a while. To be here 20-plus years, as a basketball coach that’s a long time. You talk about longevity like that, it means he did something really special here.
“When you come back for the first time, I can only imagine the emotion he’ll feel. I think we owe it to him for that. His imprint here will last a lifetime.”
The Mountaineers have won four in a row and are in third place in the Big 12 standings, while the Knights are coming of their first-ever Big 12 victory, but lost seven straight before that.
The Knights feature two players who are averaging double-digit scoring this season in Kaitlyn Peterson (21.5) and Mya Burns (10.2). The pair each average 4.4 rebounds per game while Peterson’s points per game lead all players in the Big 12.
WVU is coming off an 84-78 victory against Iowa State, in which guard J.J. Quinerly scored a career-high 31 points. It was the second time Quinerly reached the 30-point mark this season.
Quinerly (19.2), sophomore guard Jordan Harrison (14.2) and fifth-year guard Lauren Fields (10.5) pace WVU’s offensive effort. Quinerly is the fourth-leading scorer in the conference.
The Mountaineers have the top four steal leaders in the Big 12 with Quinerly (3.4), Harrison (2.7), Fields (2.4) and junior Kyah Watson (2.2). Harrison has racked up 108 assists this season and is averaging 5.7 per contest which is the second-best in the Big 12.
West Virginia averages 14.9 steals per game and is forcing 24.9 turnovers per game, the second-most in the nation.
