When Charleston welcomes WVU's basketball team to town Wednesday, it will be the 18th time since Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins has taken over the program.
"I remember playing there in college," said the coach on Tuesday. "I always enjoyed it then. We always had a heck of a crowd and everyone was enthusiastic. I remember playing Cincinnati. We stayed at the old Daniel Boone hotel. I roomed with 'Wonderful Warren' [Baker]."
WVU lost that game to Cincy 66-56, but the Capital City has been very good to Huggins' Mountaineer teams. West Virginia is 15-2 in the Civic Center since the coach took over. Yet he remembers one of the losses in particular.
"The [2007] Oklahoma game," he said. "They had Blake Griffin. That was a heck of a game. We let it slip away, but it was a heck of a game."
WVU had Da'Sean Butler, Joe Alexander and Alex Ruoff that year and took Jeff Capel's OU team to double overtime before falling.
Anyway, WVU and Charleston officials are hoping for a nice crowd for this Western Carolina game, which starts at 7 p.m. Huggins has been disappointed at recent attendance figures in Charleston, and the long-running Marshall series has already been pulled.
"We've sold more than 6,000 tickets so far," said WVU associate athletic director Matt Wells around noon on Tuesday. "Sales are always strong, though, the day before and the day of the game. We anticipate that to be the case for this game as well."
It should also help that a) West Virginia is ranked No. 15, and b) the Mountaineers are coming off a shocking victory at then-No. 6 Virginia this past Saturday. It was WVU's first non-conference road win over an Associated Press top-10 opponent since Dec. 20, 1957, when the Mountaineers won at No. 5 Kentucky.
(Oddly, WVU is still ranked a slot below Virginia in the most recent AP rankings. ("It's kind of our fault," Huggins said of that. "We laid an egg in New York. But Temple has been winning. It's 6-2 now.")
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Among those expected to receive a nice hand from Wednesday's crowd is Mountaineer walk-on and Charleston native James Long, now a senior.
Long's father, Scott, is a founder of Hendrickson & Long law firm on Capitol Street. The son attended ninth grade at George Washington High in Charleston before moving to Woodberry Forest School in Virginia and Wofford University his first year of college. He then transferred to WVU.
"James has been great," Huggins said. "He's a great example of what dedication and hard work can do for you. Him and Jevon Carter are in the gym practicing more than anyone. James encourages others to get in there too. He's been a terrific addition to the program."
Long has played in five games this season and has hit 4 of 7 3-point attempts (57.1 percent) and 5 of 10 field goals overall.
"It's neat for those kids," Huggins said of Charleston natives. "It was neat for Cam Payne. It'll be great for [former South Charleston player] Brandon [Knapper]."
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And finally ...
If you're wondering about WVU's opponent, Western Carolina, well, the Catamounts have been struggling of late.
You might remember WCU coach Larry Hunter from his time at Ohio University. He's had much success over the years and carries a record of 683-416 into this game.
Last year, though, the Catamounts went 16-18. This year they are 3-5, and much of that is ugly: losses of 92-43 to Miami, 98-53 to Marshall, 66-38 to Ohio State and, last Wednesday, 90-44 to Marquette. They also lost to North Carolina Central. Ouch.
One has to cut the team a bit of slack though. It hasn't played a home game since that N.C. Central matchup back on Nov. 16.
The Catamounts have traveled to Huntington; Columbus, Ohio; Jackson, Mississippi; Milwaukee; Boone, North Carolina; and now Charleston.
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.