ESPN's College Gameday to visit Morgantown for WVU-UK basketball game
ESPN'S College Gameday will be in Morgantown for the second time for the West Virginia-Kentucky basketball game Saturday. (WVU Athletics/Dale Sparks)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — ESPN'S College Gameday will be in Morgantown for the second time for the West Virginia-Kentucky basketball game Saturday.
The Kentucky Wildcats (15-5) will visit Morgantownfor just the third time on Saturday to take on the No. 7 Mountaineers (16-4) in the Big12/SEC Challenge.
The matchup will be the 21st all-time meeting between the two schools. The Wildcats lead the all-time series 15-5 and has won nine of the last 10 meetings. The Mountaineers’ lone win during that stretch was in the 2010 Elite Eight when WVU advanced to the final four with a 73-66 win over Kentucky in Syracuse.
The last time Kentucky visited Morgantown was in 1970, the WVU Coliseum’s first year of action. The No. 3 ranked Wildcats came away with a 106-100 win.
The Mountaineers are coming off an 82-73 loss to TCU that dropped them 5-3 in Big 12 play.
Since winning 15 straight games after losing the season opener, the Mountaineers have lost three of their last four games.
The Wildcats are coming off a 78-65 win over Missississippi State. The win snapped a two-game losing streak.
After a Jan. 20 loss to Florida, the Wildcats dropped out of the top-25 for the first time since March 2014.
The matchup will feature two of the most successful coaches in college basketball record.
WVU coach Bob Huggins has 835 collegiate wins under his belt and last season became just the 10th Divisions 1 coach to reach the 800 win milestone.
Since returning to his alma mater, Huggins has led the Mountaineers to 219 wins. In his 10 seasons in Morgantown, he has led WVU to eight NCAA Tournaments, four Sweet 16s, the 2010 Final Four, and won the 2010 Big East Championship.
Kentucky head coach John Calipari has already been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.In his 25-year coaching career, Calipari has led six teams, at three different schools, to the Final Four, led Kentucky to its eighth national championship in 2012, and has had 39 players selected in the NBA draft.
Saturday's meeting will be the 12th meeting between the two coaches. Huggins has an 8-3 all-time record against Calipari.
ESPN Gameday will begin at 11 a.m. at the WVU Coliseum and admission is free.
Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams will host College Gameday. Bilas will join Dan Shulman and Maria Taylor for the call of the game.
Tip-offis set for 7 p.m. on ESPN.