Knapper

SHEPHERDSTOWN — A late November tournament in the Bahamas is one of the highlights of West Virginia’s 2020-2021 non-conference basketball schedule. Dovetailing with that eight-team event will be the annual games against a Big East opponent and a Southeastern Conference rival. Additional red-letter games will see the Mountaineers face Purdue in Brooklyn, New York in mid-December, as well as having Pittsburgh come to Morgantown on November 13.

The next season will begin on Nov. 10, when Fairleigh Dickinson of the Northeastern Conference visits the Coliseum in Morgantown. After Pitt is played, the next game is Stony Brook (New York) on Nov. 17, followed by Bowling Green on Nov. 20.

The three-game (Nov. 25, 26 and 27) tournament in the Bahamas features teams from the Power 5 conferences, and some that qualified for the 2020 NCAA tournament, which was canceled because of the spreading coronavirus.

The December portion of the non-conference schedule begins on either Dec. 5 or 6 against a selected Big East opponent. Robert Morris (Pennsylvania) is at the Coliseum on Dec. 9, and then the Mountaineers will travel to Brooklyn for a neutral-site game against Purdue of the Big 10 conference.

Youngstown State is on WVU’s non-conference schedule for the third-straight season and visits the Coliseum on Dec. 22. Between Christmas and New Year’s Day is the Dec. 29 date at home against Miami (Ohio).

Cottrell

In late-January after the Big 12 schedule has begun, the Mountaineers will play a yet-to-be determined SEC opponent on Jan. 30. That might be another home game, or could become a road game when the opponent is named.

West Virginia has signed three recruits for the 2020-2021 season: Taj Thweatt, Isaiah Cottrell and point guard Kedrian Johnson.

The Mountaineers will see guard Brandon Knapper transfer and had three 2020 seniors in Jermaine Haley, Chase Harler and Logan Routt.

Last season ended even before the Big 12 conference tournament could be played. In its 31-game regular season, the Mountaineers were 21-10 overall and finished with a 9-9 Big 12 conference record. Kansas won the regular season portion of the conference schedule and Baylor, which was ranked first in the country for a time, finished second.

Thweatt