Getty Bob Huggins and the West Virginia Mountaineers will take on the Florida Gators in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Two disappointing men’s college basketball squads will look to improve their standing when the Florida Gators take on the West Virginia Mountaineers on Tuesday in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
The game is scheduled to start at about 9:30 p.m. ET (depending on when Notre Dame vs Oklahoma finishes) and will be broadcast on ESPN. If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can still watch a live stream of the game (or DVR it) on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including all the ESPN channels. You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch live, “Hulu with Live TV” also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
ESPN is included in the “Sling Orange” bundle. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app.
If you can’t watch live, you can get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage as an additional add-on.
ESPN Platforms
Additionally, you can also watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. You’ll need to log in to a cable provider to watch this way, but if you don’t have that, you can still sign up for one of the above options and then use your Hulu or Sling TV credentials to sign in and watch on the ESPN digital platforms.
Preview
After a 3-3 start that featured losses to the No. 17 Florida State Seminoles, the Oklahoma Sooners, and the Butler Bulldogs, the Gators walloped the North Florida Ospreys at home on November 27.
True freshman Noah Locke, the No. 80 recruit in the nation according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, led the team with 18 points.
But head coach Mike White told the Miami Herald that Locke’s defense had a lot to do with his cracking the starting rotation.
“Noah is a guy who has been defending at a high level, plays with a lot of intensity and his teams win a lot in practice,” White said. “He’s a really competitive guy, and I wanted my five most competitive guys on the court.”
When the team was 2-2, White inserted the guard into the starting lineup in place of the struggling Jalen Hudson, who led the team in scoring a year ago with 15.5 points per game.
“We knew he was really competitive. We did,” White told the Herald. “And that’s something we need to do a better job of targeting in recruiting, starting with me … I’m a little bit pleased with his foot speed and his length, which allows him as well to be a good defender. And who knows, as you’re playing the SEC schedule night in and night out, he might have his tough times defensively, but from a competitive standpoint and a trying to do what we ask him standpoint, he’s doing it at a pretty high level right now.”
The Mountaineers opened the season ranked No. 13 before quickly falling out of the top 25. They dropped two of their first three games, falling to the Buffalo Bulls and Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The team has since won four straight, albeit against lesser foes.
“I think it was team chemistry,” redshirt freshman guard Brandon Knapper told The Daily Athenaeum of the squad’s early-season struggles. “We really didn’t play with each other a lot, guys was injured, guys didn’t get to play in summer.”
Most recently, West Virginia demolished the Youngstown State Penguins 102-76.
Head coach Bob Huggins told the school newspaper that improved ball movement has been crucial to the Mountaineers’ current winning streak.
“Our ball movement and our movement, in general, is all better,” Huggins said. “We were taking hard shots, and we don’t need to take hard shots. We’ve got enough guys who can make shots that we can spread people and get [a] step in shots.”
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