Big 12

WVU Basketball to Face Pair of Former Mountaineers Against Cincinnati

Published

1 week ago

January 6, 2026

Kelsie LeRose / WVSN

The WVU basketball team will see two familiar faces on Tuesday night when they host the Cincinnati Bearcats in junior guard Sencire Harris and graduate student guard Kerr Kriisa.

Harris, of course, was on last year’s Mountaineer squad under former head coach Darian DeVries, finishing 19-13. Kriisa was also with WVU for just one season during the 2023-24 season when the Mountaineers went 9-23.

Now, the two former Mountaineers are members of a Cincinnati team that sits at 8-6 and 0-1 in the Big 12. UC is currently No. 95 in the NET rankings, six spots behind WVU and No. 65 in KenPom, four spots ahead of West Virginia.

Harris has played in all 14 games for the Bearcats and started two, averaging 18 minutes per game. He has shown his defensive prowess this season, leading the team with 15 steals total.

Head coach Ross Hodge broke down Harris’ game in a press conference Monday, describing how Cincinnati may utilize him on defense.

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“Sencire’s a great defender as we know, and he’s an all-Big 12 defender here last year and they’ve used him both, guard the ball and then at times they’ve chose to have him, two-guards or players that aren’t initiating the offense,” Hodge said. “So I could see him kind of going one or two ways. They could obviously put him on Honor [Huff] and say, ‘Hey, this is your job to stop him.’ Or, they could put him on the ball where he’s up there hocking your point guards and making it difficult to enter your offense.”

WVSN photo by Kelsie LeRose

WVU Basketball Sencire Harris

Harris also has tallied 6.9 points per game and 2.8 rebounds per game.

Kriisa has 7.3 points per game and is tied for a team-high 53 assists, 3.8 per game. He also has1.6 rebounds per game and is shooting 33.3% from three-point range. He scored a season-high 20 points against Tarleton State on Dec. 1.