When the matchup was first announced on Nov. 3, 2022, the Massachusetts and West Virginia men’s basketball teams looked a lot different than they do now.

Six of UMass’ (5-2) top eight scorers from last season are no longer with the team. Seven of the Mountaineers’ (4-5) top eight scorers are gone as well, with the lone returnee being junior guard Seth Wilson, who averages 6.8 points per game.

Legendary coach Bob Huggins, West Virginia’s coach from 2007-2023, is also no longer with the program as he resigned following a DUI charge in June. In his place is long-time Mountaineers assistant Josh Eilert, who gets the interim head coach tag for the season.

Huggins and Minuteman head coach Frank Martin have been close friends for decades, with the latter coaching under Huggins at Cincinnati and Kansas State, where he took over for Huggins in 2007.

From top to bottom, both UMass and West Virginia’s basketball programs have been shaken up. But with over 400 days passing since its announcement, Saturday’s game at Springfield’s MassMutual Center remains between the two squads.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Martin said. “Would I have rather played them here in Mullins? Yes. But if [West Virginia says] to me ‘We’ll play in Springfield but [we] can’t come to Mullins,’ I’m not turning that opportunity down.”

Coming off one of the most turbulent offseasons you’ll find in college sports, the Mountaineers have been up and down to start the 2023-24 season.

With a pair of West Virginia guards initially getting their transfer waivers denied, the Mountaineers have had to play thus far without Montana State transfer RaeQuan Battle and Eastern Michigan transfer Noah Farrakhan.

Now, thanks to a court ruling on Wednesday, Battle and Farrakhan will be eligible to play on Saturday. The school announced they’ll both be “dressed and available” for the game.

“That’s been the interesting thing for the last 48 hours,” Martin said. “We’ve had to go from preparing for a certain team to then preparing for a different team and then last night, saying ‘Ok, we got to prepare again for the team without those guys in case they choose not to play.’”

Additionally, Mountaineer guard Kerr Kriisa will be eligible for the first time this season. The Arizona transfer was suspended for the season’s first nine games due to “accepting impermissible benefits during his time with the Wildcats,” according to ESPN. Kriisa was one of the biggest names in the transfer portal this offseason, with the senior guard making 70 starts for Arizona over three seasons of play.

Like the Minutemen, West Virginia is led by a frontcourt duo. Iona transfer Quinn Slazinski averages 17 points for the Mountaineers, while former Syracuse big man Jesse Edwards comes into Saturday averaging 16.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and nearly two blocks per game.

“Those two guys have been good,” Martin said. “And they’re both long and experienced and obviously, one played for [Jim] Boeheim, the other one played for [Rick] Pitino. So they’ve been coached and they know how to play.”

West Virginia heads into Springfield losers of four of its last six contests. The team’s biggest struggles this season have been on the offensive end, where they’ve failed to find go-to shot creators in crucial stretches of close games.

The Mountaineers have yet to score 75 points in a game thus far this season. With their three new guards combining to average 39.7 points per game at their respective schools last season, West Virginia will obtain a much-needed boost in its scoring abilities.

For UMass, the team will likely need its own frontcourt duo of Josh Cohen and Matt Cross to stick to Edwards and Slazinski. Cross has gotten himself into early foul trouble often over the Minutemen’s past few games; if that occurs again Saturday, the Mountaineers’ frontcourt may have an edge.

“I’m excited for our guys because we get to play a really good game at a great venue,” Martin said. “But I’m not worried about the eyeballs that we’re trying to impress right now. I’m worried about building our program.”

Saturday’s game tips off at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU. It’s the second game of a doubleheader, with Florida Atlantic and St. Bonaventure playing in the opener at 4:00 p.m.

Dean Wendel can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @DeanWende1.