Providence Preview
January 17, 2006 11:20 AM | General
January 17, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia puts its 10-game winning streak and unblemished Big East record on the line Tuesday night against Providence at the WVU Coliseum.
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| West Virginia senior Kevin Pittsnogle shoots in front of a sea of gold at the WVU Coliseum last Saturday against Marquette. WVU is looking to improve upon its best Big East start with a win against Providence Tuesday night.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The Friars (7-7, 0-3) come to Morgantown looking for their first conference victory, having dropped their first three games to Notre Dame and Georgetown on the road, and to Louisville at home.
“They’ve had a rough schedule,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “They had to go to Georgetown and Notre Dame and they had Louisville at home. If that was our situation we could be 0-3 as well.”
Eleventh-year Providence Coach Tim Welsh is reconstructing his program with a large group of freshmen, three of whom are expected to be in Tuesday night’s starting lineup against West Virginia.
Five-ten point guard Sharaud Curry is averaging 11.4 points and 3.5 assists per game. The Gainesville, Ga., resident has started 10 of 14 games and scored a season-high 25 points against Yale.
Six-seven forward Geoff McDermott is averaging 10.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, while 6-foot-5 guard Weyinmi Efejuku is averaging 9.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.
“The Providence freshmen are equally as good as the Marquette freshmen and we all saw what those Marquette freshmen can do,” Beilein said.
The Friars do have two familiar players in 6-4 guard Donnie McGrath and 6-11 shot-blocker Randall Hanke. McGrath has given West Virginia problems in the past scoring 14 in an 87-66 win in 2004. The senior is averaging 14.6 points per game and has taken 40 more shots than the next closest Providence player (Hanke) this year.
“You’ve got to keep track of him,” Beilein said. “Donnie McGrath could come in here and go 8 for 8 from 3. He’s had those type of games before. We’ve got to make sure that if he does that that he earns them all. He’s more than just a shooter. He gets a lot of assists and he’s a great team player.”
Beilein calls Hanke “one of the best shot blockers in the Big East.” The New York native is also averaging a team-best 14.9 points per game and is shooting an eye opening 70.9 percent from the floor. Hanke has reached double figures in each of his last four games and scored a season-high 34 points in a 92-70 win over Northeastern.
“They have tremendous talent that is getting better every single time out but it’s a young team,” Beilein said. “They’re just like these guys were all young once and when teams did not appreciate our talent when J.D. Collins, Joe Herber and Kevin Pittsnogle were young, they did not beat us.”
West Virginia (12-3, 4-0), meanwhile, is off to its best start in Big East play since joining the conference in 1996. The Mountaineers have opened conference play with consecutive wins over South Florida, Villanova, Georgetown and most recently, against Marquette last Saturday.
In the Marquette win, West Virginia scored a season-high 104 points and only committed five turnovers (none in the second half). Mike Gansey scored a career-high 33 points and Kevin Pittsnogle added 30, making them the first West Virginia duo to accomplish that in 39 years.
“Obviously if we shoot like we did the other night and have low turnovers we’re tougher to beat,” Beilein said. “But those aren’t givens and we have to earn that.”
West Virginia jumped six spots in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll from 23rd to 17th, and four spots in the AP poll from 16th to 12th this week.
“I don’t have an opinion on that right now,” said Beilein of his team’s ranking. “I would like to be in that situation in March.”
West Virginia is 8-7 against Providence since joining the Big East and has won its last three against the Friars. The last time Providence came to Morgantown last year, the Mountaineers withstood a last-second shot 3-point miss from Jeff Parmer to hold on to a 67-65 win. The Friars nearly overcame an eight-point deficit with three minutes remaining.
Tip off for Tuesday night’s game is set for 7 pm. The contest can been seen on ESPN Plus (John Sanders and Steve Lappas). Tickets are still available and can be purchased by contacting the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging onto the ticket office web site WVUGAME.com.
