Canisius Preview
December 21, 2007 04:16 PM | General
December 21, 2007
GAME NOTES
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| Bob Huggins |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia remains on the road to face Canisius Saturday afternoon at HSBC Arena in Buffalo. The No. 24-rated Mountaineers knocked off Radford, 90-60, Wednesday night in Radford, Va.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins has an opportunity to win his 600th career game. Only five active coaches – Bob Knight, Lute Olson, Mike Krzyewski, Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun – have more victories than Huggins.
Huggins can become just the 29th coach in NCAA history to record 600 victories on Saturday. Huggins says Saturday’s game against the Golden Griffins is just like any other game.
“I have never thought about it. It’s never crossed my mind,” Huggins said of reaching win number 600.
The veteran coach was upset with his team’s performance on Wednesday night at Radford, despite beating the Highlanders by 30 on the road. West Virginia made a Dedmon Center-record 18 3-point baskets for the game, but Huggins believed his team came out lethargic and were out-hustled by the Highlanders on the glass.
Radford had a 39-35 rebounding advantage.
“We’re 9-1 and it is Fool’s Gold,” Huggins said after the Radford game.
The game at Radford was scheduled as a homecoming for senior guard Darris Nichols, a Radford, Va., native. Nichols responded by scoring a career-high 23 points on 7 of 11 shooting. Nichols also had eight assists and two blocks.
“If there is an example of what to be like on our team it’s that guy. He brings it every day,” Huggins said.
Alex Ruoff also contributed 23 while forward Da’Sean Butler scored 14 points in just 18 minutes of action. Butler spent most of the first half on the bench with foul trouble.
West Virginia’s leading scorer Joe Alexander managed just four points on 1 of 9 shooting.
Canisius (1-9) is coming off a 91-73 loss at Robert Morris on Wednesday night. Guard frank Turner led the Golden Griffs with 17 points. Guard Jovan Robinson added 13.
Turner is the only Canisius player averaging double figures at 11.1 points per game. Canisius is averaging 60.5 points per game while giving up 74.1 points per game.
The Golden Griffins are not very big starting a pair of 6-7 forwards and have just two players sanding 6-8 or taller on its roster. Coach Tom Parrotta is in his second season at Canisius where he has a 13-28 record. He came to Canisius from Hofstra where he was the school’s top assistant coach.
Game time is 4 p.m. and the contest will be televised locally on Fox Sports Pittsburgh through ESPN Regional (John Sanders and Jack Armstrong). The game will also air on ESPN Full Court. MSN’s radio coverage begins with the pre-game show at 3:30 p.m.
Briefly:
Today’s game came about because of former WVU coach John Beilein’s long-time affiliation with Canisius as its former head coach.
