Georgetown Preview
January 25, 2008 04:11 PM | General
January 25, 2008
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – ESPN, two Final Four coaches, Naismith player of the year candidate Roy Hibbert, and a spot at the top of the Big East Conference standings are the necessary ingredients for a sold-out WVU Coliseum when West Virginia plays host to No. 9 Georgetown Saturday night in Morgantown.
 |
||
| Darris Nichols has had four straight double-figure scoring games and is averaging 11 points per game.
AP photo |
Georgetown brings a 15-2 overall record into the Coliseum, coming off a tight 64-62 victory over Syracuse in overtime on Monday night. The Hoyas sit at the top of the Big East standings with a 5-1 league record, Georgetown’s lone loss coming at Pittsburgh on Jan. 14.
Georgetown is ranked No. 1 in the country in field goal percentage defense (36.5 percent) and No. 8 in scoring defense allowing just 61.8 points per game.
Something has got to give because West Virginia is shooting 50.3 percent and averaging 86.4 points per game at home this year, having won 15 straight at the Coliseum dating back to last year and 39 of its last 42 at home since 2005.
The last time these two met at the Verizon Center last year Georgetown held West Virginia to just 38.5 percent from the floor in an easy 71-53 victory.
Roy Hibbert scored 20 points, hitting 12 of 13 from the free throw line. The 7-foot-2-inch senior center also had a strong performance at West Virginia in 2006, scoring 16 points in the Hoyas’ 68-61 loss to the Mountaineers.
Hibbert is averaging a team-best 13.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 59 percent from the floor. In his last five games he is averaging 17 points, 8.2 rebounds and is shooting 56.9 percent.
“I think first and foremost he fortifies the basket for them,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “You just don’t get anything close and that forces you to rely on perimeter shooting. I think he has a tremendous impact on a game in a lot of ways that people don’t even imagine.”
Six-eight sophomore forward DaJuan Summers shows averages of 11 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and had his first career double-double (17 points and 11 rebounds) in Georgetown’s 84-65 win over Notre Dame last Saturday afternoon.
Guards Jonathan Wallace and Austin Freeman are also averaging double digits at 10.5 and 10.1 points per game respectively.
Six-three junior Jessie Sapp rounds out Georgetown’s three-guard lineup and averages 9.3 points per game while handing out a team-leading 63 assists.
“He makes perimeter shots and I think he’s as good as anyone in our league at straight-line driving people to the basket,” Huggins said. “I think they way they are able to spread defenses and his ability to get into the lane really add a lot to what they do.”
Hoya coach John Thompson III has impressive size coming off the bench in 6-foot-9-inch, 230-pound sophomore forward Vernon Macklin and 6-foot-8-inch, 240-pound senior forward Patrick Ewing, Jr. The pair has combined to average 10 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
“We’re so small and they’re so big,” Huggins said.
West Virginia, 15-4, 4-2, is coming off a shaky performance against Marshall in the Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic in Charleston on Wednesday night. The Mountaineers were in control for much of the game but poor free throw shooting allowed the Thundering Herd to get back in it. West Virginia finished 11 of 28 from the foul line and needed an eight-foot jumper from forward Da’Sean Butler with 5.6 seconds left to pull out a 66-64 victory.
“We somehow found a way to win,” Huggins said. “Da’Sean made a big play at the end of the game to win the game.”
Butler scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds against Marshall and is averaging 13.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
Six-six guard Alex Ruoff leads West Virginia in scoring with an average of 15.8 points per game. Ruoff is also the top 3-point shooter on the team making 63 in 138 attempts for a 45.7 percentage.
Freshman John Flowers has gotten the starting nod the last two games in place of injured forward Joe Alexander, who missed the USF win with a groin injury and came off the bench to play 25 minutes in the Marshall win. Flowers, just 3 of 16 from the floor in his last two games, could get the starting nod once again Saturday.
“We played Joe Alexander a little bit (against Marshall) and he’s not near what he was. He doesn’t have the same kind of explosion and he labored,” Huggins said.
Senior Darris Nichols is averaging 11 points and 3.9 rebounds per game and has scored double figures in each of his last four games.
Georgetown leads the series 24-20 including a 14-6 record since West Virginia joined the Big East in 1996. The Hoyas are just 7-13 in games played in Morgantown.
ESPN (Dave Pasch and Len Elmore) will televise the game nationally. Tip off is set for 7 pm. There are no tickets remaining.
