WVU Entertains Marquette
January 05, 2008 03:54 PM | General
January 5, 2008
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University men’s basketball team is looking to snap a two-game losing streak when No. 11 Marquette invades the WVU Coliseum Sunday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles have lost just once this year to Duke on Nov. 21, and have ripped off seven straight wins since then including a 96-67 victory over Providence on Jan. 3 to open Big East play.
In that Providence game Marquette got 21 points from junior guard Dominic James, 17 points from forward Lazar Hayward and 16 from guard Wesley Matthews.
After leading by nine at halftime, Marquette outscored Providence 55-35 in the second half in the 29-point victory.
James is one of four double-figure scorers for the Golden Eagles averaging 15.3 points per game. McNeal and Hayward are averaging a little more than 13 points per game, while Matthews is averaging 10.4 points per contest.
Marquette also owns quality victories over Wisconsin and Oklahoma State earlier this season.
West Virginia, meanwhile, is in the middle of a tough stretch of games that includes upcoming contests against Louisville and Syracuse. Previously, West Virginia dropped a tough 88-82 double-overtime decision to Oklahoma in Charleston on Dec. 29 and lost 69-56 at Notre Dame last Thursday night.
The Mountaineers (10-3) had their worst shooting performance of the season against the Fighting Irish, making only 31.9 percent of their field goal attempts including a frigid 5 of 25 from 3-point distance.
Alex Ruoff was the only West Virginia player to reach double figures against Notre Dame, scoring 18 points on 6 of 17 shooting.
Joe Alexander was held to 9 points on 3 of 7 shooting.
Ruoff leads the team in scoring averaging 16.2 points per game. Alexander’s average has dipped to 15.4, while forward Da’Sean Butler is averaging 12.6 points and guard Darris Nichols is averaging 10.8 points per game.
This is the sixth time West Virginia and Marquette have met on the basketball court with the Golden Eagles holding a 3-2 advantage in the series.
Tip off is set for 2 p.m. ESPN Plus will televise the game locally. Check your local listings.
Briefly:
The Mountaineers now have just one player (7-foot center Jamie Smalligan) standing taller than 6-9 on its roster.
