Seton Hall Preview
February 16, 2008 06:23 PM | General
February 16, 2008
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia looks to win its second straight game when it concludes a two-game homestand against the Seton Hall Pirates Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum. Tip off is set for 2 p.m.
Seton Hall (15-10, 5-7) won five straight Big East games to close the month of January but hasn’t scored a victory since an 84-71 overtime decision Jan. 30 at Rutgers. The Pirates come to Morgantown losers of four straight league games with the last loss coming Tuesday night in an 89-64 defeat at home to Marquette.
Head Coach Bobby Gonzales employs a four-guard system with a lone big man in the middle. The Hall places four players in double figures with senior guard Brian Laing leading the way with 19 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds per outing.
Fellow guards Eugene Harvey, Jeremy Hazell and Jamar Nutter average 14.8, 12.4 and 10.5 points per game respectively. Harvey has dished out a team-high 117 assists this year and Hazell leads the team in 3s made with 53. Nutter has made 50 3s while shooting them at just over a 40 percent clip.
A pair of 6-11 big men in junior Augustine Okosun and freshman Mike Davis has taken turns manning the middle.
While the Pirates are more than capable hitting their share of 3-point shots, dribble penetration, slashing to the basket, and occasionally kicking out to open shooters is the hallmark of this Seton Hall team.
“I think they are very talented. I think Brian Laing is very, very good and Harvey is probably as fast with the ball at getting baskets in transition as anybody in the league,” West Virginia Head Coach Bob Huggins said.
“They (Laing and Harvey) are pretty good and they surround them with other guys that can make shots,” Huggins said. “They all have good ball skills and they can all beat you off the bounce. They all spread you because they have guys that can make shots.”
West Virginia (17-7, 6-5) is coming off a critical 81-63 win last Thursday night against Rutgers. The victory got the Mountaineers over the .500 mark in league play and kept alive the team’s NCAA Tournament hopes.
WVU boasts four players in double figures led by Joe Alexander with 14.3 points to go with 5.9 rebounds per game. Alex Ruoff is next averaging 14.1 points per outing. The junior guard has made 69 3s while shooting 43 percent from that distance. Forward Da’Sean Butler and point guard Darris Nichols round out the Mountaineers in double- figures, averaging 12.4 and 12 points per game respectively.
The Gold and Blue have one of the best scoring margins in the Big East, averaging 75.6 points per game while only allowing just 60.7. That figure will be tested by a Seton Hall team that is averaging slightly more than 78 points per game.
“Our defense can certainly get better but it has really kept us in games,” Huggins said. “We’ve had opportunities to win games because we’ve guarded people.”
West Virginia owns a 10-2 mark this season at the WVU Coliseum, while Seton Hall has struggled on the road, going just 3-6 away from the Prudential Center.
Sunday’s 23rd meeting between the two schools will give the victor a slim edge in what has been a very competitive series over the years. The series is currently tied at 11-11.
Last season, the Mountaineers swept the Pirates in two meetings. West Virginia has won the last three at the WVU Coliseum including an 81-71 victory on Feb. 17 of last year.
This game is critical for a Mountaineer team that is looking to defend its home court and remain in the Big East Conference race. Huggins disagrees with the many media pundits that believe WVU will eventually be defending its NIT title.
“I told them we have to win. I don’t know that we have to win all of them but we certainly have to win some ball games. Look at the league,” Huggins said. “If we can win tomorrow it puts us at 7-5. We’re right in the thick of things but we’ve got to take care of our business. We can’t control what other people do but we can control what we do.”
The game will be televised on ESPN Regional (John Sanders and Jack Armstrong); MSN’s pre-game coverage begins at 1:30 with The Mountaineers Today.
