DePaul Preview
February 27, 2008 11:00 AM | General
February 27, 2008
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A first-ever trip to DePaul is just one of the storylines for West Virginia in tonight’s Big East game at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.
West Virginia (19-8, 8-6) is still in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid and a road victory against DePaul would help the Mountaineers’ resume. After tonight, West Virginia has regular season games remaining on the road at Connecticut and St. John’s and a Big Monday game against Pitt on March 3.
All of these games are important including tonight’s match up against the tough-luck 10-16 Blue Demons. DePaul has lost five games this year by six points or less including a 73-71 decision at Seton Hall last Saturday.
“They’ve lost a lot of close games. They had UConn down on the road. They’ve been unfortunate,” Huggins said.
Guard Will Walker came off the bench to score 20 and forward Karron Clarke also contributed 14 off the bench in the Seton Hall loss. Thirty seven of DePaul’s 71 points in that game came from its bench.
Six-four senior guard Draelon Burns has been DePaul’s most consistent performer averaging 17.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Burns is fifth in the conference in scoring, sixth in free throw percentage (.810), seventh in steals (1.65) and 13th in 3-point field goals made (1.85).
“I think Draelon Burns is really good. I think he’s as good a two-guard as there is in this league,” Huggins said. “He just breaks the defense down so easily. They’ve got good size inside. They’re going to guard and they’re going to be extremely well prepared.”
The Blue Demons start a pair of 6-10 players in Mac Koshwal and Matija Poscic and bring 6-foot-9-inch, 300-pound senior Wesley Green off the bench.
“Green is very skilled. He’s a guy they run offense through,” Huggins said. “He passes the ball well. He shoots the 3 so he stretches the defense. Mac is more of an inside guy - a rebounder and a banger. He’s a presence defensively because of his athleticism and his length.”
Huggins and DePaul coach Jerry Wainright have known each other for years and the two matched wits last year when Kansas State and DePaul hooked up in the second round of the NIT.
“I’ve known Jerry forever and Jerry really does a good job,” Huggins said.
West Virginia’s coach believes his team is going to have to find its shooting touch tonight if it expects to knock off the Blue Demons. DePaul is averaging 72.1 points per game.
“We’ve got to score more than 60 because I think they will score more than 60,” Huggins said. “We’ve just got to execute a little bit better offensively and we’ve got to play with the same kind of intensity we did on Saturday.”
The Mountaineers are coming off one of their best all-around performances of the year last Saturday in beating Providence by 27, 80-53.
Forward Joe Alexander scored 21 points and West Virginia’s defense limited Providence to just 36.7 percent from the field for the game. The Mountaineers outscored the Friars 47-26 in the second half.
“We’ve just got to go do what we are good at doing and hopefully make some shots,” Huggins said. “We haven’t shot very well on the road. I think we’ve shot it better here. I think with DePaul you’ve got to limit their easy baskets. They do a really good job of kind of leaking out and getting into transition and getting easy baskets.”
A later-than-usual 9 pm tip off will accommodate ESPN2 (Dave Pasch and Bob Wentzel). MSN’s pre-game coverage begins with The Mountaineers Today at 8:30 pm. Sirius Satellite Radio listeners can access the MSN broadcast on channel 147. Internet listeners can access the broadcast with their All-Access pass.
Briefly:
“The reality is we’re playing more games so you better win 20,” Huggins said. “We’re going to play 31 games this year. If you’re going to have any chance of playing when the regular season is over with you better win 20 or more. I don’t think it’s what it used to be because there are so many more games.”
Another 20-win season for Huggins will move him into a tie with Lou Henson for 12th among NCAA coaches for most Division I 20-win seasons with 20.
