USF Preview
January 16, 2009 03:59 PM | General
January 16, 2009
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Despite its 6-10 record, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins sees South Florida as one of the more talented teams in the Big East.
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| Freshman Truck Bryant is third on the team in scoring averaging 11.1 points per game and is coming off a 22-point effort Wednesday night against Marshall.
WVU Photo Services/M.G. Ellis photo |
Since adding 6-foot-10-inch Maryland transfer Augustus Gilchrist at the end of the first semester, the Bulls have played well in close losses to Syracuse and Pitt, as well as a 22-point victory at DePaul on Jan. 10.
Gilchrist is averaging 10.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game and is coming off a season-high 22 points in USF’s 75-62 loss at No. 1-ranked Pitt.
“Gilchrist gives them another guy who can score,” said Huggins. “He’s 6-10 and can play inside and play on the perimeter. He’s given them another option offensively.”
Six-four sophomore guard Dominque Jones leads USF with an average of 17.3 points per game. Jones poured in a season-high 36 points in a home win against Iona and also had 31 in an eight-point loss at Central Florida.
“He’s a talented guy,” Huggins said of Jones. “You watch their last three or four games and if he gets an open shot he doesn’t miss it. At times they will play him up top and let him create. They came out of a timeout during the Pitt game and ran an iso for him. Where I think before he was more of a shooter now he has become more of a scorer.”
Gilchrist and Jones each scored 22 in the Pitt loss two days ago.
“They shot the ball incredibly well and Pitt guarded them,” Huggins said. “They took hard shots and they made hard shots.”
Jones is shooting 41 percent from the floor including 37.2 percent from 3-point range. Jesus Verdejo is USF’s top 3-point shooter with 39 while averaging 14.4 points per game.
Jones, Verdejo and Gilchrist combined to score 56 of USF’s 80 points at DePaul on Jan. 10.
“Their three perimeter guys are really good,” Huggins said. “They are all very capable 3-point shooters – including Gilchrist.”
Coach Stan Heath has chosen to build the USF program with transfers. Eight of the 13 players on South Florida’s roster either transferred from another four-year school or a junior college, or played at prep school. One of those transfers – former Georgia player Mike Mercer - injured his knee and is lost for the season.
USF also recently picked up former Ohio State guard Anthony Craver, who must sit out the second semester. Huggins says it’s tough to build a program in a conference as competitive as the Big East.
“The hardest thing in this league is who do you pass? Everybody says I want to be in the top 25 and everybody wants to be in the upper echelon of the league and you start looking at who you have to pass and it’s a pretty daunting task,” Huggins said. “To pass UConn, Pitt, Georgetown, Syracuse, Villanova and the people who have been in the upper echelon of the league for a couple of years makes it very difficult.
“If you look at their team they’re young,” Huggins said of USF. “They’re starting two seniors but they’re playing a bunch of young guys behind them and from a talent standpoint they have caught up with the rest of the league.”
West Virginia, meanwhile, is coming off an 87-76 victory over Marshall Wednesday night in the Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic to snap a two-game losing streak. Freshman Truck Bryant scored a season-high 22 points and Da’Sean Butler added 17 for the 12-4 Mountaineers.
“I thought we got back to guarding a little bit better at least in stretches and we made some shots,” Huggins said. “We also did a better job at the free throw line.”
Guard Alex Ruoff is West Virginia’s top scorer averaging 16.4 points. The senior has made a team-best 41 3s and is shooting 44 percent overall from the floor.
Butler shows averages of 15.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game while Bryant is averaging 11.1 points and 2.9 assists per game.
Freshman Devin Ebanks matches Butler’s team-leading 6.1-rebounds-per-game average and is averaging 7.9 points per game. Ebanks scored 12 in the win against Marshall.
Saturday’s game will tip at noon and will be televised as the Big East Conference Game of the Week. MSN’s pre-game coverage begins at 11:30 am with the Coliseum Countdown.
