St. John's Preview
January 27, 2009 04:51 PM | General
January 27, 2009
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia resumes play Wednesday night at the WVU Coliseum against St. John’s.
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| Wellington Smith fights for the ball during Sunday's game at the Coliseum against Pitt.
All-Pro Photography Dale Sparks photo |
The Red Storm recently snapped a four-game losing streak with a 70-59 victory over Rutgers in Madison Square Garden. St. John’s (11-8, 2-5) withstood a late Scarlet Knight comeback to produce its second league victory of the season. The Red Storm’s other conference victory came at home against Notre Dame Jan. 3.
Guard Paris Horne had one of the finest shooting performances in Big East history against Rutgers, going 12 of 13 with his only miss being from 3. Horne was 3 of 4 from behind the arc and finished the game with a season-high 27 points.
The freshman guard is averaging 19.5 points and is shooting 60 percent (29 of 46) over his last four games. Horne is averaging a team-best 14 points per game for the season.
“(Horne) is really athletic and does some amazing things around the basket,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “He was like 12 of 13 the other day against Rutgers. That’s a pretty good day.”
Six-six sophomore D.J. Kennedy, who sat out a portion of the Cincinnati loss after picking up two technical fouls, returned to the lineup against Rutgers and added 16 points including a 10-of-11 effort from the free throw line. Kennedy is averaging 15 points and 6.5 rebounds over his last five games.
“It seems that D.J. Kennedy is a key in a lot of ways,” Huggins said. “He’s first or second on their team in scoring, rebounding, steals and assists. Largely every stat that you can keep he’s first or second.”
Kennedy attended Schenley High School in nearby Pittsburgh.
Also, 6-foot-8-inch sophomore forward Justin Burrell grew up in Morgantown before prepping first at Our Savior Lutheran High School in the Bronx and later at Bridgton (Maine) Academy. Burrell has appeared in 17 of 19 games and is averaging 10 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
Two key St. John’s performers are out for Wednesday’s game. Six-seven senior forward Anthony Mason Jr. is sidelined for the remainder of the year after undergoing foot surgery, and 5-9 sophomore guard Malik Boothe is not expected back until early February after suffering a thumb injury.
Boothe last appeared in a game against Virginia Tech on Dec. 21.
“They are like us in that they’ve had some injuries,” Huggins said. “Anthony Mason has been out, their point guard had been out and that hurts anybody.”
The Red Storm are 1-4 away from home this year with their lone victory coming at Cornell (86-75) in the NIT Season Tip-Off at Boston College’s Conte Forum. St. John’s has only played three true road games so far this season, losing all three at Providence, Pitt and Villanova.
West Virginia has won the last eight meetings against St. John’s including a pair last year, 83-74 at St. John’s in overtime, and 73-64 in Morgantown.
West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler scored a game-high 19 points in WVU’s nine-point win in Morgantown, and he added 18 in the overtime victory at the Garden.
Butler has scored 20 points in each of his last three games including 27 last Thursday in West Virginia’s 75-58 win at Georgetown. Butler is now the Mountaineers’ top scorer averaging 17.2 points per game.
Senior guard Alex Ruoff shows averages of 16.1 points and 3.3 assists per game. Freshman Truck Bryant is also averaging double figures at 10.7 points per contest.
Tip off is set for 7 pm and the game will be televised on the Big East Television Network. Stations carrying the game include WQCW (Charleston), WOAY (Beckley), WTOV (Steubenville, Ohio), WVFX (Clarksburg), WTAP (Parkersburg), WJAL (Chambersburg, Pa.), MASN (Baltimore) and SportsNet New York. The game will also be made available on ESPN Full Court.
