Marquette Preview
December 28, 2009 05:48 PM | General
December 28, 2009
WEST VIRGINIA GAME NOTES | MARQUETTE GAME NOTES | DOWNLOAD HUGGINS AUDIO
Sixth-ranked West Virginia will put its undefeated record on the line Tuesday night against Marquette at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Kevin Jones and Da'Sean Butler have combined to average 32 points and 14 rebounds through the first 10 games of the season.
AP photo |
The Golden Eagles bring a 9-3 record with them to Morgantown, having won a pair of games against North Florida and Presbyterian after suffering a 72-63 loss at Wisconsin on Dec. 12.
Marquette also shows losses to North Carolina State and Florida State in addition to quality non-conference victories over Michigan and Xavier.
Coach Buzz Williams is 49-30 and 34-13 in his second season leading the Marquette program after posting 25 wins and advancing to the NCAA Tournament second round in 2009.
Williams has had to contend with the loss of four key seniors from last year’s team, including backcourt standouts Dominic James, Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal.
“They’re still guard-oriented,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
The points this year are coming from Marquette’s frontcourt, where 6-foot-7 Lazar Hayward is averaging 18.7 points and 6-foot-6 Jimmy Butler is averaging 16.1 points.
Hayward recently cracked Marquette’s Top 20 in career scoring and is now 17th with 1,467 points. He is within 200 points of reaching the Golden Eagles’ Top 10 in career scoring.
Butler moved into the starting lineup this year and is presently fourth in the conference in field goal percentage at 61.9 percent. He is also grabbing 7.2 rebounds per game, 13th best in the conference.
“Hayward is an exceptional player,” said Huggins. “He’s their biggest guy. They’re playing Jimmy Butler and he’s a guy who is going to play on the perimeter and drive the ball.”
Marquette’s backcourt features senior David Cubillan (6.2 ppg.) and Dwight Buycks (7.3 ppg.). Six-seven junior forward Joseph Fulce (3.8 ppg.) completes Marquette’s probable lineup for Tuesday night.
“They drive the ball,” said Huggins. “They’re just going to keep putting their head down and driving it into the paint. We’ve got to do a good job guarding the ball and we’ve got to do a good job helping.”
Last year, the Golden Eagles put it on West Virginia at the Bradley Center, 75-53. The Mountaineers led 31-29 at halftime before Marquette outscored West Virginia 46-22 in the second half.
Fifty six of Marquette’s 75 points came from James, McNeal and Matthews.
Meanwhile, West Virginia boosted its record to 10-0 with a 90-84 overtime victory over Seton Hall last Saturday at the Prudential Center.
West Virginia had double-digit leads in both halves before the Pirates caught fire. Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell put up 41, including a 3 to send the game into overtime.
Devin Ebanks scored 22 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to earn Big East player of the week honors. Da’Sean Butler added 21 points while Kevin Jones had a 19-point, 14-rebound double-double.
Jones is the only Mountaineer player to score double figures in all 10 games this season.
For the second straight game, Huggins chose to use a big lineup against Seton Hall, pairing John Flowers and Wellington Smith with Ebanks, Butler and Jones. Huggins also used that lineup in the Mountaineers’ 76-66 victory over Ole Miss last Wednesday night.
“I think we have gotten better,” said Huggins. “We needed to play some games and we’re playing some games. Any time you go on the road in the Big East and get a win it’s a good win. There are a lot of people that are not going to win in there. Seton Hall is a very good basketball team and they are a very talented basketball team.”
Butler continues to lead the Mountaineers in scoring with an average of 16.5 points per game. Jones has lifted his scoring average to 15.5, while Ebanks shows a 13.2 points-per-game scoring average.
Tuesday’s game will tip off at 7 pm and will be televised on the Big East Network (John Sanders and Bob Wenzel).
Markets carrying the telecast include Charleston (WCHS), Beckley (WOAY), Steubenville, Ohio (WTOV), Clarksburg (WVFX), Parkersburg (WTAP), Pittsburgh (WPCW), Washington, D.C. (WJAL), Baltimore (MASN), New York (SNY), Tampa (Brighthouse), Kansas City (Metro), Milwaukee (Time Warner Wisconsin), New Orleans (Cox), Providence (Cox) and ESPN Full Court.
