Marshall Preview
January 19, 2010 04:33 PM | General
January 19, 2010
WEST VIRGINIA GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Some break West Virginia gets going outside of Big East play. The Mountaineers on Wednesday step outside of the conference to take on 15-2 Marshall in the Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic at the Charleston Civic Center.
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| Truck Bryant scored 22 points to lead West Virginia to an 87-76 victory over Marshall last year in Charleston.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
The Thundering Herd have won six straight heading into Wednesday night’s game with four straight victories coming in Conference USA action. Marshall’s only losses of the year came at Old Dominion (70-62) back on Nov. 21 and at North Carolina (98-61) on Dec. 22. Huggins is impressed with what he’s seen on tape of Marshall.
“It’s the best (Marshall team) since I’ve been here,” Huggins said. “I can’t speak before that.”
But he can speak authoritatively about 7-foot freshman center Hassan Whiteside, who is averaging 12.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 5.6 blocks per game.
Whiteside is coming off a 20-point, 12-rebvound performance in Marshall’s 89-79 win over Tulane last Saturday. He has scored double figures in five of his last six games and has pulled down at least 10 rebounds 10 times so far this season.
“He’s scoring double figures and double figures for a freshman is pretty good,” said Huggins. “He’s so long and he’s so active. He gets his hands on a lot of balls.”
Whiteside’s biggest impact has come on the defensive end of the court, turning Marshall into a completely different team from what West Virginia has typically faced in Charleston.
“You get a (7-foot) guy in the middle who is leading the country in blocked shots and it’s going to make a difference,” said Huggins. “I think they can show some different things defensively because of him – because they’ve got a goal keeper. It’s just hard to get it at the basket against him.”
Six-eight, 240-pound senior Tyler Wilkerson will team with Whiteside in the paint. Wilkerson is averaging 12.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and scored 9 points in last year’s Capital Classic before fouling out.
Marshall plays a small backcourt with a pair of 6-3 guards in Shaquille Johnson and Chris Lutz to go with 5-10 point guard Damier Pitts. Johnson (11.8) and Pitts (10.1) are both averaging double figures. But Huggins says it’s difficult trying to post up Marshall’s smaller guard when they have Whiteside underneath to help.
“The way you do that is you invert but he’s not coming out,” said Huggins. “ He’s going to stay in there and they’re probably going to play a lot of 2-3 zone. They have been playing 2-3 zone and I would guess they would playit against us.”
The means the Mountaineers (13-3) are likely going to have to hit their outside shots on Wednesday. West Virginia has not shot 50% from the field since the Marquette game on Dec. 29. Since then, West Virginia is shooting only 42.3% (135 of 319).
What is troubling is that in its last four games against Rutgers, Notre Dame, USF and Syracuse, West Virginia is actually getting an average of 20 more shots per game than its opponent. In the two-point loss at Notre Dame, the Mountaineers took 29 more shot attempts than the Irish.
“Our problem is our margin for error is not very big,” Huggins said. “When you struggle to score the ball the way we’ve struggled to score the ball, particularly when our better players aren’t making shots, we don’t have a very big margin for error.”
Leading scorer Da’Sean Butler (15.8 ppg.) is shooting 35.5% in his last six games and has not scored more than 20 points since getting 21 in the Seton Hall win on Dec. 26.
“Da’Sean has got to score,” said Huggins.
Truck Bryant has picked up some of the slack, averaging 14.8 points and shooting 48.6% in West Virginia’s last four games. There could be scoring opportunities for Butler and Bryant on the wings Wednesday night.
“Truck the last two weeks has probably been our most consistent perimeter shooter.,” Huggins said. “He’s the guy who has to get the ball down the floor and get us into offense. Truck hasn’t been the problem. He’s been pretty good.”
Marshall has lost four straight to nationally ranked teams. The Herd’s last victory over a ranked team came in Charleston on Jan. 25, 2006 when they knocked off ninth-ranked West Virginia, 58-52. Marshall also beat 24th-ranked West Virginia in Charleston, 59-55, on Jan. 11, 2004.
Wednesday will be the 38th meeting and the 21st time they have played in Charleston. West Virginia holds a 26-10 overall record, including a 14-4 mark against the Thundering Herd since 1992 when the game has been played annually in the Capital City.
Nine of the last 11 meetings have been decided by six points or less. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. following the WVU-Marshall women’s game at 6:30 p.m. The Capital Classic Network (John Sanders and Frank Giardina) will televise the game statewide.
There are no tickets remaining.
