Rutgers Preview
January 05, 2010 05:44 PM | General
January 5, 2010
WEST VIRGINIA GAME NOTES | RUTGERS GAME NOTES
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| Da'Sean Butler |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Bob Huggins expects to see a much-improved Rutgers team on Wednesday night when the 9-4 Scarlet Knights take on West Virginia at the WVU Coliseum.
Fourth-year coach Fred Hill has nearly matched the win totals of the his first three seasons, needing three more this year to exceed his victory totals in 2008 and 2009. Rutgers shows quality non-conference wins over UMass and Princeton and played North Carolina tough in a recent loss to the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill.
“I think they’re a lot better,” said Huggins. “They’ve got two experienced point guards that puts them in what Fred wants them to run. (Mike) Rosario is one of the better players in the league.”
Rosario, a sophomore, is averaging 17.6 points per game and has scored 20 points or more five times this season, including a 22-point effort at North Carolina. In his most recent game against Cincinnati he was just 4 of 19 shooting and finished with 12 points.
Rutgers also has one of the better big men in the conference in 7-foot senior center Hamady Ndiaye, one of the nation’s top shot blockers averaging 5.2 blocks per game. Ndiaye had a season-high 10 blocks against St. Peter’s while also recording at least eight blocks against Monmouth and New Jersey Tech.
“Ndiaye has really gotten better,” said Huggins. “I saw him when he was a freshman. We played then when I was at Kansas State.”
Huggins said Ndiaye’s presence in the paint allows Rutgers to gamble more on defense.
“He’s leading the country in shot blocks and has made some incredible plays,” Huggins said. “He fortifies the basket for them so they can take more chances and they’ve kind of filled in with guys who fill roles which is what you’re supposed to do.”
One key player no longer available is 6-foot-9, 280-pound sophomore center Greg Echenique, whose season has ended with a detached retina in his left eye. Echenique was Rutgers’ second-leading scorer at the time of his injury, averaging 12.6 points per game. He was also averaging a team best 7.7 rebounds per game.
“It just makes them a different team,” said Huggins. “I think they are a much more mobile team now. They can play more pressure now. Having those two bigs made it hard for them to really get out and pressure.”
Junior Jonathan Mitchell is giving Rutgers 9.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game at forward, while point guard Mike Coburn shows averages of 7.0 points and 4.2 assists per game.
It will be interesting to see how eighth-ranked West Virginia, now 11-1, responds after its first loss of the season. The Mountaineers committed 18 turnovers and allowed fourth-ranked Purdue to shoot 50 percent from the floor in the Boilermakers’ 77-62 victory in West Lafayette.
Purdue's 6-10 center JaJuan Johnson had his way with the Mountaineers, scoring 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Forward Robbie Hummel added 18 points on 7 of 8 shooting.
Da’Sean Butler led West Virginia with 17 points on 5 of 14 shooting. It was West Virginia’s fifth game in a span of only 13 days.
“We’ve just got to start doing things better,” said Huggins. “In all honesty we probably played too many games in too short a period of time. We just didn’t have any bounce. They looked like they were so much quicker to the ball, and it probably wasn’t the best thing.”
Huggins hopes point guards Truck Bryant and Joe Mazzulla can regain their confidence with the basketball. The pair committed six turnovers in the Purdue loss and has combined for 13 in West Virginia’s last three games against Seton Hall, Marquette and Purdue.
Huggins expects his guards to encounter more pressure from Rutgers Wednesday night.
“I think they’re struggling a little bit but the majority of that is self-imposed,” Huggins said. “I think the last time Truck started was Cleveland State and he didn’t respond very well. That’s what we’re supposed to do is fix it and we’re going to do the best we can to possibly fix it. Truck was serviceable a year ago and he needs to be more than serviceable now. Joe shouldn’t turn the ball over. His shoulder has nothing to do with turning the ball over.”
West Virginia’s field goal percentage defense has crept up to 42.9%. Three times this season opponents have shot better than 50% against the Mountaineers.
“To a large degree it’s us throwing the ball to them for lay ups. That has hurt our field goal percentage,” Huggins explained. “And we haven’t helped the way we normally help. We’re pushing people out to a degree but we’re not helping and our ball pressure is not what it needs to be.”
Rutgers is searching for its first win in Morgantown since 2002 when the Scarlet Knights defeated the Mountaineers by a 77-59 count, and Rutgers has only won five times ever in Morgantown.
West Virginia is looking for its first 3-0 start in Big East play since 2007. Huggins is now 23-18 in Big Eat play since taking over the West Virginia job prior to the 2008 season.
Tip off is 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on the Big East Network. The telecast will air on FSN Pittsburgh, SportsNet New York, Metro (Kansas City), Cox (Providence), ESPN Full Court and ESPN360.com.
Briefly:
“Some guys enjoy being wounded warriors. They kind of like walking around with something on them so that people know they are hurt. Maybe that’s why they aren’t playing as well. Da’s not like that. Da wants to play. He wants to help his team and he wants to do the right thing,” said Huggins.
The coach pointed out that Butler’s career-high 43-point performance last year against Villanova was done on a badly sprained ankle.
“A year ago we didn’t think he would play against Villanova,” Huggins said. “He could hardly walk, but he’s the kind of guy who never leaves the training room. He kept working and working and at shoot-around he was still limping pretty bad so he went right back in the training room and came out and got 43.”
