WVU to Battle American
November 30, 2010 05:43 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia will be making its first appearance inside the Coliseum in nearly a month when it faces American University Wednesday night.
West Virginia boosted its record to 4-1 with an 82-66 victory over VMI last Saturday at the Charleston Civic Center. Prior to that, the Mountaineers played three games down in San Juan, Puerto Rico, beating Davidson and Vanderbilt before losing to Minnesota in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off championship game.
Senior guard Casey Mitchell has scored 83 points in his last three games, including a career-high 31 against Vanderbilt. Mitchell is shooting 53 percent overall and 42.1 percent from 3-point range.
Expected to join Mitchell in West Virginia’s starting lineup against American Wednesday night are Kevin Jones (12.4 ppg., 6.2 rpg.) and John Flowers (9.4 ppg., 6.6 rpg.) at forwards, Deniz Kilicli (5.8 ppg., 5.0 rpg.) at center, and Joe Mazzulla (6.4 ppg., 3.2 rpg.) at guard.
Jones is coming off a 22-point, six-rebound performance against VMI while also scoring double digits against Davidson and Vanderbilt.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Truck Bryant and Danny Jennings, both dressed in street clothes for the VMI game, are back practicing with the team.
American (5-1) dropped a 64-62 decision to Columbia last Sunday without top scorer Vlad Moldoveanu, who did not play because of a concussion. The 6-9 senior forward is averaging 21.8 points per game, scoring a season-high 31 points in American’s 65-58 win over Maryland Eastern Shore on Nov. 17.
The Eagles, picked to win the Patriot Conference this year, are off to its best start under Jeff Jones. Before the loss to Columbia, it was the best start for the Eagles since beginning the 1985-86 season 5-0.
“One, they are extremely well coached,” said Huggins. “Jeff does a great job and then they really play within themselves.”
American currently ranks 25th in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 57.3 points per game, and the Eagles are also 18th in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 36.3 percent.
Junior guard Trey Brewer is coming off a strong performance last week after scoring 18 points in the loss to Columbia and bagging his first career double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds against Howard.
Six-eight junior forward Stephen Lumpkins also had a recent double-double, going for 20 points and 12 boards against Columbia.
“I really compare them to Davidson because of their physicality,” said Huggins of American.
Jones is coaching his 11th season at American after serving an eight-year stint at Virginia, his alma mater. Last year, Jones led the Eagles to a 24-8 record and a second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. Overall in 18 seasons, Jones has taken seven teams to the NCAA tournament, including an Elite Eight appearance with the Cavaliers in 1995.
Wednesday’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised on the Big East Network. The game can be seen on FSN-Pittsburgh, SNY (New York), MASN (Baltimore/Washington), SNY-CT (Hartford), Metro (Kansas City) and Cox (Providence).
Notes … Wednesday’s game will be the fifth meeting between these schools and the first since 2000 when West Virginia defeated American 80-64 in Morgantown … West Virginia has won 31 straight non-conference home games in the month of December … Huggins needs one victory to tie Denny Crum (675) for 20th place on the NCAA career wins list … this week the Mountaineers are receiving votes in both Top 25 polls.
West Virginia boosted its record to 4-1 with an 82-66 victory over VMI last Saturday at the Charleston Civic Center. Prior to that, the Mountaineers played three games down in San Juan, Puerto Rico, beating Davidson and Vanderbilt before losing to Minnesota in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off championship game.
Senior guard Casey Mitchell has scored 83 points in his last three games, including a career-high 31 against Vanderbilt. Mitchell is shooting 53 percent overall and 42.1 percent from 3-point range.
Expected to join Mitchell in West Virginia’s starting lineup against American Wednesday night are Kevin Jones (12.4 ppg., 6.2 rpg.) and John Flowers (9.4 ppg., 6.6 rpg.) at forwards, Deniz Kilicli (5.8 ppg., 5.0 rpg.) at center, and Joe Mazzulla (6.4 ppg., 3.2 rpg.) at guard.
Jones is coming off a 22-point, six-rebound performance against VMI while also scoring double digits against Davidson and Vanderbilt.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Truck Bryant and Danny Jennings, both dressed in street clothes for the VMI game, are back practicing with the team.
American (5-1) dropped a 64-62 decision to Columbia last Sunday without top scorer Vlad Moldoveanu, who did not play because of a concussion. The 6-9 senior forward is averaging 21.8 points per game, scoring a season-high 31 points in American’s 65-58 win over Maryland Eastern Shore on Nov. 17.
The Eagles, picked to win the Patriot Conference this year, are off to its best start under Jeff Jones. Before the loss to Columbia, it was the best start for the Eagles since beginning the 1985-86 season 5-0.
“One, they are extremely well coached,” said Huggins. “Jeff does a great job and then they really play within themselves.”
American currently ranks 25th in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 57.3 points per game, and the Eagles are also 18th in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 36.3 percent.
Junior guard Trey Brewer is coming off a strong performance last week after scoring 18 points in the loss to Columbia and bagging his first career double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds against Howard.
Six-eight junior forward Stephen Lumpkins also had a recent double-double, going for 20 points and 12 boards against Columbia.
“I really compare them to Davidson because of their physicality,” said Huggins of American.
Jones is coaching his 11th season at American after serving an eight-year stint at Virginia, his alma mater. Last year, Jones led the Eagles to a 24-8 record and a second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. Overall in 18 seasons, Jones has taken seven teams to the NCAA tournament, including an Elite Eight appearance with the Cavaliers in 1995.
Wednesday’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised on the Big East Network. The game can be seen on FSN-Pittsburgh, SNY (New York), MASN (Baltimore/Washington), SNY-CT (Hartford), Metro (Kansas City) and Cox (Providence).
Notes … Wednesday’s game will be the fifth meeting between these schools and the first since 2000 when West Virginia defeated American 80-64 in Morgantown … West Virginia has won 31 straight non-conference home games in the month of December … Huggins needs one victory to tie Denny Crum (675) for 20th place on the NCAA career wins list … this week the Mountaineers are receiving votes in both Top 25 polls.
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