WEST VIRGINIA GAME NOTES | AKRON GAME NOTES

MORGANTOWN. W.Va. – On Monday, West Virginia begins a very tough stretch of games, starting with Akron, and then continuing wth Mississippi State, Kansas State and Miami that have combined to post a 16-4 record so far this season.

Akron, which beat Mississippi State in Starkville back on Nov. 9 to begin the season, is bringing a 3-2 record into the Coliseum and perhaps the most talented front line the Mountaineers will face to date.

The Zips have a legitimate big man in 7-foot junior center Zeke Marshall from nearby McKeesport, Pa., who is averaging nine points, 4.2 rebounds and has blocked a team-best 16 shots so far this year.

“Zeke Marshall is averaging five blocks per game and he changes probably another 10,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “He’s certainly a factor. They’ve got an experienced front line, and then they’ve got youth and that’s a good combination.”

Last year as a sophomore, Marshall averaged 8.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game to rank 19th in the country in that category. Marshall blocked a school-record nine shots in the MAC title game victory over Kent State while helping the Zips to a 23-13 record last season and an NCAA tournament second-round loss to Notre Dame.

“We’re going to go right at him,” said Huggins. “We’re going to try and get Deniz (Kilicli) not to throw the grenade (left-handed hook shot) and maybe go a little stronger at him.”

And Marshall is not Akron’s only quality big. Six-eight senior forward Nikola Cvetinovic is averaging 9.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game so far this year, and he spent last summer playing for the Serbian National Team in the World University Games. As a junior, Cvetinovic averaged nearly 12 points and seven boards per contest.

“He played really well last night (in Akron’s 81-63 win over Detroit),” said Huggins of Cvetinovic. “He probably played his best game against them. He was very assertive.”

Akron’s most consistent player has been 6-foot-6 junior forward Quincy Diggs, who leads the team in scoring with an average of 11.2 points per game while also pulling down 3.4 rebounds per contest.

“Game in and game out Diggs has been their best player,” said Huggins. “That’s a good front line.”

Against Detroit, it was Cvetinovic who led the Zips with 16 points to go along with six rebounds. Three other Akron players also reached double figures, including 15 from 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Nick Harney coming off the bench, and 12 from 6-foot-4 senior swingman Brett McClanahan.

In Akron’s 10-point road victory at Mississippi State, it was Diggs’ 19 points and Marshall’s 10 points and five blocks that helped the Zips capture an eye-opening road victory against an SEC foe. The Bulldogs, which defeated Texas A&M and Arizona in New York earlier this month, shot just 34.5 percent from the floor against Akron and committed 19 turnovers.

Turnovers have also been a big issue in the early going for West Virginia (3-1), although the Mountaineers were able to clean that up a bit in their 83-48 victory over Morehead State last Thursday night in Charleston.

In all four games West Virginia has played so far this year, the young Mountaineers have improved their defensive numbers, allowing 71 points in the opener against Oral Roberts, 70 against Kent State, 62 versus Alcorn State and 48 points in their most recent victory.

“We’re getting better,” said Huggins. “We’re making rotations. We are obviously doing a much better job of rebounding the ball. When you don’t make any rotations it makes it really hard and it allows people to get easy shots.”

Senior Kevin Jones continues to lead West Virginia in scoring (21.8 ppg.), rebounding (12.3 rpg.) and blocks (five) while shooting an impressive 61.7 percent from the floor, which is in stark contrast to his early-season production last year as a junior. Huggins says it’s a matter of Jones simply doing well the things he does very well.

“I think he felt pressure to do things that were really out of character for him, a bit like Truck did in the Kent State game,” said Huggins. “You’ve got to do what you’re good at doing and I think he’s very comfortable being Kevin Jones now and what Kevin Jones does.”

Kilicli has also been a solid contributor in the paint for WVU with averages of 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game despite a low 40.6 field goal percentage.

“Deniz has just got to get his head up and make the easy ones he gets,” explained Huggins. “It’s not a matter of him getting open shots, he’s just got to make the quality shots that he’s getting.”

Senior guard Truck Bryant (15.3 ppg.) and freshman point guard Jabarie Kinds (10.0 ppg.) round out West Virginia’s double digit scorers.

Monday’s game has been designated a Family Day with a family of four receiving four tickets, four hot dogs, four cokes and a large bucket of popcorn for just $60. Fans have until 5 p.m. Sunday evening to order their Family Day tickets online through http://www.WVUGAME.com.

“Akron went down and beat Mississippi State,” said Huggins. “That’s their only loss and then Mississippi State went up to New York and beat some really good people. (Akron coach) Keith (Dambrot) does a great job.”

Dambrot is in his eighth season coaching the Zips where he owns a 165-77 record. Akron has won 26, 24, 23, 24 and 23 games in each of its last five seasons, including two years in 2007 and 2008 when the Zips had RPIs in the 60s.

Tipoff for Monday’s game is 7 p.m. The game will be televised by the Big East Network and will air locally on ROOT SPORTS (Rob King and Warren Baker) in Pittsburgh.

MSN’s radio pregame coverage (Tony Caridi, Jay Jacobs and Kyle Wiggs) begins with the Coliseum Countdown at 6:30 p.m.