St. John's Preview
January 24, 2012 04:11 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia will put its three-game winning streak on the line Wednesday night when it faces St. John’s in Madison Square Garden.
The Mountaineers (15-5, 5-2) are coming off a 77-74 overtime victory over Cincinnati on Saturday and are currently in a three-way tie with South Florida and Marquette for third place in the Big East standings behind 8-1 Syracuse and 6-2 Georgetown.
St. John’s dropped to 8-11, 2-6 following its 79-76 overtime loss to Villanova in the Garden on Saturday. The Johnnies have been playing without their coach Steve Lavin, who is still recovering from successful prostate cancer surgery. Lavin coached four games this season before doctors advised him to take some additional time for his recovery process. He is not expected to return for this season.
“It’s the most difficult experience I’ve had in my coaching career,” Lavin recently told the New York Post. “Yet what helps in dealing with that frustration is knowing that we have a first-rate staff that’s uniquely positioned to help a team through a difficult situation like this.”
Assistant coach Mike Dunlap has been running the team and devising in-game strategy during Lavin’s absence.
“I think it would be harder if Steve was there then he wasn’t there and then he was back again,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “Right now he’s not their coach, basically. He’s not at practice. He’s not at games. They’re not playing for him right now.”
The Red Storm’s two conference wins have come against Providence and Cincinnati – one in the Garden and the other on the road at Cincinnati. In between, St. John’s has lost league games by margins of 14 at Connecticut, 15 to Louisville, 19 at Marquette, 20 to Georgetown and 15 at South Florida.
St. John’s has one of the youngest teams in the country with five freshmen, a junior college transfer and one true junior among its top seven.
“I think they’re getting better and better,” said Huggins. “They had a great chance to beat Villanova at home. They went to Cincinnati and won.”
Moe Harkless, a 6-foot-8, 203-pound freshman forward, leads the team in scoring and rebounding with averages of 15.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Harkless is the first big-time NYC product St. John’s has managed to keep home since guard Omar Cook, and Harkless is a strong candidate for Big East rookie of the year honors. In addition to his scoring and rebounding, Harkless shows 35 blocks, 30 steals and is shooting 45.6 percent from the floor.
D’Angelo Harrison, another freshman, is averaging 15.3 points per game and has made a team-best 36 3-point field goals. Harrison is coming off a season high 28-point performance in the Villanova loss on Saturday.
JC transfer God’sgift Achiuwa, a 6-foot-8, 236-pound junior, is averaging 11.1 points and 6.4 boards per game. He is shooting a team-best 53.2 percent from the floor this year.
Another freshman, Sir’Dominic Pointer, is giving the Red Storm quality play by averaging 6.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
“They’re talented,” said Huggins.
West Virginia will counter with one of the best scoring tandems in the Big East in seniors Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant, who both hail from the metropolitan New York City area.
Jones continues to lead the Big East in scoring (20.7 ppg.) and rebounding (11.5 rpg.) while shooting a team-best 55.4 percent from the floor. Jones is coming off a 26-point, 13-rebound effort against Cincinnati on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Bryant struggled against the Bearcats, hitting just two of 16 shots, but is still averaging 17.5 points per game. Bryant has fared well coming off of poor games, scoring 24 against Kansas State after hitting for just 13 in a loss to Mississippi State, scoring 29 at Rutgers following an 11-point performance against Seton Hall and going for 18 against Rutgers after an eight-point night at UConn.
Junior forward Deniz Kilicli is contributing 11.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and is coming off a 13-point, seven-rebound afternoon against the Bearcats on Saturday.
Wednesday night’s game will be the 37th meeting between the two schools. The Mountaineers won 10 in a row until St. John’s knocked them off in Morgantown last year, 81-71. West Virginia has won five in a row at St. John’s, including the last three at Madison Square Garden.
“I told them today, ‘You’re getting ready to play in one of the largest cities in the world in the most famous arena in the world. Why wouldn’t you be excited about that?’ As a player I couldn’t wait to go to Madison Square Garden,” said Huggins. “It ought to be a dream come true for all these freshmen. Obviously KJ and Truck have played there a lot.
“There is so much history there,” Huggins added. “So many great players have played there. It’s been called the Mecca for a long time and when I was at Cincinnati being around Oscar (Robertson) he used to talk about the Garden. It’s a great venue to play.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
The Mountaineers (15-5, 5-2) are coming off a 77-74 overtime victory over Cincinnati on Saturday and are currently in a three-way tie with South Florida and Marquette for third place in the Big East standings behind 8-1 Syracuse and 6-2 Georgetown.
St. John’s dropped to 8-11, 2-6 following its 79-76 overtime loss to Villanova in the Garden on Saturday. The Johnnies have been playing without their coach Steve Lavin, who is still recovering from successful prostate cancer surgery. Lavin coached four games this season before doctors advised him to take some additional time for his recovery process. He is not expected to return for this season.
“It’s the most difficult experience I’ve had in my coaching career,” Lavin recently told the New York Post. “Yet what helps in dealing with that frustration is knowing that we have a first-rate staff that’s uniquely positioned to help a team through a difficult situation like this.”
Assistant coach Mike Dunlap has been running the team and devising in-game strategy during Lavin’s absence.
“I think it would be harder if Steve was there then he wasn’t there and then he was back again,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “Right now he’s not their coach, basically. He’s not at practice. He’s not at games. They’re not playing for him right now.”
The Red Storm’s two conference wins have come against Providence and Cincinnati – one in the Garden and the other on the road at Cincinnati. In between, St. John’s has lost league games by margins of 14 at Connecticut, 15 to Louisville, 19 at Marquette, 20 to Georgetown and 15 at South Florida.
St. John’s has one of the youngest teams in the country with five freshmen, a junior college transfer and one true junior among its top seven.
“I think they’re getting better and better,” said Huggins. “They had a great chance to beat Villanova at home. They went to Cincinnati and won.”
Moe Harkless, a 6-foot-8, 203-pound freshman forward, leads the team in scoring and rebounding with averages of 15.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Harkless is the first big-time NYC product St. John’s has managed to keep home since guard Omar Cook, and Harkless is a strong candidate for Big East rookie of the year honors. In addition to his scoring and rebounding, Harkless shows 35 blocks, 30 steals and is shooting 45.6 percent from the floor.
D’Angelo Harrison, another freshman, is averaging 15.3 points per game and has made a team-best 36 3-point field goals. Harrison is coming off a season high 28-point performance in the Villanova loss on Saturday.
JC transfer God’sgift Achiuwa, a 6-foot-8, 236-pound junior, is averaging 11.1 points and 6.4 boards per game. He is shooting a team-best 53.2 percent from the floor this year.
Another freshman, Sir’Dominic Pointer, is giving the Red Storm quality play by averaging 6.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
“They’re talented,” said Huggins.
West Virginia will counter with one of the best scoring tandems in the Big East in seniors Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant, who both hail from the metropolitan New York City area.
Jones continues to lead the Big East in scoring (20.7 ppg.) and rebounding (11.5 rpg.) while shooting a team-best 55.4 percent from the floor. Jones is coming off a 26-point, 13-rebound effort against Cincinnati on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Bryant struggled against the Bearcats, hitting just two of 16 shots, but is still averaging 17.5 points per game. Bryant has fared well coming off of poor games, scoring 24 against Kansas State after hitting for just 13 in a loss to Mississippi State, scoring 29 at Rutgers following an 11-point performance against Seton Hall and going for 18 against Rutgers after an eight-point night at UConn.
Junior forward Deniz Kilicli is contributing 11.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and is coming off a 13-point, seven-rebound afternoon against the Bearcats on Saturday.
Wednesday night’s game will be the 37th meeting between the two schools. The Mountaineers won 10 in a row until St. John’s knocked them off in Morgantown last year, 81-71. West Virginia has won five in a row at St. John’s, including the last three at Madison Square Garden.
“I told them today, ‘You’re getting ready to play in one of the largest cities in the world in the most famous arena in the world. Why wouldn’t you be excited about that?’ As a player I couldn’t wait to go to Madison Square Garden,” said Huggins. “It ought to be a dream come true for all these freshmen. Obviously KJ and Truck have played there a lot.
“There is so much history there,” Huggins added. “So many great players have played there. It’s been called the Mecca for a long time and when I was at Cincinnati being around Oscar (Robertson) he used to talk about the Garden. It’s a great venue to play.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
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