Providence Preview
February 04, 2012 04:21 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia’s trip to Providence for Sunday’s Big East game against the Friars brings back memories of the Mountaineers’ visit to Dunkin’ Donuts Center back on Jan. 29, 2005.
West Virginia went into that game having dropped five straight, including four in a row in league play, and was in desperate need of a victory. The Mountaineers jumped out to a big lead and eventually had to hang on to get it, and that triumph ignited a run that eventually led them to the NCAA tournament Elite Eight.
This year, West Virginia (15-8, 5-5) is in a similar situation, dropping three in a row to St. John’s, Syracuse and Pitt heading into Sunday’s game against the Friars. Last Monday night, the Mountaineers blew an early eight-point lead at home against Pitt before falling 72-66. West Virginia was hurt by Pitt’s strong backcourt play of Tray Woodall and Ashton Gibbs, who combined to score 39 of the Panthers’ 72 points.
Senior forward Kevin Jones led the Mountaineers with 21 points and 13 rebounds, his 15th double-double of the year and his eight straight 20-point game heading into Providence. The last time a WVU player had that many consecutive 20-point games was All-American guard Wil Robinson in 1972.
Jones, who continues to lead the Big East in scoring (20.9 ppg.) and rebounding (11.5 rpg.), has welcomed the week of rest. The senior is averaging 37.8 minutes per game this year and has played more than 40 minutes in each of his last five games.
“I always want to come into the gym and gets some shots up but I can’t go as hard obviously because I know I am playing so many minutes,” said Jones. “Just staying off my feet, relaxing and doing things in my spare time – everything can’t be basketball. You’ve got to find ways to relax off the court.”
West Virginia’s other player seeing heavy minutes, senior Truck Bryant, also needed the time off. Bryant has made just 10 of his last 31 field goal attempts during the Mountaineers’ three-game losing streak, including 7 of 24 from 3-point distance.
Bryant is the team’s second leading scorer averaging 17 points per game, but his overall shooting percentage is down to 36.9 percent and his 3-point shooting has now dipped below 32 percent.
West Virginia is also minus one player on its bench when freshman forward Kevin Noreen went down with a broken foot against Pitt. That means 6-foot-8 junior forward Dominique Rutledge will get those minutes now backing up Deniz Kilicli.
“Dom’s problem is it’s hard to run anything when he’s in the game because he just doesn’t know what he’s doing and we’re going to try and get him up to speed as best we can,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “At least maybe we can try and simplify some things for him as best as we can.”
Unfortunately for West Virginia, the Mountaineers may be catching Providence at the wrong time. The Friars snapped their four-game conference losing streak on Wednesday night by beating Rutgers 78-67 to improve to 13-10, 2-8.
“They play hard and I think they run really good sets,” said Huggins. “We’re going to have to do a really good job.”
In that game, five different players reached double figures, including a team-best 18 from forward Bilal Dixon, who also pulled down 10 rebounds. Bryce Cotton added 17 and LaDontae Henton and Gerard Coleman scored 15 each.
Vincent Council, who scored 11 and contributed 14 assists against Rutgers, leads Providence in scoring with an average of 16.1 points per game. Including assists, Council is accounting for 31.2 points per game in offense for the Friars.
“Council is really good,” said Huggins. “He does a great job of pushing the ball.”
Cotton is an outstanding 3-point shooter, hitting 41.4 percent of his 3s, and is averaging 15.2 points per game. Henton, a 6-foot-6 forward, is Providence’s top guy in the paint averaging 13.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.
“Henton has been one of the best freshmen in the league,” said Huggins.
Providence played its best game of the year back on Jan. 10 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center when the Friars ran 15th-ranked Louisville right out of the gym, 90-59. Louisville was never in it, trailing by 18 at halftime and by as many as 33 points late in the game.
“They made shots and Louisville didn’t,” said Huggins. “That’s about what it comes down to. I think Louisville started pressing and turned the ball over.”
This will be the 28th overall meeting between the two schools and the 12th at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. West Virginia leads the series 16-8 and has won seven in a row and 11 of its last 12 against the Friars.
“Really, we are about where we were a year ago,” said Huggins. “Actually, we’re probably in a little bit better shape than we were a year ago. We’ve got to win some games like we had to win some games last year. I thought we responded and got some really big wins a year ago.”
Tip off for Sunday’s game is set for noon.
West Virginia went into that game having dropped five straight, including four in a row in league play, and was in desperate need of a victory. The Mountaineers jumped out to a big lead and eventually had to hang on to get it, and that triumph ignited a run that eventually led them to the NCAA tournament Elite Eight.
This year, West Virginia (15-8, 5-5) is in a similar situation, dropping three in a row to St. John’s, Syracuse and Pitt heading into Sunday’s game against the Friars. Last Monday night, the Mountaineers blew an early eight-point lead at home against Pitt before falling 72-66. West Virginia was hurt by Pitt’s strong backcourt play of Tray Woodall and Ashton Gibbs, who combined to score 39 of the Panthers’ 72 points.
Senior forward Kevin Jones led the Mountaineers with 21 points and 13 rebounds, his 15th double-double of the year and his eight straight 20-point game heading into Providence. The last time a WVU player had that many consecutive 20-point games was All-American guard Wil Robinson in 1972.
Jones, who continues to lead the Big East in scoring (20.9 ppg.) and rebounding (11.5 rpg.), has welcomed the week of rest. The senior is averaging 37.8 minutes per game this year and has played more than 40 minutes in each of his last five games.
“I always want to come into the gym and gets some shots up but I can’t go as hard obviously because I know I am playing so many minutes,” said Jones. “Just staying off my feet, relaxing and doing things in my spare time – everything can’t be basketball. You’ve got to find ways to relax off the court.”
West Virginia’s other player seeing heavy minutes, senior Truck Bryant, also needed the time off. Bryant has made just 10 of his last 31 field goal attempts during the Mountaineers’ three-game losing streak, including 7 of 24 from 3-point distance.
Bryant is the team’s second leading scorer averaging 17 points per game, but his overall shooting percentage is down to 36.9 percent and his 3-point shooting has now dipped below 32 percent.
West Virginia is also minus one player on its bench when freshman forward Kevin Noreen went down with a broken foot against Pitt. That means 6-foot-8 junior forward Dominique Rutledge will get those minutes now backing up Deniz Kilicli.
“Dom’s problem is it’s hard to run anything when he’s in the game because he just doesn’t know what he’s doing and we’re going to try and get him up to speed as best we can,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “At least maybe we can try and simplify some things for him as best as we can.”
Unfortunately for West Virginia, the Mountaineers may be catching Providence at the wrong time. The Friars snapped their four-game conference losing streak on Wednesday night by beating Rutgers 78-67 to improve to 13-10, 2-8.
“They play hard and I think they run really good sets,” said Huggins. “We’re going to have to do a really good job.”
In that game, five different players reached double figures, including a team-best 18 from forward Bilal Dixon, who also pulled down 10 rebounds. Bryce Cotton added 17 and LaDontae Henton and Gerard Coleman scored 15 each.
Vincent Council, who scored 11 and contributed 14 assists against Rutgers, leads Providence in scoring with an average of 16.1 points per game. Including assists, Council is accounting for 31.2 points per game in offense for the Friars.
“Council is really good,” said Huggins. “He does a great job of pushing the ball.”
Cotton is an outstanding 3-point shooter, hitting 41.4 percent of his 3s, and is averaging 15.2 points per game. Henton, a 6-foot-6 forward, is Providence’s top guy in the paint averaging 13.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.
“Henton has been one of the best freshmen in the league,” said Huggins.
Providence played its best game of the year back on Jan. 10 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center when the Friars ran 15th-ranked Louisville right out of the gym, 90-59. Louisville was never in it, trailing by 18 at halftime and by as many as 33 points late in the game.
“They made shots and Louisville didn’t,” said Huggins. “That’s about what it comes down to. I think Louisville started pressing and turned the ball over.”
This will be the 28th overall meeting between the two schools and the 12th at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. West Virginia leads the series 16-8 and has won seven in a row and 11 of its last 12 against the Friars.
“Really, we are about where we were a year ago,” said Huggins. “Actually, we’re probably in a little bit better shape than we were a year ago. We’ve got to win some games like we had to win some games last year. I thought we responded and got some really big wins a year ago.”
Tip off for Sunday’s game is set for noon.
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