MORGANTOWN - If West Virginia's offensive performance Saturday in a win over DePaul was nothing but an anomaly, things could get pretty dicey for the Mountaineers from here on out.
MORGANTOWN - If West Virginia's offensive performance Saturday in a win over DePaul was nothing but an anomaly, things could get pretty dicey for the Mountaineers from here on out.
But if it was a portent of things to come, well, it couldn't have come at a better time.
Beginning with tonight's Big Monday game against No. 12 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome (7 p.m., ESPN), West Virginia plays five of its last six games against teams ranked in the Top 16 in the country. Three of those are against Top 10 teams.
To say that the Mountaineers' postseason hopes ride in the balance would not be overstating things. Where WVU is seeded in the 16-team Big East tournament and where it lands - or, quite frankly, if it lands - in the NCAA tournament bracket will be determined over the next three weeks.
The bottom line is that if West Virginia's offense is ready to contribute to the defensive and rebounding cause as happened against DePaul, that can only help the Mountaineers' chances of success.
But was Saturday's 53-percent shooting and high assist rate (23 on 28 baskets) a sign that this team's slump is over or was it merely a product of facing the Big East's worst team, one that has won just one Big East game in going on three full seasons now?
The answer should start to develop tonight against a Syracuse 2-3 zone that makes the Orange one of the best defensive teams in the country.
"Obviously, confidence-wise, it helps,'' point guard Joe Mazzulla said of WVU's first 50-percent shooting performance since Jan. 4 and its highest assist total in three years. "But we know against the 2-3 zone we're probably going to have to make more difficult shots, we have to get the ball inside and we have to execute. [DePaul] was a different game than [Syracuse], but we can take some confidence away from it.''
In Syracuse (20-6, 7-6 Big East), the Mountaineers are facing a hard-to-figure team that has stumbled badly over the last four weeks. After starting the season 18-0 and rising as high as No. 3, the Orange lost four straight and six of eight, including Saturday's 73-69 defeat at Louisville. Half of those six losses have come at the Carrier Dome, including a 22-point loss to Seton Hall.
But for the most part, Syracuse's struggles are merely a product of playing in the Big East. Five of those last eight games have been against ranked teams.
MORGANTOWN - If West Virginia's offensive performance Saturday in a win over DePaul was nothing but an anomaly, things could get pretty dicey for the Mountaineers from here on out.
But if it was a portent of things to come, well, it couldn't have come at a better time.
Beginning with tonight's Big Monday game against No. 12 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome (7 p.m., ESPN), West Virginia plays five of its last six games against teams ranked in the Top 16 in the country. Three of those are against Top 10 teams.
To say that the Mountaineers' postseason hopes ride in the balance would not be overstating things. Where WVU is seeded in the 16-team Big East tournament and where it lands - or, quite frankly, if it lands - in the NCAA tournament bracket will be determined over the next three weeks.
The bottom line is that if West Virginia's offense is ready to contribute to the defensive and rebounding cause as happened against DePaul, that can only help the Mountaineers' chances of success.
But was Saturday's 53-percent shooting and high assist rate (23 on 28 baskets) a sign that this team's slump is over or was it merely a product of facing the Big East's worst team, one that has won just one Big East game in going on three full seasons now?
The answer should start to develop tonight against a Syracuse 2-3 zone that makes the Orange one of the best defensive teams in the country.
"Obviously, confidence-wise, it helps,'' point guard Joe Mazzulla said of WVU's first 50-percent shooting performance since Jan. 4 and its highest assist total in three years. "But we know against the 2-3 zone we're probably going to have to make more difficult shots, we have to get the ball inside and we have to execute. [DePaul] was a different game than [Syracuse], but we can take some confidence away from it.''
In Syracuse (20-6, 7-6 Big East), the Mountaineers are facing a hard-to-figure team that has stumbled badly over the last four weeks. After starting the season 18-0 and rising as high as No. 3, the Orange lost four straight and six of eight, including Saturday's 73-69 defeat at Louisville. Half of those six losses have come at the Carrier Dome, including a 22-point loss to Seton Hall.
But for the most part, Syracuse's struggles are merely a product of playing in the Big East. Five of those last eight games have been against ranked teams.
And, in truth, for West Virginia this is not a particularly difficult game for which to prepare. Yes, the Orange are talented and that's a concern, but unlike many teams, Jim Boeheim's bunch isn't likely to throw a lot of surprises out there.
"Obviously it's tough because of their talent,'' Mazzulla said. "But we don't have to go through man-to-man stuff, pressing stuff. We have to go through zone offense and work on their sets. It's more of a personnel scout. We really have to know what they do on the offensive end. But it's no secret on defense. We have one thing to prepare for, the 2-3 zone.''
Even Bob Huggins admits that scouting isn't the issue with Syracuse.
"You work on it all year,'' the West Virginia coach said of facing the zone. "It's not like we haven't been working on facing zones.''
"It's no secret what we have to do,'' Mazzulla said. "We have to get the ball in the short corner and in the middle against the zone. And we have to make shots.''
BRIEFLY: Oddly enough, this will be the first time that Mazzulla, a fifth-year senior, has faced Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. The Mountaineers didn't face the Orange when Mazzulla was a freshman in 2007 and played in Morgantown in 2008 and 2010. In 2009, when WVU and SU played at the Carrier Dome (as well as in the Big East tournament semifinals) Mazzulla was being redshirted after a shoulder injury he suffered in December of 2008.
Mazzulla has, however, played in the Carrier Dome. He was the MVP of the East Regional of the NCAA tournament last year in Syracuse, where the Mountaineers beat Washington and Kentucky.
Following tonight's game, West Virginia has a break of sorts in the schedule with only one game (at home against No. 8 Notre Dame on Saturday) in the next nine days. After that are road trips to No. 4 Pitt and Rutgers in a span of four days, then home games at the end of the regular season against No. 10 Connecticut and No. 16 Louisville.The first time West Virginia played at the Carrier Dome as a member of the Big East, the Mountaineers won in a rout, 101-79. Since, though, they have lost eight straight.Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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