MORGANTOWN - There's little doubt about the key to beating Connecticut, which is to do something to prevent Kemba Walker from dominating the postgame highlights that are shown on ESPN.
Case in point: In a win at Cincinnati last weekend, UConn shot 50 percent from the floor and made 10-of-19 3-point tries. Three days earlier in a loss at home to Marquette, the Huskies shot 36 percent and missed 17 of their 22 3s. Connecticut in the past few weeks beat Georgetown by shooting 54 percent and lost to St. John's while shooting 36 percent.
It's the same thing with Walker, who sets the pace for the Huskies.
"You have to force him into taking tough shots and not giving him step-in 3s,'' said West Virginia point guard Joe Mazzulla, who figures to draw much of the task of defending Walker. "It's the same thing we did to Hansbrough. We have to try to do that with [Walker].''
Hansbrough would be Notre Dame's Ben, another candidate for player of the year. Hansbrough fouled out and made only 7-of-19 shots in a 12-point loss at WVU last weekend. The same Hansbrough scored 30 Monday night against Villanova.
While Walker is UConn's primary threat to score, he isn't the only one. Alex Oriakhi is a 6-9, 240-pound sophomore forward who averages just over 10 points and ranks second in the Big East in rebounding and fifth in blocked shots.
Tonight's game is one of two crucial ones on the Big East schedule in trying to break the logjam in the middle of the standings and elevate teams into the top eight in the conference and a first-round league tournament bye. WVU, UConn, Cincinnati and Marquette are all 9-7 and Cincinnati plays at Marquette tonight.
Tonight's outcomes won't determine the seeding, though. There is a full slate of games on Saturday, including West Virginia's home game with No. 11 Louisville. Including Villanova (9-8) and Georgetown (10-7), there are six teams all within a game of each other in positions six through 11 in the standings. The only league teams that have clinched any sort of a bye so far are Pitt and Notre Dame at the top of the standings.
Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
MORGANTOWN - There's little doubt about the key to beating Connecticut, which is to do something to prevent Kemba Walker from dominating the postgame highlights that are shown on ESPN.
Knowing that key and executing it are two quite different things, though.
West Virginia is up next.
The Mountaineers and the Huskies play tonight at the Coliseum in the first of two significant games WVU plays this week while trying to secure a first-round bye in next week's Big East tournament. West Virginia (18-10, 9-7 Big East) is trying to navigate a crowded field of teams in the middle of the league standings that also includes No. 16 UConn (21-7, 9-7).
Tipoff is at 7 p.m. and the game will be televised by ESPN2.
Walker, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, is among a handful of candidates for Big East player of the year. He is second in the league in scoring (22.8 points per game) and is among the league's top 10 in assists, steals and 3-pointers.
"I think he could very well be the national player of the year,'' West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Tuesday. "He has speed, quickness, an understanding of the game and he does a good job of reading defenses. He's really sound.''
Walker, though, is not infallible. At the beginning of the season he led the nation in scoring and was the reason the Huskies jumped from unranked into the Top 10 in November. But he's no longer the leading scorer in the Big East (that would be Providence's Marshon Brooks), much less the nation, and the Huskies, after starting the season 10-0 and then 17-2 are just 4-5 in their last nine games.
Much of the decline has been fairly simple.
"They're like everybody else,'' Huggins said. "They're a lot better when they're making shots.''
Case in point: In a win at Cincinnati last weekend, UConn shot 50 percent from the floor and made 10-of-19 3-point tries. Three days earlier in a loss at home to Marquette, the Huskies shot 36 percent and missed 17 of their 22 3s. Connecticut in the past few weeks beat Georgetown by shooting 54 percent and lost to St. John's while shooting 36 percent.
It's the same thing with Walker, who sets the pace for the Huskies.
"You have to force him into taking tough shots and not giving him step-in 3s,'' said West Virginia point guard Joe Mazzulla, who figures to draw much of the task of defending Walker. "It's the same thing we did to Hansbrough. We have to try to do that with [Walker].''
Hansbrough would be Notre Dame's Ben, another candidate for player of the year. Hansbrough fouled out and made only 7-of-19 shots in a 12-point loss at WVU last weekend. The same Hansbrough scored 30 Monday night against Villanova.
While Walker is UConn's primary threat to score, he isn't the only one. Alex Oriakhi is a 6-9, 240-pound sophomore forward who averages just over 10 points and ranks second in the Big East in rebounding and fifth in blocked shots.
Tonight's game is one of two crucial ones on the Big East schedule in trying to break the logjam in the middle of the standings and elevate teams into the top eight in the conference and a first-round league tournament bye. WVU, UConn, Cincinnati and Marquette are all 9-7 and Cincinnati plays at Marquette tonight.
Tonight's outcomes won't determine the seeding, though. There is a full slate of games on Saturday, including West Virginia's home game with No. 11 Louisville. Including Villanova (9-8) and Georgetown (10-7), there are six teams all within a game of each other in positions six through 11 in the standings. The only league teams that have clinched any sort of a bye so far are Pitt and Notre Dame at the top of the standings.
Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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