West Virginia looking for payback against UConn in Big East quarterfinals

Thursday, March 13, 2008
2 PM - Madison Square Garden

#4 UConn vs. #5 West Virginia

West Virginia outlasted Providence in the opening round of the Big East, 58-53, to set up a rematch from earlier this month with No.14 UConn. The Huskies edged the Mountaineers on March 1st, 79-71 in the only meeting between the two teams this season.

Head coach Bob Huggins has his alma mater on the verge of making the NCAA Tournament in just his first year at the helm in Morgantown. West Virginia has won five of their last six games. Despite beating Marquette twice this season, West Virginia’s lone quality road win away from home was the win over Marquette, so the Mountaineers surely could use a win on the big stage in MSG to further boost their tournament hopes. Joe Alexander has been stellar down the stretch for West Virginia, putting the Mountaineers on his back and shouldering the load offensively. Alexander led WVU in scoring for the sixth time in seven games against Providence, finishing with 22 points. The Mountaineers did an excellent job of closing out a tight, see-saw battle against the Friars, finishing the game on an 11-5 run, while forcing six Providence turnovers in the final seven minutes.

UConn is fresh off a regular season home finale pasting of Cincinnati, 96-52. The Huskies buried Cincy with a 30-0 run in the first half, and held the Bearcats to a measly 15 points in the first half. UConn has won three of their last four, with head coach Jim Calhoun’s squad sporting five players in double figures. UConn presents a size problem in the frontcourt for West Virginia. Earlier in the year, the likes of Blake Griffin and Longar Longar in the frontcourt for Oklahoma beat down and wore out WVU, and the Huskies potent trio of forwards Stanley Robinson and Jeff Adrien, along with center Hasheem Thabeet will create mismatches on the floor for an undersize Mountaineers team. Adrien leads UConn in scoring (14.8 ppg) and rebounds (9.1 rpg). Guard A.J. Price is second in scoring behind Adrien (14.70 and first in assists, dishing out 6.0 apg.

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Price led UConn with 24 points in the win over West Virginia on the March 1st, leading four Huskies in double figures in scoring. Thabeet was plagued by foul trouble, picking up two early fouls in the previous meeting. He was reduced to spending a significant amount of time on the bench, and the big man wasn’t much of a factor, finishing with only two points and two rebounds in 18 minutes. Down 13 points at halftime, Alexander did his best Superman impersonation, scoring 20 points in the second half. Alexander pepped UConn for 32 points in all, to go along with 10 rebounds. Alexander though, received little help from the rest of his teammates. Guard Alex Ruoff had 12, but De’Sean Butler and Darris Nichols combined for 16 points on 6-of-21 shooting.

The winner will advance to the semifinals on Friday night.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content

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