BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Providence @ West Virginia

January 17, 2006


West Virginia is coming off a 104-85 home win over Marquette in a game that saw the Mountaineers bury the Golden Eagles in a barrage of 20 made 3-pters. WVU is 4-0 in the Big East for the first time in their conference history and look to make it 5 straight tonight against the Friars before they venture out of conference for games with UCLA and Marshall.

Providence dropped their third straight to open the conference schedule last weekend by falling at Notre Dame, 92-77. Providence is not a strong rebounding team and has trouble taking care of the ball, let alone their perimeter defense was shredded from beyond the arc against Notre Dame, West Virginia must be licking their chops in this one.

Each team is on the thin side, usually playing 7 or 8 players. With PC, that is all they have. The similarities end there as the Friars have 6 freshmen and sophomores in their 8-man rotation while the Mountaineers have 7 juniors and seniors among their top 8 (5 seniors). PC turns the ball over almost 16 times a game and WVU turns it over just 9 times, while forcing 18 a game on defense. Offensively, each team puts up about the same amount of points, but the Friars are dead last in the Big East, allowing 76 pts a game, over 80 a game on the road. When the Friars are on the road, their opponents score an average of 10 pts higher than their season average against PC, so, it looks good for West Virginia to score in the mid 80's, at least.

Providence is young and will compete the entire game and with just 8 players available, they will put up some numbers, however, much of it might game when the game is already in hand. Experience and shooting of WVU should carry the Mountaineers, as 12-pt favorites, from wire to wire in this one.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

West Virginia 86 Providence 72

Leave your prediction in the comments section!