BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Seton Hall @ West Virginia

February 17, 2007


John Beilein will look take West Virginia to a 20-win season for the third year in a row as the Mountaineers look to earn a season sweep over the Seton Hall Pirates. The Pirates desperately look to break their six-game conference losing streak and their winless record on the road in Big East competition.

West Virginia still has plenty to play for as they are still very much in the hint for a 1st round bye in the Big East Tournament. The competition is crowdes for the bye as they currently trail Marquette and Louisville by a game and are tied with Syracuse and Notre Dame at 7-5. Their NCAA Tournament hopes also would get quite a significant set-back if they were to lose at home to the Pirates.

They played 14 days ago in New Jersey and the Mountaineers came away with an 81-70 victory as New Jersey native Da'Sean Butler scored 21 points in the WVU win. The Mountaineers will look to use their 1-3-1 zone defense and trap to confuse the young Pirates, in the first contest, it led to 18 turnovers by SHU. West Virginia does not match-up with too many teams size-wise, but SHU is one team where WVU actually might have a size advantage.

Seton Hall will look to push tempo and pressure the WVU ballhandlers. If they are unable to force turnovers, they will probably be made to pay by the WVU offense as they look to hit open three's and run backdoor cuts for easy baskets.

The Mountaineers have not been shooting the ball well of late. I have a feeling that streak ends on Saturday.

NBE Blogger Prediction: West Virginia 79 Seton Hall 65