BIG EAST GAME PREVIW: WEST VIRGINIA @ VILLANOVA

February 20, 2008


West Virginia and Villanova is an interesting game taking place at the Pavillion on the Villanova campus tonight. The Mountaineers are on a two-game winning streak following victories over Rutgers and Seton Hall last week while the Wildcats have won two of three following a five-game losing streak.

Here are the local media game previews and stories on tonight's game:


Huggins: WVU Will Make Big East Tourney (Times West Virginian)
Stretch Run Important for WVU (WV Metro News)
Defense is Mountaineers Focus (Daily Mail)
Hahn Happy, Coaching Again (Philadelphia Inquirer)

The Mountaineers are 7-5 and sitting in pretty good shape heading into the Big East's stretch run. However, the schedule is no picnic with four of their final six games on the road and home dates with Providence and Pitt mixed in. The slate of road games begin tonight with a date in Philadelphia to face Villanova.

After a 55-54 loss at Pittsburgh, Bib Huggins was highly critical of his team's play in the clutch. They responded with a couple easy wins over Rutgers and Seton Hall, but expect tonight to be a stiffer challenge on the road and a good barometer to see if their coach's words have pushed them forward.

Villanova has looked much better recovering from a 5-game swoon, edging Seton Hall at home and losing to Georgetown on a controversial foul in the last second. Villanova rebounded from that loss by pounding St. John's over the weekend. The Wildcats have several athletic players and will try to pressure the ball against the Mountaineers. They really need to defend the way they have in their last two games to come up with a victory tonight, losing the WVU shooters like Alex Ruoff, Darris Nichols or Joe Mazzulla would be costly. Each team matches up with the other in the frontcourt, so it could come down to the guards.

Corey Fisher and Scottie Reynolds will be the key in this game. If they can both manage to play effecient offensively together, I think the Wildcats will pull out a win at home. However, those two have not seemed to gel together as one is either on and the other off or, they are both off. In the race to secure a Big East Tournament berth, the Wildcats need this game.

West Virginia is a slight favorite, but I am going to go with the home team. I think the Wildcats will continue to improve defensively and they match-up well inside against WVU. It will come down to how productive Fisher and Reynolds are, I think they have a good game in unison tonight.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Villanova 71 West Virginia 67