MARQUETTE PREVIEW

By Matt Whitfield

Before this season began Bob Huggins knew playing in the Big East wouldn’t be easy. Even for the casual fan this becomes so ever evident Saturday when the Mountaineers visit Milwaukee to take on their second ranked opponent in less than five days. While Marquette isn’t a physically dominating, rebounding team, they are a team that certainly can score.

Dominic James quarterbacks a team that has three of the Big East top scorers in Lazar Hayward, Jerel McNeal, and Wesley Matthews; as each averages over 16 points a game for the Golden Eagles. West Virginia will counter that Saturday with an offense lead at the point by Darryl ‘Tuck’ Bryant, De’Sean Butler at forward, and Alex Ruoff at guard. Ruoff and Butler also are two of the better scorers in the Big East as each averages around 16 points a game.

If West Virginia is to leave frigid Milwaukee victorious Saturday they will need their rugged top ranked defense to hold the Golden Eagles down. Marquette is a team that can shoot the lights out as they shoot 54.7 from the field, and have two of their leading scorers in McNeal and Matthews who average over forty-five percent from the three point line. West Virginia, if it plays like it has all season though, can counter this as they are league leaders in 3 point defense, turnover margin, and opponent scoring. Expect a close game tomorrow as despite the odds or cards stacked against him, Huggins always seems to do a better job than seemingly with what he has on the table.