BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: West Virginia @ Georgetown

February 12, 2006



West Virginia will look to rebound from their first conference loss of the year when they travel to face Georgetown on Sunday evening. West Virginia heads into the weekend in a three-way tie with Villanova and Connecticut at 8-1 in the conference, but are in the midst of a very difficult portion of their schedule.

Nipping at the heels of the three leaders are the Georgetown Hoyas. At 7-2 in the conference, the Hoyas, winners of seven straight games, are playing as well as anyone in the conference, or country, for that matter.

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On Thursday night, the Mountaineers lost at Pittsburgh, 57-53, ending their unbeaten run in the conference at 8 games. West Virginia looked tired, especially new father Kevin Pittsnogle, who went scoreless, shooting 0-12 from the field before fouling out. As a team, they shot 6-27 from beyond the arc. Their defense was forcing a lot of turnovers early on, but in the 2nd half, they seemed to be a step slower than the Panthers to the ball and on the defensive side. It was surprising the game was a close as it was.

Georgetown has been playing tremendous defense over the last four games, giving up just 50 PPG in that span. They have unleashed a devastating match-up zone that nobody has been able to solve of late. Georgetown likes to play a deliberate style and, even with superior size, they can match up very well with Georgetown with Jeff Green and Brandon Bowman able to play the post positions on offense and cover the perimeter shooters of West Virginia. Roy Hibbert will pose another stiff test to Pittsnogle with his ability to move and shoot over his 7'2 frame.

With consecutive road games with Pittsburgh, Georgetown and Seton Hall, before returning home to face Connecticut and then travelling to Syracuse (all in the span of 11 days), the lack of depth and dependency on perimeter shooting will test West Virginia to their limits. They have already looked to be tirning from a tough non-conference schedule that had them playing Texas and Kentucky in the Guardian's classic out in Kansas City, taking a flight out to UCLA in the middle of conference play, playing rival Marshall in the same week, along with another out of conference trip back in December to face Oklahoma in Oklahoma City really looks to have taken a toll on a team that really has played only 7 guys all year long. Add in Kevin Pittsnogle being a new Daddy, it will not be surprising to see this team run out of gas.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Georgetown 71 West Virginia 61