MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s victory party following the triumph over Seton Hall was short-lived, thank you.
But then that’s the way it is in the Big East.
Almost before you can say “Hip, hip, hooray,” they’re throwing another, tougher game at you.
For West Virginia, it’s an important battle for seeding in the Big East Tournament and the Mountaineers’ bid to get a second-round bid in the NCAA Tournament, traveling to Hartford to take on the University of Connecticut in a Big Monday matchup.
Tipoff is 7 p.m. on ESPN.
“It’s hard on both teams," Coach Bob Huggins said. "It’s not just the one-day turnaround. Obviously, if the teams are playing on Big Monday, somebody thinks they’re pretty good. It’s two pretty good teams playing each other, and it’s the same for both teams, but it’s a difficult thing.
“I think the tradeoff is the national exposure you get and certainly the national exposure our league gets. It helps everything.”
It is actually about even for both teams, for while UConn is at home, they played Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Rutgers, so they, too, had to travel.
It has been a troubled year for the Huskies, who are used to playing for national titles, let alone Big East titles.
But this year they are an NCAA bubble team with a 16-11 record and 6-8 mark in the conference.
Their coach, Jim Calhoun, who already has his place in the Basketball Hall of Fame, missed a big chunk of the season with an unspecified illness.
What can be said is that Connecticut is looking like a team that’s beginning to peak, possessing talent and coming off three victories in its last four games, the last two on the road.
And one of those victories makes you sit up and take notice, having knocked off Villanova on the road.
Certainly Huggins, who probably is on that same Hall of Fame road, knows that Connecticut is better than its record shows.
“I think it probably starts with that they have a Hall of Fame coach over there that’s won a lot of games,” Huggins said. “They have such great size. They’ve always, somehow, gotten great size to go to Storrs, so consequently, it’s hard to score close. For the last probably 10-12 years they’ve been one of the top two or three teams in the country in blocked shots.”
As everyone knows, WVU likes to try to get to the basket, but they are going to have to deal with Gavin Edwards and Alex Oriakhi, who have blocked 112 shots between them.
As a team, WVU has 107 blocked shots.
“They really limit your goals that you get, and I think the other thing that happens is that leads to transition,” Huggins said. “I think most teams in this league, the top teams in this league, if you play half-court, it’s a heck of a game.
“I think the difference is those are people who can get out in transition and score, and they are certainly a great transition team. They ran up and down with Villanova, arguably best transition team in country, and ran and were successful.”
West Virginia, however, has allowed no one to intimidate it this year, at home or on the road. In fact, the Mountaineers possess 11 road victories, which is tied with Villanova for most in the conference.
With Connecticut’s inside game, Huggins may have to turn to freshman Deniz Kilicli more than in his previous games and Kilicli seems ready for the challenge offensively, although he does have to begin banging the boards harder.
Da’Sean Butler, on his way to becoming the schools third 2,000-point scorer, needs three points for 1,900.
WVU has never won at Connecticut since joining the Big East, going 0-7, two of the losses in Hartford. Calhoun is 13-3 against WVU.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Bob Herzel
WVU visits UConn on Big Monday
- Bob Herzel
-
-
Jones nears milestone as Notre Dame visits WVU
That it is a crucial game in a season that seems to have nothing but, today’s 9 p.m. visit to the Coliseum by a streaking Notre Dame team comes with a historical footnote in the history of West Virginia University basketball.
Kevin Jones enters the game having scored 20 or more points in nine consecutive games. -
WVU source: Battle to join Big 12 nearing conclusion
Indications were growing that West Virginia University’s battle to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 in time for the 2012 season was about to be won, possibly as early as today.
A source within the Mountaineer athletic department said on Tuesday that the matter was nearing a conclusion and also told the Times West Virginian that West Virginia would be reinstating a golf team to compete in the Big 12. -
HERTZEL COLUMN: WVU, Irish strikingly similar
Consider, if you will, that it is Nov. 25 past, that the West Virginia University basketball team is running a routine drill four games into its season, getting ready for the Akron game when Kevin Jones goes down in a heap on the floor, his ACL torn, his season over.
-
WVU source: Battle to join Big 12 nearing conclusion
Indications were growing that West Virginia University’s battle to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 in time for the 2012 season was about to be won, possibly as early as today.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN - Truck drives Mountaineers to needed win
Perhaps it is what has kept him going through a West Virginia basketball career with as many turns as a trip to Pineville down in Wyoming County, but Truck Bryant enjoys being Truck Bryant.
-
WVU finds a way, wins in overtime
Truck Bryant made the headline plays, including a 3-point shot with 3.3 seconds left to play, as West Virginia saved its season with an 87-84 overtime victory at Providence, but the subheads had to be reserved for Deniz Kilicli and a pair of freshman guards.
-
Mountaineers face critical test today at Providence
The schedule tells you it’s another game in the marathon run that is the Big East season, a trip to Providence to play a team with only two conference victories, but somehow everyone connected with the West Virginia University program knows today’s noon meeting with the Friars is much more than that.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN: Jones on the brink of WVU history
On the one hand there is yesterday’s Warren Baker, who entered the WVU Athletic Hall of Fame in the latest class for the work he did from 1973 to 1976, and on the other hand there is today’s star Kevin Jones, who has emerged from the shadows of the likes of Joe Alexander and Da’Sean Butler this year to carve his own niche in Mountaineer basketball history.
-
WVU backs out of Florida State game
West Virginia University has canceled its Sept. 8 football game at Florida State.
Once again, as they have done with virtually everything since announcing they planned to move from the Big East to the Big 12, they did it behind closed doors, without any announcement or statement. -
WVU women upset Louisville
It is foolhardy to put it up there with the Baylors and Notre Dames of the women’s world just yet, but really if you look closely and see potential, much of which came out Saturday afternoon when the Mountaineers upset No. 12/14 Louisville, 66-50, you realize that this team is closer to greatness than it is to mediocrity.
- More Bob Herzel Headlines
-
Jones nears milestone as Notre Dame visits WVU
