Bob Huggins' West Virginia Mountaineers
(15-8, 5-5 Big East) travel to the Dunkin' Donuts Center on Super Bowl
Sunday to take on the current bottom dwellers of the Big East,
Providence Friars (13-10, 2-8 Big East). The Mountaineers are
returning to action after a much needed week-long break, in which
Huggins' squad lost three games in row to conference foes, St. Johns,
Syracuse, and Pittsburgh. Huggins believes it will take nine Big East
victories to secure a NCAA bid in March, and with #15 Marquette, #25
Louisville, Pitt, and two against Notre Dame in the balance, coach
is touting the Friar's contest as a must-win affair.
Providence, like their opponents before
them, will be playing their third game in seven days and hope to
carry momentum into the contest after handily beating Rutgers at home
on Wednesday, 78-67. The Friars' weary legs, however, will only
compound the difficulty of stopping the Mountaineers' front court
from dominating play inside the paint. West Virginia is ranked 11th
in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage (39.5%) and second
in conference play (40.1%). Look for Huggins' leading scorer (20.9
PPG) and rebounder (11.5 RPG), senior Kevin Jones, to have a career
day against the tired Providence big men.
Eric Mogul likes the Mountaineers to
win by a respectable margin. Vegas opened the contest at -4.5 in favor of West Virginia and that spread is likely to grow by tip off. Jump on board early and bankroll some spending money for the Super Bowl. Best of
luck.
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