West Virginia-Seton Hall: Tale Of The Tape

By Paul Gotham

Setting: Big East Conference play opens when Bob Huggins brings his No.6 West Virginia Mountaineers (9-0) north to New Jersey for a tangle with Bobby Gonzalez and his Seton Hall Pirates (9-1).

Plot: WVU is looking to use its early-season streak to vault into conference play. The Mountaineers’ six spot in the polls is the program’s highest ranking since 1982. West Virginia has won 30 in a row during the month of December. Seton Hall is looking to prove the validity of its record.

Sub-plot: The Mountaineers have had little time for holiday gatherings. Wednesday night West Virginia downed Ole Miss, 76-66. Tuesday, Seton Hall defeated Navy, 94-56. Life does not get any easier for Seton Hall as the Pirates play No.5 Syracuse on Tuesday.

Flashback: The Mountaineers are 13-11 against the Pirates – including six of the last ten meetings between conference rivals. Alex Ruoff and De’Sean Butler each scored 18 as WVU downed Seton Hall last year, 92-66. Seton Hall’s last victory over WVU came in 2006. On that day, Kelly Whitney scored 21 and grabbed 12 boards as the Pirates won, 71-64.

Since joining the Big East, West Virginia is 6-8 in league openers.

Seton Hall is 1-16 all time against No.6 ranked opponents. The last time the Pirates defeated the sixth team in the country was in 1992 when they defeated Ohio State.

Conflict: Seton Hall went 10-11 from long range and scored 64 points in the second half against Navy, but Bobby Gonzalez’s crew will need a different focus come tip off today. The Mountaineers can score in bunches as evidenced by Wednesday night’s second half outburst. Wellington Smith led the Mountaineers hitting four threes in the first 4:30 of the second half. Smith led three Mountaineers in double figures. Devin Ebanks scored 14 and Kevin Jones chipped in 12. Pre-season All American, De’Sean Butler was only needed for nine points.

WVU outrebounded Ole Miss, the No.21 team in the country, 50-28. Ebanks topped the Rebels starting five on the offensive glass, 8-7.

Herb Pope grabbed 20 rebounds in a win earlier this season over VMI. Pope will need to step up his efforts against the active Mountaineer front line.

Jeremy Hazell leads four Pirates in double figures with 20 points. Pope adds 14 points. Robert Mitchell and Jamel Jackson chip in 11.7 and 10.3 respectively.

Eugene Harvey leads the Pirates with 58 assists and an assist to turnover ratio of 2.1/1.

Resolution: In his fourth year, Bobby Gonzalez is not looking for moral victories, but that is what his team may need from this match up. The Mountaineers will give the Pirates a dose of top ten medicine. Seton Hall can use this experience in preparation for the rest of Big East play.