Dominic Cheek accounted for all three of the Wildcat’s 3-point scores tonight on his way to 20 points which tied Maalik Wayns to lead the team. Mouphtaou Yarou also chipped in 13 points and 8 rebounds to help the cause.

No other Wildcats would score more than 6 points, most netting just one or two field goals.

Wayns dished out 7 of the team’s 12 assists and was able to grab 2 steals, but he turned the ball over 6 times in the process. Villanova turned the ball over a total of 15 times in a game where the Mountaineers only coughed the ball up 7 times. The Wildcats had their pockets picked 9 times.

While the ‘Eers shot poorly in the first half — just 42% from the field and 25% from deep at the intermission — they turned into a far more efficient machine in the second half. They ended the game shooting 46.9% from the field and 38.1% from deep. Bryant made 4 of 10 from 3, most of those makes coming in the second half. Meanwhile, Darby-native Aaron Brown connected on 2 of 3 from deep, scoring 8 points and stealing the ball a team-leading 3 times.

Maalik Wayns fouled out late in the game while Yarou and James Bell both finished the game with 4 fouls. Once the foul count started to creep in West Virginia’s favor, the Mountaineer’s began to expand their lead rapidly. In the first half, the fouling favored the Wildcats, with just 8 whistles going against the ‘Cats and 10 being blown against the Mountaineers. At full time, however, the ‘Cats had accrued 21 personal fouls and the Mountaineers had just 16.

Though it looked like the second half would be Villanova’s half for a brief moment after the restart, the last few minutes of the game shifted things greatly in WVU’s favor. Even without Deniz Kilicli (foul trouble) and Kevin Jones (eye laceration) for periods of time, the Mountaineers were able to charge ahead. Kilicli and Jones scored 10 and 13 points respectively and combined for 15 rebounds despite each missing portions of the second half.

Villanova allowed WVU to score about 1.17 points per possession in the first half, a number that ballooned to 1.32 in the second, while scoring just 1.03 points per possession themselves. The ‘Cats offense was slightly less efficient in the second half, but their defense was notably less efficient late.

Chalk it up to turnovers and fouls, call them youthful mistakes or look at the bright side of how it was so close for so long. Any way you cut it, the only score that matters is the final one, and 83-69 is ugly. Villanova has now lost five of its last 6 games in Morgantown, West Virginia and has opened Big East play with a disappointing late-game collapse.

Both statistics (KenPom.com) and VUhoops readers gave West Virginia about a 75% chance of winning this game, so the result should not be surprising. The Wildcats, however, will enter 2012 still having a lot of questions to answer.

Kilicli sustained a hip pointer almost a week ago in a game against Missouri State. His recovery is underway, but he was limited in practice on Tuesday. He is the ‘Eers’ third-leading scorer this season, averaging 11.2 points and 6 rebounds per game.

Forsythe, however, is a reserve forward who has only appeared in 7 of 12 games so far this season, averaging 2.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per contest. He has been suffering from back spasms and spent Tuesday morning at the doctor’s office instead of at practice. His loss robs the Mountaineers of some front court depth that will ultimately sting more if Kilicli cannot play.

Villanova has some injury concerns of their own in the front court, however. Mo Sutton is likely sidelined for the midweek game with a viral infection, and Mouph Yarou has been limited in action lately with a sprained ankle (Yarou is “about 80 percent” now). Neither injury will be of much comfort for fans of a team that has little depth in the “size department.” Other than those two players, the Wildcats have just freshman Markus Kennedy checking in at 6-8 or taller.

West Virginia will certainly have their top two players available for the contest, however. Kevin Jones, a 6-8 senior forward averaged a double-double in non-conference play with 21 points and 11.9 rebounds per game — both stats lead all Big East players. Senior point guard, Darryl “Truck” Bryant, has also filled up the box scores with 16.3 points and 3.3 assists per game.

Bryant has been slightly surpassed as a passer by freshman Jabarie Hinds, a 5-11 point guard from New York, who has logged 3.8 assists per game along with 8.3 points and 1.7 steals. He is also one of the best three point shooters on the team, connecting on 40.9% of his 22 attempts.

Bryant is the most-common 3-point shooter, however, pulling the trigger 77 times from deep, he has connected on about 35% of his attempts. Jones also likes to take a shot from distance, but has thus-far had little luck, making just 22.2%. Freshman forward Aaron Brown from Darby, PA has led the team from deep, however, connecting on 48.3% from beyond the arc in a reserve role.

Overall, they have made about 33.3% of their attempts, slightly higher than the 31% of long-rangers that the Wildcats have knocked down.

West Virginia has been a team driven by excellent front court talent under Bob Huggins’ tenure and that is no different this season. The Mountaineers have played well on the front-line both offensively and defensively. They have out-rebounded opponents 42-35.2 on average this season, which has been a slightly better margin than the Wildcats, which means that Villanova will need to work hard, crashing the boards and out-hustling West Virginia in order to maximize their possessions.

Offensively the Mountaineers have scored about 1.11 points per possession so far this season and allowed opponents to score 0.93 points per possession. Villanova, meanwhile has averaged 1.09 points per offensive possession and given up 0.96 per defensive possession. While Villanova’s offensive production has actually declined as the season went along, dropping from a top-20 offense to around 48th right now, the defense has improved slightly in the last few games.

In particular, the Wildcats seemed to handle American University’s shooters well. That may have been a result of an athleticism mismatch or luck as much as skill, of course.

In terms of outside shooting, however, West Virginia is somewhat similar to American. They are not a team with a vast array of sharpshooting weapons, but instead have a subset of players who have been very accurate from beyond the arc. Villanova will have to identify those players on the court and keep pressure on them outside.

Of course, forcing the Mountaineers to go inside probably isn’t a concept that will give Bob Huggins nightmares. His talented front line will be able to make the most of opportunities in the paint as well. This game instantly becomes a test for Yarou and Kennedy to prove they can battle with the bigger bodies inside. When Pinkston or Bell are stationed at the 4, they may have to overcome some height deficits as well.

In order to leave West Virginia with a share of first place in the Big East, the Wildcats will have to grow up quickly. Hustle, rebounding and smart plays on defense will be needed to control the game. Offensively, a similar game plan to the American game would seem favorable, with players like Dominic Cheek limiting attempts from deep in favor of looking for an open shot elsewhere.

This Villanova team has a long way to go to get back on top of the universe. Big East play is as good a time as any to figure things out. After watching an otherwise unimpressive Notre Dame defeat a once-ranked Pittsburgh tonight, we are reminded that in conference play, anything can happen.

The game will tip-off at 7pm tonight and will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com and locally in Philadelphia on ThisTV, a  digital sub-channel of WPHL-17; on SNY in the New York area; and on MASN in the Washington D.C. area.

Don’t forget to post your score in our Closest to the Pin Contest.

ESPN.com

Maalik Wayns and Corey Fisher combined for 33 points and 9 assists while Mouph Yarou and Antonio Pena combined for 21 points and 12 rebounds as the #12 Cats rode a strong defensive effort and solid shooting from behind the arc to defeat #25 West Virginia 66-50 at Wells Fargo Center.

Although the Cats took a lead they ultimately would not surrender with 11:30 remaining in the first half, the game remained close until midway through the second half.  With ‘Nova up 45-40, they went on to outscore the Mountaineers 21-10 the rest of the way.

More to come, but feel free to comment and grade the team and players.

The Closest to the Pin Results are now posted.  Click here to see our winners and updated leader board.

Box Score

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Since our last Q&A with Marquette was so popular, I thought maybe we should do it again. This time, I got in touch with West Virginia blogger, WVUIE97 from the Smoking Musket. As with the last one, I’ll post his answers to my questions here, and you can find my responses to him over on his blog.

1) How much has depth been an issue for the Mountaineers this season? What was your reaction when you heard that Casey Mitchell would be back this weekend?

Funny you should mention depth.  At the start of the season, it looked like Huggs could have gone 9-10 deep on the bench.  Then a series of crazy events happened: one freshman didn’t qualify, one was medically disqualified, and one was dismissed…then the last of the freshman had to have season ending surgery, then a guy gets up and leaves during a game.  It’s been nuts…couple that with Mitchell’s latest suspension.  With him out, WVU has only 8 scholarship players.

As far as Mitchell being back, your question was honestly the first I’d heard of it (I’ve been swamped with football NSD).  It’s not that surprising though.  Our own 5th Year Senior even predicted it (not that it was a stretch) on our podcast recorded last weekend.  Huggins was still non-committal about the situation as late as Thursday (LINK), not that this can’t change quickly.

I hope so.  This team seemed to be on a roll before, just to lay an egg on a somewhat neutral floor against a team that shouldn’t have even have been in the same building, much less lose to them.  Then Jennings left and Mitchell got suspended and things seem to be clicking again.

I expected a team that would at least be able to compete every night.  As far as post-season expectations, I was kinda open minded.  I guess I expected at least a NCAA bid.  They really aren’t any different at the moment.  A few weeks ago they were admittedly a bit lower.

I would have to choose Ed Pinckney.  Anybody who did what he did against the Hoyas when it mattered most is a friend of mine.

It’s generally a mix of man-to-man and a match-up zone where they switch on every screen.  Once in a while they might break out the 1-3-1 zone, but that seems to have become more rare as the season has progressed.

Huggs can surprise with his suits from time to time, but as the season wears on, especially during the Big East grind and beyond, he just wants to be comfortable and seems to be most in the black slacks and black windbreaker.  Jay Wright’s best dressed award will be safe on Saturday, I believe.

Last I heard, he’s a teacher back near his hometown of Martinsburg.  As far as basketball goes, he’s a player/coach for a local semi-pro team in Winchester, VA.

VUHoops vs. Vegas:  Based on the average predicted scores of the VUHoops Crowd and the posted Vegas line, we would have broken even by betting ‘Nova -5.0 (win) and  the Under (loss).  The details follow.  We remain for the season.+$1,000.

Leader Board After 23 Rounds

Update:  Saturday, February 5 (Game Time). A total of 66 VUHoops readers posted predictions, two picking the Mountaineers to win.  As a group, the readers see ‘Nova winning by a score of 73-67 (a margin of 6.0 points and implied over/under of 140).  The Vegas odds makers also are picking ‘Nova to win by 5.0 points and set the over/under at 135  points, implying a final score of 70-65.  KenPom.com’s model is predicting Nova to win by 4.0 points by a score of 69-65.

Scatter Plot of Predicted Scores

Window Opening:  Friday, February 4 (5:30 AM). The window is now open for readers to post their predicted final scores for ‘Nova’s game vs. West Virginia on Saturday at 12 Noon (Wells Fargo Center) in our Closest to the Pin Contest.  After twenty-two rounds, Barney Rubble has taken the lead with 16.0 points.  Click here to see our updated leader board.  In our VUHoops vs. Vegas competition, VUHoops is up $1,000.

The #12 Cats (18-4, 6-3) have an RPI of 15, a SOS of 29, and are scoring an average of 76.0 PPG while giving up an average of 64.0 PPG.  The #25 Mountaineers (15-6, 6-3) have an RPI of 14, a SOS of 5, and are scoring an average of 72.0 PPG while giving up an average of 63.8 PPG.

West Virginia’s Big East wins have come against DePaul (+2), Georgetown (+6), Providence (+30), South Florida (+10), Cincinnati (+11) and Seton Hall (+12).  Their Big East losses have come against St. John’s (-10), Marquette (-5) and Louisville (-1).  More statistical information about West Virginia is available at Statsheet.com.

Be sure to read Brian’s game preview.

Special Note:  When posting scores, remember to list your predicted score for Villanova first, followed by the opponent’s score (e.g., ‘Nova 70 – West Virginia 65).

Well, Mitchell is back this weekend, and the ‘Eers are right in the thick of the Big East race, despite playing with just eight healthy scholarship players for a long stretch. They currently sit at 6-3 in the conference with their best conference win over Georgetown.

In addition to the guard, Mitchell, who averages 16.6 points per game and 3.6 rebounds, the Mountaineers have two other players who have averaged double-digit scoring. Junior forward Kevin Jones averages 13. 2 ppg and 7.1 rebounds. Junior point guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant puts up 11 points and dishes out 3.2 assists per contest.

The Mountaineers also go to sophomore forward Deniz Kilicli a lot, and he has scored 6.9 ppg to go with 4.2 rebounds in an average of 16.4 minutes per game. Meanwhile senior forward John Flowers and guard Joe Mazzulla are also notable contributors, with Flowers’ main role cleaning up on the boards while Mazzulla actually leads the team in assists with 3.4 per game.

At 37%, Mitchell is the team’s best option among the starters shooting from deep, but Jonnie West (the NBA logo’s son) leads the team in that category at 43.8% (though, he only plays an average of 10.2 minutes).

During Mitchell’s suspension, Cam Thoroughman has seen his role on the team increase notably, playing as much as 26 minutes against Seton Hall. He has been asked to score more while on the court, but so far his strongest performance was a 10-point game against SHU.

While they have played a lot of man defense this season, the Mountaineers have a tendency to switch defenses, and did so effectively against the Wildcats last season. When it appeared that the ‘Cats struggled most against a zone last year, the Mountaineers took advantage of that fact.  It will be key for Villanova to not allow the switching defenses to catch them off-guard.

Opponents shoot well against WVU from 3-point land, and the ‘Cats should look to get Corey Stokes going in this game to take advantage of that fact. The Mountaineers look to do most of their scoring from inside the arc, and as usual present a tough match-up for the Villanova bigs with a lot of talent on their frontline. It remains to be seen if Mouph Yarou and Antonio Pena can repeat their performance from Wednesday. If they can, it would go a long way toward earning a 7th win on Saturday afternoon.

West Virginia clawed it’s way back into the AP top-25 over the first half of the Big East season, and this is a team that is nothing if not motivated to win games. The ‘Cats will have to present a balanced attack offensively and find ways to match up with the WVU bigs on defense. The WVU backcourt is also talented, but Stokes or Cheek should be able to handle Casey Mitchell, while Fisher and Wayns take on Bryant and Mazzulla.

Teams that play tough tend to win the most games in the Big East, and I’d like to see some tough play in the post on Saturday, as well as a commitment to driving the lane  and consistent ball movement, from our guards.

The game will tip off at Noon from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and television coverage will be provided by ESPN.

ALSO: Don’t forget to check out the Q&A I did with The Smoking Musket, and get your entries in for Closest to the Pin.

The tiebreaker is to make it a mini-conference among Villanova, West Virginia, and Pitt.

• Pitt, 2-1
• WVU, 2-2
• Villanova, 1-2

Pitt wins the mini-conference and is the 2 seed because they have the best winning percentage, regardless of how many games played. West Virginia gets the 3 seed b/c they have the next best record in the mini-conference.

If Pitt loses, Villanova and WVU are in a 2-way tie for second. I’m still figuring that out, but I think Villanova can be the 2 Seed, because the Wildcats beat Notre Dame and West Virginia lost to them.

Despite holding the Mountaineers to only 16 points in the first half, Villanova (24-6, 13-5) was outscored by 13 in the second half and needed an NBA-range 3-pointer from Corey Fisher with 13 seconds remaining to send the game to the extra frame.

In OT, Villanova made 3 free throws and didn’t record a field goal until 35 seconds remained. After going ahead on a Da’Sean Butler layup with 5.3 seconds remaining, Scottie Reynolds couldn’t connect on a buzzer beating 3-pointer to win the game for ‘Nova.

If he did, his legend would have grown.

Reynolds led the Wildcats with 17 points and is now in 2nd place on Villanova’s all-time scoring list. Corey Fisher added 12 points for Nova and Corey Stokes had 11.

Nova’s 13-5 finish means the Wildcats will either finish with the 3rd seed for the Tournament or the 4th, if Pittsburgh defeats Rutgers this evening.

NOTE: Taylor King did not play as a “teaching point”.

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