Scottie Reynolds led the way for Villanova (21-2, 10-1) with 21 points and moved into 4th place on Villanova’s all-time Scoring List. Villanova used an early streak in the first half to gain an eleven point edge at the intermission. The Wildcats used excellent outside shooting from the outside, hitting at a 57% clip  (29-51) including 5-11 from behind the three-point arc (46%).

The disparity in the game came at the charity stripe. ‘Nova nailed 19 of 22 free throws, while West Virginia only hit 18 in 32 opportunities as the Wildcats rebounded from their first conference loss over the weekend against Georgetown. Villanova also out-rebounded the Mountaineer, 37-27.

Corey Fisher added 17 points and Antonio Pena had 10 points and 9 boards.

Villanova returns to game action on Saturday when they take on Providence from the Wachovia Center.

The AP Poll has ‘Nova placed at #4 behind Kansas, Syracuse, and Kentucky.

The USA Today/ESPN Poll has ‘Nova at #5 behind Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, and West Virginia….

Both teams have had difficulty traveling this weekend with the snowpocalypse that fell on the northeast. West Virginia is coming off a 19-point win over St. Johns on Saturday, but were forced to spend an extra night in New York because of the weather.

While Villanova will be finishing up a seven day stretch where they have had three games, while West Virginia is in the middle of a stretch of four games in ten days (and this will be their third in six).

West Virginia has a formidable home court advantage (due to the above-noted boorish-fans). In fact, Jay Wright has not yet won a game in Morgantown, but he had also won seven of eight in the Verizon Center before Saturday — history doesn’t necessarily repeat itself.

West Virginia is lead by forward Da’Sean Butler, who averages 17.3 ppg on 44.8% shooting (40.4% from beyond the arc), as well as 6.2 rebounds per game. Even though he is a forward, he registers about twice as many assists as turnovers per game.

Much like Scottie Reynolds, Butler moved into fifth place in West Virginia’s all-time scoring list this season and has the school record in his sights.

Devin Ebanks is the leading rebounder on the WVU team, with 8.7 per game, paired with 1.1 steals and 0.8 blocks. The sophomore forward has also been scoring 11.1 points per game on 42.8% shooting (but only a paltry 11.5% from three-point range). The second-leading rebounder is freshman, Kevin Jones, who averages 7.6 rebounds and 14.2 points (54.2% FG) in 31.7 minutes.

The leading 3-point shooter for the Mountaineers is Wellington Smith, who has connected on 45.5% of his shots from beyond the arc. Though he has played in every game so far, his minutes have been cut into by the end of Deniz Kilicli’s NCAA suspension (for playing as an amateur on a Turkish developmental team with a professional player on it’s roster). Kilicli is averaging 7 ppg and 1 rebound in 7 minutes per game over the last two games.

Sophomore point guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant has the fourth-best scoring average for the Mountaineers at 10.3 points per game. Besides Bryant, Ebanks, Jones and Butler, no other West Virginia player is averaging double digits.

West Virginia has a rotation of about eight players who average double-digit minutes (and one, Dalton Peppers, who averages 9.7 minutes). While Deniz Kilicli averages only 7 minutes per game, his role on the team can be expected to expand, while taking minutes away from other players in the frontcourt rotation.

The Mountaineers do a good job of protecting the ball, registering 16.3 assists to 10.6 turnovers in Big East competition this year. They have also tended to out-rebound opponents, 41.9 to 34.8. Villanova has averaged 42.9 rebounds and 14.1 turnovers per game in the Big East. The Wildcats will have to improve upon that turnover number tonight.

While the Mountaineers average only 69.2% from the free throw line, it would make sense to watch out for Da’Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks, both of whom hit over 80% from the charity stripe. Ebanks has connected on 81.7% of his attempts this season to lead the team. Therefore, fouling either player would be an inefficient defensive strategy.

WVU has also hit about 37% of it’s three-point shots this season. Villanova will have to do a better job of guarding the perimeter than they did against Georgetown. KenPom rates West Virginia’s offense 4th (a spot below Villanova) and their defense 22nd (far ahead of Villanova, who has dropped back to 64th after the weekend). The only Big East foe with a higher defensive ranking that Villanova has beaten so far has been St. Johns (55th). They have also defeated Dayton (20th) and Maryland (24th) on neutral courts in the out of conference schedule.

The Wildcats need to play much better defense to beat the Mountaineers. They will need to avoid bad fouls and control the perimeter. Ball control will also be important against a team that does not commit a lot of turnovers. This is a team that can run with the Wildcats if they try to push the pace. It would be a better game plan to slow the pace down a little and concentrate on efficiency and maintaining possession.

The game will be part of ESPN’s Rivalry Week lineup. It will tip off at 7pm from Morgantown.

Also, don’t forget to check out Ed’s Closest to the Pin contest.

Now it’s time for us, the fans, to move on as well.

What are your thoughts for the West Virginia game? Don’t forget to get your entries in for Ed’s Closest to the Pin Contest for the game with the Mountaineers.

Who are you rooting for in the Super Bowl? Are you rooting for Arsenal or Chelsea today in their Premiership match at Stamford Bridge?

Oh, and in case you missed it, Scottie Reynolds’ three pointer with 7:33 remaining pushed him past John Pinone, Allan Ray, and Howard Porter and into 5th place on Villanova’s All-Time Scoring record.

Update:  Monday, February 8, 8:00 AM. 

Window Opening: Sunday, February 7, 10:00 AM.  With the distraction of the Super Bowl this afternoon, we decided on an early opening for readers to post their predicted final scores for Monday’s game at West Virginia in our Closest to the Pin Contest.  After eighteen rounds, our leader board shows Andy ‘06 in first place with 20 points, Pete in second place with 15 points, and Tommyboy in third place with 14 points.

So far this season, Villanova (20-2, 9-1) has scored an average of 85.2 points while holding their opponents to 72.0. West Virginia (19-3, 8-2) has scored an average of 73.8 points while giving up 61.5 points. The Mountaineers more notable wins have come @ Seton Hall (+6), vs. Marquette (+1), vs. Rutgers (+34), @ South Florida (+19), vs. Louisville (+3), vs. Pittsburgh (+19), and @ St. Johns (+19).  Their three losses were @ Purdue (-15), @ Notre Dame (-2), and vs. Syracuse (-1).  Villanova presently is ranked #2, has an RPI of 5 and an SOS of 32. West Virginia presently is ranked #6, has an RPI of 4 and an SOS of 10.

We’ll post our game preview and the Las Vegas spread and over / under on game day.  NOTE: With VUHoops’ new commenting system, it is important for contestants to use a consistent handle/login name so that we can keep an accurate running leader board over the course of the season.

Villanova was cold entering the game as well as on the court.

#2 Villanova found themselves down 19 at the half and could never claw back to overcome Georgetown.

The Wildcats (20-2, 9-1) got back to within 10 points with 5 minutes to go, but could never shrink the Hoyas’ lead to single digits before losing 103-90.

Corey Fisher and Scottie Reynolds had 24 points each for ‘Nova to lead the Wildcats. Corey Stokes added 10. with today’s efforts, Fisher crossed the 1,000 point mark, and Reynolds passed John Pinone, Allan Ray, and Howard Porter to move into 5th place on Villanova’s All-Time Scoring List.

Georgetown was on fire from distance, they 10-19 from 3-point land. From the field, they shot an excellent 56.3% overall. Villanova ended the game 9-27 from 3, but 5 of those were in the last 4 minutes to make the stat sheet look better than it was.

Villanova now travels to Morgantown to face West Virginia on Monday evening.

Closest to the Pin Results:  With the Georgetown handing Nova its first Big East loss 90-103, we congratulate three VUH readers who were the least wrong with their predictions.  Gold Medal: Jim89 (93-88), earning 5 points; Silver Medal: NJ Super’Nova (87-86), earning 3 points; Bronze Medal: TK87 (88-81), earning 1 point.   For the standings after 18 rounds, wee our updated Leader Board.

Villanova carries its 20-1 (9-0) record and its #2 ranking into Washington DC to take on the #7 Hoyas.

Georgetown (16-5, 6-4) will need to rely on their big man, Greg Monroe. The 6′10″ sophomore scored 29 points and had 14 rebounds against Villanova in the two teams’ first matchup at the Wachovia Center in the middle of January.  Look for Villanova to throw a combination of Antonio Pena and Mouphtaou Yarou to man up to Monroe with even spot coverage from Isaiah Armwood.

“Our depth overall is really fun,” noted Coach Wright. “A lot of people tell me it must be so tough keeping the guys happy but they are not difficult to coach. They want to use our depth to an advantage.”

The Wildcats are running a rotation of 11-men, with 10 of them getting more than 9 minutes per game. Georgetown’s bench has scored a combined 16 points in their past two games. Keeping someone fresh on Monroe should wear Georgetown down, and keeping the entire squad tireless will allow Villanova to play their up-tempo offensive style and tenaciousness on defense.

This is the 68th meeting between the two schools.  Georgetown holds the edge 39-28. Jay Wright is 6-7 against the Hoyas.

Other Notes

• Corey Fisher currently has 995 career points at Villanova.
• Stretching back to last season, Villanova has won 11 consecutive regular season BIG EAST games.
• Tipoff is slated for 1202p ET
• Nationwide broadcast on ESPN

Don’t forget to participate in Ed’s Closest to the Pin Contest!

UPDATE — Game Results:  With the Georgetown handing Nova its first Big East loss 90-103, we congratulate three VUH readers who were the least wrong with their predictions.  Gold Medal: Jim89 (93-88), earning 5 points; Silver Medal: NJ Super’Nova (87-86), earning 3 points; Bronze Medal: TK87 (88-81), earning 1 point.   Select “read more” to see the names of the 59 readers now on our Leader Board after 18 rounds.

LEADER BOARD AFTER 18 ROUNDS

Update:  Saturday, February 6, 12:00 Noon (Game Time)  A total of 67 VUH readers posted predictions (six predicting a Georgetown victory).  Collectively, the readers see Nova winning 80-75 (a margin of 5 points and implied over/under of 155).   The Vegas odds-makers see it differently,   favoring Georgetown (-2) with the over- under set at 151, implying a final score of 75-77).  Continue reading for our scatter graph depicting the VUH readers’ predictions as well as statistical information on Georgetown.  Note:  bosshoghazzard’s pick favoring Nova 110-70 did not fit within the scale of the chart.

Window Opening: Thursday, February 4, 9:00 PM. The window is now open for readers to post their predicted final scores for Saturday’s game at Georgetown in our Closest to the Pin Contest.  After seventeen rounds, our leader board shows Andy ‘06 in first place with 20 points, Pete in second place with 15 points, and Tommyboy in third place with 14 points.

So far this season, Villanova (20-1, 9-0) has scored an average of 85.0 points while holding their opponents to 70.5. Georgetown (16-5, 6-4) has scored an average of 72.5 points while giving up 63.2 points. The Hoya’s more notable wins have come vs. Temple (+1), vs. Connecticut (+3), vs. Seton Hall (+12), @ Pittsburgh (+8) and vs. Duke (+12).  Their five losses were vs. Old Dominion (-4), @ Marquette (-3), @ Villanova (-5), @ Syracuse (-17) and vs. South Florida (-8). Villanova is ranked #2, has an RPI of 3 and an SOS of 47. Georgetown is ranked #7, has an RPI of 8 and an SOS of 2. We’ll post our game preview and the Las Vegas spread and over / under on game day.

NOTE: With VUHoops’ new commenting system, it is important for contestants to use a consistent handle/login name so that we can keep an accurate running leader board over the course of the season.