Bright lights, big challenge in Gotham

West Virginia Mountaineers guard Juwan Staten (3) calls out a play against Marshall during the second half last Sunday.

 

NEW YORK — As far as learning curves go, Bob Huggins’ team could do worse than a 9-1 start and a No. 22 perch in the AP poll. And now he educates the Mountaineers by taking them into Gotham two days before an MSG showdown against N.C. State and unleashing them on the sidewalks.

“You try and tell them don’t buy watches and the first thing they do is buy watches,” Huggins said. “They’ll say, ‘I thought I was buying a Gucci and when I looked at it it was an Uuchi. There’s no G, but it was only $30.’

“Yeah, but if you would have walked around the corner it was only $15. They’ll figure it out.”

And West Virginia will continue figuring out what brand of team it actually has against the Wolfpack (9-2), a decent though hardly overwhelming outfit, probably on par with LSU. And we saw how that movie ended.

West Virginia’s top victory to date—blistering UConn 78-68 in Puerto Rico—seemingly diminishes in quality almost daily. That adds mass to game like Saturday night’s, played on national television and on one of the East Coast’s most legendary neutral courts.

According to Ken Pomeroy’s rankings, the Mountaineers have faced the nation’s 267th-rated schedule out of 351 Division I teams. Distilled further, that puts WVU 49th among the 75 power-conference teams in strength of schedule.

Is West Virginia a Gucci or merely a knockoff? What transpires tonight at Madison Square Garden, against N.C. State—picked ninth in the 15-team ACC—should help us hone in.

WEST VIRGINIA (9-1) vs. N.C. STATE (9-2)

Tipoff: 9:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden in New York (ESPN2)

Scouting the Wolfpack: Alabama transfer Trevor Lacey, a top-40 recruit in 2012, is averaging 17.2 points and shooting 54 percent from the floor. In late-shotclock situations, he’ll iso and launch a dangerous pull-up jumper. Another transfer guard, former LSU standout Ralston Turner, averages 14.9 but poured in 33 on a career-best eight 3s against Tennessee on Wednesday. Most of those came after N.C. State beat UT’s zone press. … By no means a gambling defense on the perimeter, the Pack gets stingy at the rim with 6.8 blocks per game that ranks No. 6 nationally. More than half of those belong to 6-foot-9 BeeJay Anya, he of the 7-foot-9 wingspan and an offseason diet that brought him down to 295 pounds.

Coaching the Wolfpack: Mark Gottfried is revered more for signing talented players than developing them, but his three-year win totals at N.C. State—24, 24 and 22—look impressive for a program that averaged only 16 in the four seasons preceding him. … During 11 seasons at Alabama, Gottfried led his alma mater to five NCAA berths and one Elite Eight before being fired midway through the 2009 season.He got his break as an assistant on the Jim Harrick-coached UCLA team that won it all in 1995, back when Ed O’Bannon was known more as a smooth-gliding forward and not a civil plaintiff.

Back at MSG: Huggins longs to play at least one game in NYC each season in order to keep up recruiting appearances. The Mountaineers haven’t played here since the Big East Tournament of March 2012 when they failed to hold a late 10-point lead and lost to UConn in overtime 71-67.

“Unfortunately the last thing I remember is giving the Connecticut game away. And we gave it away,” Huggins said. “We let Shabazz (Napier) come and take it out of our hand twice. That wasn’t a good deal. That’s what I remember.”

WVU numbers: West Virginia leads the country by forcing 23.1 turnovers per game, more than double what N.C. State gives up (10.8). … Juwan Staten (15.2 points, 4.1 assists) is coming off a squirrelly game in the 69-66 win against Marshall. His 15 points tied for the team-high and he made two clutch offensive plays in the final 4 minutes, but he also finished negative-10 in the plus-minus by sitting out a 7-minute stretch as WVU rallied. … The Mountaineers’ other double-digit scorers are Jonathan Holton (11.6), who has missed 11 straight 3-pointers, and Devin Williams (10.2), who has made more than 50 percent of his shots only once this season.

New York ties: Jaysean Paige hails from Jamestown, N.Y., and Tarik Phillip grew up in Brooklyn, but neither has played a game at MSG.

RPIs: West Virginia 34, N.C. State 57

Line: West Virginia -1

Prediction: West Virginia 66-64







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