WVU Mountaineer Sports: Basketball | Football | News |Men’s Basketball: WVU vs. Providence Preview

The West Virginia basketball team heads to Rhode Island to take on Providence, looking to end their three-game skid.

The Mountaineers have losses to St. John's, Syracuse and Pittsburgh over the past two weeks.  As the season winds down, they have to get it together to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive and Sunday will be their best opportunity to do so.  The Friars are currently in last place in the Big East, but did win their last contest against Rutgers at home. 

Inconsistency has been a big issue with this year's Mountaineer team.  They arguably had their worst performance of the season against St. John's in Madison Square Garden.  They then went to the Carrier Dome and took Syracuse, the No. 4 team in the country, to the wire and if not for a blown goaltending call, the game had a good chance of going to overtime.  Two days later, WVU returned to the Coliseum for the Backyard Brawl against Pitt and struggled on their way to another loss.

The one thing that has been consistent all season for the Mountaineers is senior Kevin Jones.  He has scores at least 20 points eight games in a row, averaging 11.3 rebounds along the way.  Truck Bryant hopes to get back on track after struggling the past four games.  He has shot just 27% from the field during that stretch.  Except for the Cincinnati game earlier this season, it seems West Virginia has gone as Truck Bryant has gone.

Not only did WVU lose the game to Pitt, but they also lost Kevin Noreen for this season with a fractured ankle.  This means that Deniz Kilicli and Dominique Rutledge will have bigger roles on the court with the depth at the power forward and center spots taking a hit.

Providence had a great start to the season during nonconference play.  They started 11-2 before their first Big East game against St. John's.  It hasn't been so easy for the Friars since, dropping eight of their last 10 games in the conference and currently hold a 13-10 record overall.

Scoring has been very balanced for Providence this season.  Their leading scorer is Vincent Council (16.1), followed by Bryce Cotton (15.2).   LaDontae Henton (13.7) and Gerald Coleman (13.5) round out the double-digit scorers for the Friars.

The Mountaineers will have to watch Cotton from outside the three-point line because he has shot very well this season from beyond the arc.  He has also made 90% of his free throws this season.

West Virginia dominated the Friars last season in Morgantown in a 30-point thumping in mid-January.  The overall record in the series is 14-10 in favor of WVU, but the Mountaineers are 4-7 when playing in Providence. 

The Friars are 10-3 this season at home, while WVU is 5-6 on the road this season, including neutral sites.

The game is Sunday at noon and will be televised on the Big East Network.