MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - If you asked someone to be honest and predict which team – Seton Hall or Connecticut – would have the better record heading into their February match-ups with the Mountaineers, no one would have picked Seton Hall.

With the exception of some misguided Pirates fans in Newark, it wouldn’t have crossed anyone’s mind that the teams would be tied for same position in the BIG EAST standings so late in the season.

The Huskies (16-11, 6-8) were picked to finish third in the conference in the preseason coaches poll, just one spot behind WVU. No. 8 West Virginia (21-5, 10-4) played similarly to the way they were predicted to, but in an up and down season, UConn has not.

Coach Huggins, however, feels that this Huskies team is playing its best basketball of the season down the stretch, and there’s a reason the game has been picked for the limelight of ESPN’s Big Monday.

“Obviously if someone is playing on Big Monday, somebody thinks they’re pretty good,” Huggins said after Saturday’s win over Seton Hall. “I think the trade-off is the national exposure you get and certainly our league gets. It helps everything.”

As much as the exposure can help his team, Huggins wants to make sure the added recognition they get as a part of this contest doesn’t get them too excited to stick to the game plan. He’s been around long enough to make sure his teams keeps a level head even in big games such as Monday night’s.

“We’re pretty even-keeled. They’re going to come in every day and work in practice and they’re going to come in and play hard every game. I don’t think we have the emotional ups and downs.”

“We know it’s going to be a tough game up at UConn, they’re going to be ready, we’re going to be pumped, so it should be a great game,” said sophomore forward Kevin Jones on Saturday. “We’ve got to have a great practice [Sunday], really be focused and I think we can come out with a win.”

That, according to Huggins, is the mentality he wants his team to carry into each one of their final four games of this regular season. He doesn’t want them to stress the importance of winning one game over the other, but rather take care of business and solidify their second round bye in the BIG EAST tournament by winning out.

“I want to win them all,” he says. “If I don’t think we’re going to win them all, I think that’s a terrible philosophy because I think you cheat kids. If you look at the last four and say, ‘We need to win these three, let’s put all our emphasis on this,’ then you’re not giving them a chance to win the other one. I think that’s ridiculous.”

Another thing Huggins may say is ridiculous is the size and caliber of athlete that the Huskies bring into their program year in and year out. This season, Stanley Robinson (6-9) and Gavin Edwards (6-10) are each averaging over six rebounds per outing while adding 15.6 and 10.6 points, respectively.

“They’ve got such great size. They’ve always somehow got great size to go to Storrs,” says Huggins. “Consequently, it’s hard to score close. They’ve, for the last two or three years, probably been one of the top teams in the country in blocks shots and so they really limit your goals that you get easy. The other thing that happens is that leads to transition.”

Leading that transition game is one of the league’s best guards in senior Jerome Dyson. The four-year starter has been key to UConn’s success in the last three years, including its final four run just a season ago. His 18.7 points per game are good for sixth in the conference, and while he is averaging 4.6 assists per game, he has a tendency to turn the ball over, with 98 giveaways already this season.

The Mountaineers have not beaten UConn since Joe Alexander shook the Garden and emerged as a real NBA lottery candidate in a 78-72 win in the 2008 BIG EAST tournament. By just looking at the teams’ records, one may conclude that this should be the game in which WVU gets that next win, but the Huskies have shown a knack for beating some of the nation’s best teams.

Earlier in the season, they took down then-No. 1 Texas before the Longhorns started making a habit of losing. Then they played at No. 3 Villanova and took down a Wildcats team poised to take over the top spot in the BIG EAST.

They’ve contended with a number of other top 25 teams, but they’ve also fallen to the likes of Cincinnati (twice), Michigan (13-13) and Providence (12-14).

It’s tough to say which team will show up for Big Monday, but both the Huskies and the Mountaineers are riding two-game winning streaks heading into the match-up.

Tip off is set for 7:00 p.m. on ESPN. You can check in with wvillustrated.com throughout the game for live stats with Game Center and Play by Play and after the game be sure to stop through for a complete game recap and photos.