Friday, December 13, 2013

Marshall Basketball: Opponent Profile, West Virginia

Marshall (4-5, 0-0) returns to the hardwood on Saturday against West Virginia (6-4, 0-0) in the Capital Classic. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Charleston Civic Center.

Like the Thundering Herd backcourt of Kareem Canty and Chris Thomas, WVU features a strong guard duo in Juwan Staten and Eron Harris. The Mountaineers point guard, Staten averages 16.4 points, 6.8 assist, and 6.2 rebounds per game. He has only committed 14 turnover in WVU’s first ten games and ranks fifth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.64).  A high school teammate of Marshall’s Ryan Taylor, Harris leads the Mountaineers in scoring at 19.3 point per game. Harris is effective from three point range. In Tuesday’s loss to Gonzaga, he hit five of his nine three point attempts and is shooting over 50% (31-60) from long distance this season.

In the front court, WVU uses a combination of Devin Williams, Nathan Adrian, and Kevin Noreen. Of the bunch, Williams averages the most floor time at 26.1 minutes per game. The 6-foot-9 freshman forward has also grabbed a team high 79 rebounds.

Similar to Marshall, WVU likes to run the floor. They are 35th in the nation at 82.8 points per game. The Mountaineers also rank within the top 100 nationally in assists per game (69th, 15 apg) and field goal percentage (82nd, .471 fg%).  

Saturday will mark the 42nd Capital Classic. WVU leads the series over Marshall by a 30-11 margin. Also, the Mountaineers have won six of the teams last seven meetings.

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