Hoyas visit Mountaineers

Morgantown, WV (Sports Network) - Top-25 foes come together in Morgantown tonight, as the West Virginia Mountaineers play host to the Georgetown Hoyas in a Big East Conference showdown.

The Mountaineers enter the contest on a winning note, as they captured a 74-68 decision over Cincinnati on Saturday. It was a nice bounce-back effort by WVU, which was upset by Connecticut (73-62) earlier in the week. Winners of three of their last four outings, the Mountaineers are 11-5 in the Big East and tied with Pittsburgh for third place.

The Hoyas meanwhile, have been a model of inconsistency down the stretch and they have gone from Big East title contenders to a middle-of-the-pack squad at 9-7. On Saturday, the team was handled at home by Notre Dame in a 78-64 decision, which was surprising considering the Fighting Irish were without their best player. Georgetown has now dropped three of its past four outings to fall to 19-8 overall.

Georgetown leads the head-to-head series with WVU, 26-21, but the Mountaineers took last season's meeting by a 75-58 score.

The Hoyas shot an efficient 51.1 percent from the floor, but Notre Dame hit on an even better 57.1 percent from the field in an 78-64 decision on Saturday. It was obviously a poor defensive performance from a Georgetown club that is limiting opponents to 65.6 ppg and 41.4 percent shooting from the field for the season. Greg Monroe paced the team in defeat with 15 points and four boards, while Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson chipped in with 12 points apiece. Junior Austin Freeman however, was limited to just five points and he did not start for the first time since his freshman year. Despite the performance, Freeman stills tops the roster in scoring for the season with an average of 17.0 ppg. Monroe follows at 15.7 ppg and he also grabs a team-high 9.4 rpg and distributes 3.6 apg. Chris Wright checks in with 13.9 ppg and a team-best 3.9 apg, while Clark rounds out the double-digit scorers with 10.5 ppg.

The Mountaineers went 5-of-10 from downtown and 14-of-20 at the foul line over the final 20 minutes, as they rallied from a 39-33 halftime deficit for a 74-68 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. WVU also won the battle on the boards, 41-30, including a 15-10 edge on the offensive glass. Kevin Jones headed the charge with 15 points, while Darryl Bryant had 14 and four assists. Da'Sean Butler was limited to just eight points, but he did contribute seven rebounds and five assists. A jack of all trades, Bryant leads the team in scoring (16.9 ppg), to go with 6.1 rpg and 3.2 apg for the season. Jones is second in line with both 13.7 ppg and 7.5 rpg, while Devin Ebanks turns in 12.3 ppg and a team-high 8.5 rpg. Bryant fills out the list of double-figure scorers with 10.8 ppg.