Published: January 06, 2009 12:11 am      

Big test

No. 25 WVU is home vs. No. 5 UConn

MORGANTOWN — In its toughest and tallest test yet, West Virginia, ranked No. 25/23, takes on Connecticut, No. 5 in both major polls, at the Coliseum tonight as a Big East headliner.

A near-capacity crowd is expected for the 7 p.m. tip-off. The action will be televised by ESPNU, which is receivable only from satellite in West Virginia.

The Mountaineers (11-2, 1-0) hope to upset the Huskies (12-1,1-1), just like WVU did in the second round of last year’s Big East tournament at New York’s Madison Square. But UConn leads the all-time series by 12-4.

In Monday’s updating of rankings, West Virginia cracked the Top 25 for the first tie this year. That gave the conference nine teams, which may be most in its history. WVU is 25th in The Associated Press poll and 23rd in the USA Today coaches’ poll.

Connecticut dropped from No. 2 to fifth place in both listings, as a result of 74-63 loss to Georgetown at home a week ago. But the Huskies rebounded on Saturday with an 80-49 crushing or Rutgers at home.

They have one of the tallest, most physical teams in the Big East, It also is one of the most experienced, with juniors and seniors in the starting lineup.

Hasheem Thabeet, 7-foot-3, 263-pound junior center, was voted Big East Defensive Player of the Year in 2007-08, He’s averaging 14.0 points ad 10.5 rebounds per game so far this season.

Wellington Smith, 6-foot-7, 230-pound junior, will draw the starting assignment against Thabeet. Freshman Devan Ebanks is a 6-foot-9 forward who could battle the giant on the boards as WVU’s leading rebounder.

“We had a hard time matching up with No. 34 (Thabeet) and No. 32 (Jonathan Mandeldove, 7-foot-0 junior) a year ago and had a hard time scoring,” WVU Coach Bob Huggins recalled Monday afternoon,

“They’ll try to stretch us with three guys. The other two don’t leave the lane very much and for good reason. They’re always going to have two guys in the lane or close to it. My biggest concern is how we score.”

He thinks the Mountaineers must have some patience and, in a sense, kind of attack the Huskies in areas that WVU players think UConn is vulnerable. “But I haven’t found very many, to be honest with you,” Huggins said.

“We’ve just got to do what we do. We can’t make wholesale changes. The beauty of what we do is that we can change some things offensively. We might try to take advantage of an area that we think we can take advantage of.”

Huggins thinks not playing any freshmen may well be the Huskies’ biggest advantage. “They’re playing all upperclassmen – people who have been through this league,” he reasoned. “They understand how hard it is to play in the Big East on an everyday basis.”

He thinks that’s a tremendous advantage for Connecticut.

Besides the aforementioned Ebanks, 6-foot-2 freshman guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant starts for West Virginia. Ebanks is averaging 7.8 point and 6.8 rebounds per game, while Bryant ranks third in scoring at 11.2 ppg.

Kevin Jones, 6-foot-8 freshman forward, and John Flowers, 6-foot-7 sophomore, see significant action coming off the bench. Cam Thoroughman, 6-foot-7 redshirt sophomore, also is an experienced reserve for WVU.

Alex Ruoff, 6-foot-6 senior, and Da’Sean Butler, 6-foot-7 junior, continue to lead West Virginia scoring with 17.1 and 15.8 per game, respectively.

“This is the best conference in the country,” Ruoff said Monday. “We’ve played in the Big East and it hard to win. What we’ve got to do is protect at home.. I think the crowd will be great and it gets loud in here.

“I think nine teams being ranked in the polls means a lot to the conference. But we’re not really concerned about rankings.”

Butler said, “It’s a lot of fun playing at home. It gets really loud when you get a lot of folks in here. UConn is a really good team. We’re looking forward to playing the Huskies at home.

“We should be ready to go. We just need to take care of the ball, rebound, shoot the ball as well as wee can, and play great defense.”

Connecticut, coached by Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun, is expected to start 6-foot-7 senior Jeff Adrien (14.4 ppg, 9.0 rpg) and 6-foot-9 junior Stanley

Robinson (6.8, 4.2) at forwards, Thabeet at center, and 6-foot-4 junior Jerome Dixon (14.5, 4.4) and 6-foot-4 senior A.J.. Price (9.9, 1.5) at guards.

With Saturday’s victory at Seton Hall, West Virginia is 6-8 league openers since joining the Big East in 1995-96. The Mountaineers also have a Saturday game at Marquette.