Game Preview: Mississippi Rebels vs West Virginia Mountaineers

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2009

#15 Mississippi Rebels (10-1) vs. #6 West Virginia Mountaineers (8-0)

The Mississippi Rebels will travel to West Virginia to face the No.6 Mountaineers on Wednesday at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.

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West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins will square off against Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy — his assistant at Cincinnati for four seasons, for the second time since the two faced each other as opposing coaches on Dec. 3, 2008. WVU walked away with a close 80-78 victory in that one. The win snapped the Rebels 27-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents.

The Mountaineers were able to get a buzzer-beating bucket by Da’Sean Butler to defeat Cleveland State 80-78 on Saturday in their first “real” road game of the 2008 season. WVU lead by a many as 17 points in the second half, but they committed 11 turnovers in the final 20 minutes allowing Cleveland to claw their way back into the contest. West Virginia sophomore Kevin Jones scored a career-high of 23 points and went 9-of-10 from the floor in the win. The Mountaineers have won 29 straight December games in Morgantown and despite Saturday’s lead squandering are allowing just 58.0 points per game. Da’Sean Butler leads the Mountaineers with 16.9 points per game.

The Rebels are riding a seven game wining steak and are fresh off a 108-64 thumping of Centenary on Saturday. This is the most consecutive wins for Mississippi since opening 13-0 in 2007-08. Terrico White scored 17 points and Eniel Polynice added 13 in the win. Mississippi is playing well and is among the Division I scoring leaders at 85.4 per contest, while defensively are holding opponents to 67.9 ppg. Chris Warren is among the top SEC scorers this season with 18.3 points and 3.2 3-pointers per game. The Rebels have never defeated a Top 10 non-conference opponent.

The odds makers have the Mountaineers as –11 ½ -point favorites with a game total of 146 ½.

Expect WVU to pull ahead down the stretch with the help of the home crowd. This may prove to be the most entertaining game on the college slate today.