It has been a week since Ronald Ramon broke the hearts of Mountaineers fans seeking revenge against the hated Pitt Panthers. Hopefully they had enough time to lick their wounds and bounce back.

As the bubble expands each game, the Mountaineers have an opportunity to round up some wins against lower-echelon Big East teams which starts tonight as they face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at 7pm. The game will be televised on ESPN2 and once again good ol’ Lenny Elmore will be there.

NOTEWORTHY STAT: The Eers are 0-5 whenever Elmore is on the announcer’s desk

Rutgers Breakdown:

• While Rutgers only has two Big East wins so far this year, one of them over Pitt.
• They have a very talented freshman group. Mike Coburn, Corey Chandler, and Earl Pettis.
• Coburn, who happens to be an alma mater of Mt. Vernon High (the school WVU recruit Kevin Jones goes to), is a candidate to be on the All-Big East Freshman man. He averages 10.9 points a game in Big East competition leading the team. He shots 40% from the 3pt line.
• Chandler will provide a spark off the bench.
• The X-factor will be junior J.R. Inman. The junior leads the team overall with 13.3 points and 7.6 rebounds a game. If Coburn plays his A-game and Inman takes advantages of the offensive rebounds this game will be close perhaps even an upset.
• Rutgers are averaging over 15 turnovers a game.
• They do not distribute the ball either averaging only 9 assists per game.

This is a perfect opportunity for the Mountaineers to get themselves back on track. With Seton Hall, Villanova, Providence, and DePaul coming up they could find themselves on a five-game winning streak. That streak would give the Mountaineers a 20-win plateau with Pitt and UConn left on their schedule.

Let’s play a good game tonight and GOOOOOOOOOOO MOUNTAINEERS!