It was an excellent road trip to New Jersey for the WVU men’s basketball team as they defeated both Rutgers and Seton Hall. Thanks to Stub Hub I was able to get real good seats to the Seton Hall game on Saturday. For those who have not used this ticket service before, I would highly recommend it. It’s easy to order and I received my tickets plus a parking pass the day after I placed the order. Anyway, back to the trip report: We arrived at Continental Airlines Arena about an hour before tip-off so that we could catch warm-ups. As I was standing in the concourse, I noted that 90% of the fans I saw were wearing WVU gear. A welcome sign to say the least. The team looked very loose and comfortable while warming up, especially since it seemed no Seton Hall fans, especial their student section, showed until about 10 minutes before tip-off. One thing I noticed during warm-ups, and pretty much throughout the game, Jamie Smalligan never stops smiling. He really seems to be having fun out there as most of our players do and I think it is one of the reasons for our success this season. The section I sat in did not have many WVU fans and contained a lot of SHU season ticket holders. Four guys who sat about two rows behind us made their presence known as soon as they took their seats. As they watched WVU warm up, Frank Young hit four straight 3-point shots and Jamie Smalligan hit a few in a row as well. These guys were amazed at what they saw and commented how unbelievable it was that we lost so many starters from last years team and we are still having a great year and can shoot the 3 like this. This compliment was then ruined by one guy's explanation that, “they shoot so well because there isn’t anything else to do in West Virginia but play basketball or perhaps marry your sister.” Ignorance at it’s best! Don’t worry, their comments during the entire game further proved that they were complete imbeciles who probably never went to Seton Hall or any other college for that matter. Their basketball knowledge was less than impressive too as they continually screamed “FOUL” any time a shot was blocked, a ball stolen, a shot missed or any contact was made at all. They also screamed “10 second violation! That was a 10 second violation!” as Darris Nichols crossed the time line with 28 seconds left on the shot clock. Do the math on your own at home to figure that one out. I was thinking earlier in the day that this team really needed a blowout win as most of their games of late seemed to be tightly contested. This game started slow, with 2 turnovers by the Mountaineers on their first two possessions. For the next 12 minutes however, the Mountaineers put on a clinic with crisp passing, easy backdoor baskets, 3-pointers and aggressive defense. Heck, we even out-rebounded SHU during this stretch! It looked as though that blowout was about to transpire, that is until the last 9 minutes saw the Mountaineers struggle mightily with hurried shots, sloppy play and turnovers. It wasn’t that Seton Hall was scoring at will but WVU wasn’t scoring at all. A huge lead turned into just a six point lead at the half. It was very nearly a 9 point lead as Frank Young’s half court heave hit the backboard, the rim, the backboard again and off the rim and out. We came out in the second half a little shaky but started to get back into the groove that existed early in the first half. Seton Hall played much better but could never really keep any momentum as each time they made a run, we made a bigger one. Frank Young, Darris Nichols had solid performances. Da’Sean Butler was amazing for the second straight game and had quite a homecoming to New Jersey. He seemed to want to take the game over himself and came up with key baskets or steals just as Seton Hall was beginning to mount a comeback. I’m sure both Rutgers and Seton Hall are wondering how they were not able to keep this kid from going out of state. One of the biggest keys to the game was WVU’s free-throw shooting, which has never been a strong aspect of their game. I have always believed that most college basketball games are won or lost on the free-throw line. Why do you think most games turn into foul fests for the last two minutes? WVU won by 11 but could have easily lost if not for a 23 of 25 free-throw shooting performance for the team, including 10 for 10 by Darris Nichols to ice the 81-70 win. I end this report by saying that I am very happy that WVU plays its sporting events in on-campus facilities. Seton Hall’s student section had about 50 students in it. It looked to be about 1/3 full and that was with its pep band sitting in the section. It isn’t very intimidating or loud to opposing players . In fact, WVU fans in two sections started the “Let’s Go-----Mountaineers” chant back and forth which seemed to stun the crowd a bit. Here is to the start of a road win streak at the Continental Airlines Arena. Let’s go Mountaineers – BEAT PITT!!!   -- tstack