I'll be live updating this blog tonight throughout the Big Monday match up on ESPN. With both opponents still remaining on the UC schedule I'll be breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of each team as I look ahead to the future match up with the Cats. Here are a few thoughts before the game.

1. Size vs Quickness- It will be very interesting to see how each team chooses to defend each other. Nova plays 4 guards and a forward while WVU likes to go with 3 and sometimes 4 guys over 6'7" on the floor at the same time. If WVU stays big, I look for them to use quite a bit of 1-3-1 to try and keep Nova from driving to the rim. Nova will put a ton of pressure on the ball and try to take advantage of shaky PG play in the open court.

2. Star vs Star- Scottie Reynolds and DeSean Butler are two of the elite performers in the Big East and both are the heart and soul of their respective teams. Reynolds does most of his damage with the ball in his hands while Butler has grown into a very versatile scorer that can create shots in every way imaginable. While it's unlikely they will see a ton of time defending each other I will be watching how they are working to get their scoring inside and out.

3. 2 Game Losing Streak- Nova will no doubt be playing with a chip on their shoulder after getting blown out Saturday at Georgetown. After starting Big East play at 8-0 they face another brutal road challenge in Morgantown. Will they come out playing with a tenacity to stay in control the Big East race or will they let the loss and subsequent travel through a blizzard to get to this one? WVU has been known to start slow and finish strong, but if Nova jumps out big early they will be very hard to come back on because of their great guard play.

Time for the game.  I'm leaning towards Nova picking up the win.

*Right off the bat Corey Fisher grabs a rebound and goes coast to coast for a bucket.  Fisher is small but he finishes with great strength through contact at the rim.

*On the other end Kevin Jones gets a rebound and stick back. His game has really impressed me lately inside and out.

*WVU is crashing the glass hard early on the offensive end. That's a key for UC to knock off Nova IMO.

WVU leads 5-4 at the first media TO.

*The pressure Nova applies on the ball at all times is what scares the hell out of when looking at the guards on the UC roster.

* Right now WVU is not doing a good job at all of exploiting their size advantage on the defensive end. It's been the only way they have scored on the other end by crashing the glass, but Nova is eating up the man to man D.

*Again Fisher attacks the rim and draws contact. He can get your bigs in foul trouble early if you are not careful.

*Kilicli comes in and right away makes an impact on both ends of the floor. He really gives them a different dynamic.

Nova leads 19-10 with 11:15 left.

*WVU now in the 1-3-1 but Nova is slicing right through it the first few times down the court.

*Mazulla providing WVU with a nice offensive spark as the lead is cut to 6 and Jay Wright takes a quick :30.

Nova up 11 at the under 8 break.

*The 1-3-1 has killed opponents all year and stopped runs, but Nova is just destroying it and has forced WVU back to man.

*I will be shocked if UC has under 20 turnovers against Nova.

* Maybe more of a factor than just the on ball pressure Nova applies is how well they attack the passing lanes for steals. UC makes enough lazy passes that it might look like a lay up line.

Nova up 10 at the final media break of the 1st half.

*Kilicli has a surprising touch from the FT line.

*Butler only 1-5 from the field, but Nova has fouled him twice on 3s to inflate his scoring numbers in the 1st half. As I type that Butler nails a 3 to up his point total to 12.

Nova leads 44-33 at the half.

Scottie Reynolds with only 2 points at the half and Nova leads by double figures. That doesn't bode well for WVU in the 2nd.

With Nova eating up both the man and 1-3-1 sets from WVU it will be interesting to see what Huggs comes up with out of the half. If you switch the focus to Fisher, Reynolds will have a chance to get on track.

*Ebanks finally shows up to start the 2nd half. He was a total non factor in the 1st.

*Fisher to the bench with his 3rd foul and Reynolds is really struggling. Here comes the WVU 2nd half run as Jones gets another stick back to cut it to 5.

Nova leads 45-40 at the 1st media break of the half.

*The game is slowing down to a crawl right now, which is exactly what UC will need to do to Nova to hang around. The problem is they have a shot clock violation and turnover in their last 2 possessions.

*Fisher picks up a cheap foul for his 4th. Stokes and Wayns will really have to step up if Reynolds continues to struggle.

*Pena with his 3rd now as well. Foul problems mounting up.

*WVU has gone totally flat on the offensive end. Sounds familiar.

*Reyonlds decides to show up with a pull up 3 and a blow by for the and 1. That's the problem I talked about up top with Reynolds. Slowing him down for 40 minutes is near impossible and you have to take advantage when he is off.

Nova back up 10 with 12:09 left.

*2nd shot clock violation of the half for WVU.

*The officials for this one stink. Numerous bad calls for both sides including an awful offensive goaltending call that erased 2 for Nova.

*Reynolds again with the open court and 1 at the rim. 9 quick points here in the middle part of the 2nd half.

*Casey Mitchell is giving WVU a huge spurt scoring 8 of their last 9.

WVU cuts it to 3 with 7:57 remaining.

*Bilas on WVU. "This is a tough WVU team that guards and rebounds. If they ever start consistently knocking shots down............."

*I really think Jones at the PF spot will be the key match up issue for UC. He will takes Gates or Toyloy out on the perimeter and out muscle Thomas or Toyloy on the block.

*Scottie Reynolds is everything Deonta Vaughn isn't. Never hangs his head. Never lets a few missed shots impact the other parts of his game. A leader in every sense of the word.

Nova leads 70-64 at the final media stop.

*Reynolds with 15 in the 2nd half and Butler with 0.

*The 2nd half performances of Reynolds and Butler are going to decide this one. Nova up 9 with :50 remaining.

*The WVU 6 game winning streak is snapped and Nova moves to 10-1 in the league.

Thanks for reading. I'll be doing this a time or two a week down the stretch. Hope you enjoyed...