West Virginia After posting a 10-2 non-conference record, the beginning of the Mountaineers’ Big East season has been up and down. They opened with a loss at Notre Dame and then upset Marquette by 15 points. West Virginia followed that up with a road loss to a struggling Louisville team before thumping Syracuse by 20 points on Sunday. Leading the way against the Orange was the backcourt of junior Alex Ruoff (23 points, three assists) and senior Darris Nichols (17 points, six assists). Senior center Jamie Smalligan played only four minutes in the contest and is only averaging 13.9 minutes per game. Despite starting all 16 games, that average is below three other non-starters. With games this week against St. John’s and at South Florida, two teams near the bottom of the conference, West Virginia will have a chance to stabilize its season and string together a winning streak before a brutal Big East stretch that features games against Georgetown, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Against Georgetown: Jan 26, Morgantown, W.Va. Providence After opening Big East play with a pair of road losses in the Midwest (to Marquette and DePaul), the Friars returned home to even their conference record with wins over Rutgers and South Florida. Saturday against USF, Providence led wire-to-wire and won 86-70. The Friars led by as many as 23 points late in the second half. Junior guard Geoff McDermott poured in a career-high 24 points to go with his game-high seven rebounds, and the Friars withstood 22 points from the Bulls’ senior center Kentrell Gransberry. Providence, third in the Big East in three-point accuracy, drilled 61.9 percent of its attempts from behind the arc against USF. The Friars outrebounded the Bulls 34-24, but Providence will need an even stronger effort on the boards this Thursday when they travel to Connecticut to face the tall and athletic Huskies. Against Georgetown: Feb. 18, Providence DePaul As far as surprises go in the Big East, DePaul has been one of the biggest two weeks into the conference season. Picked to finish 11th in the preseason by the league coaches, the Blue Demons have won three of their first four games in league play. The biggest shocker came in the conference opener when the Blue Demons, sporting a record of 4-7, knocked off then-No. 17 Villanova. In their first Big East road game of the year on Saturday, the Blue Demons tackled St. John’s, 60-54. Down by three at halftime, DePaul relied on freshman forward Dar Tucker to pull the Blue Demons back into the game. Tucker led DePaul in scoring with 16 points, seven of which came during a 16-0 second-half run. Freshman center Mac Koshwal and senior guard Draelon Burns each had 10 points to support Tucker. DePaul will have a chance to prove that its hot start has not been a fluke tomorrow night when they take on a No. 25 Villanova team that is looking for revenge. Against Georgetown: Lost 60-76, Jan. 8