WVU tough, even without Ebanks

One of the early mysteries of the college basketball season has been the whereabouts of West Virginia's super sophomore forward, Devin Ebanks.

Ebanks, at 6-9 part of one of the top forward tandems in the country along with 6-8 Da'Sean Butler, has been on an unexplained leave of absence to resolve "personal issues."

He was suspended for the eighth-ranked Mountaineers' opening win over Loyola, and it's unclear if he will play tonight against The Citadel in Charleston, W.Va.

"There is no change there," coach Bob Huggins told reporters last Friday.

Ebanks averaged 10.5 points and 7.8 rebounds for West Virginia last year as a freshman, helping the Mountaineers to a 23-12 record. Given that he has not been practicing with the team, it seems unlikely he will take the court against the Bulldogs.

WVU also has been without projected starting point guard Joe Mazzula (shoulder) and forward Deniz Kilicli, suspended by the NCAA for playing on a team in his native Turkey that included a professional player.

But even without those players, West Virginia will be plenty tough for the 3-2 Bulldogs.

Butler scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds in West Virginia's only game thus far, an 83-60 win over Loyola on Nov. 15, and apparently has been doing a bit of everything.

"I told our guys the other day, it's getting increasingly hard for Da'Sean to bring it up the floor, throw it to himself, score, rebound his misses and then go down and guard the other team's best guy," Huggins said. "It'd be nice if someone would kind of jump in and help a little bit."

The Bulldogs got a nice team effort in their last game in the Hispanic College Fund Classic in Springfield, Mo., an 88-62 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore on Sunday.

Five Citadel players scored in double figures in that game, and the Bulldogs made 13 of 27 from 3-point range, including 5 of 5 from 7-0 center Joe Wolfinger and 3 of 5 from junior Austin Dahn. That kind of shooting will be key against the Mountaineers.

With Wolfinger scoring 17 points with eight rebounds and 6-8 freshman Mike Groselle getting 14 points and 4 boards, the Bulldogs totaled 31 points and 12 rebounds in 34 minutes from the two post players.

"We had an excellent day at the center spot," coach Ed Conroy said. "When you combine Groselle and Wolfinger, they logged all the minutes from the center position. It is nice when your plans work out and Mike had an exceptional practice and tournament here."