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Georgetown looking to stay perfect as No. 1 seed vs. West Virginia

Mar 14, 2008 - 2:21 PM West Virginia (24-9) vs. No. 9 Georgetown (26-4) 7:00 pm EDT

NEW YORK (Ticker) - No. 9 Georgetown looks to maintain its perfect record as the top seed in the Big East Conference tournament when it faces West Virginia on Friday in the semifinals.

The Hoyas improved to 13-0 all-time as the No. 1 seed with a school-record 17 3-pointers in Thursday's 82-63 victory over eighth-seeded Villanova.

Georgetown, which has won the tournament four times as the top seed including last season, won on Thursday despite getting no points and four rebounds from leading scorer Roy Hibbert. The 7-foot-2 senior center averages 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds.

"The nature of our team is when any particular guy is struggling, not doing well, we have other people that can step up," said Georgetown coach John Thompson III.

The two teams met only once this season with the Hoyas pulling out a 58-57 win over the ninth-seeded Mountaineers on January 26. West Virginia advanced with a 78-72 victory over fourth-seeded Connecticut on Thursday.

Junior forward Joe Alexander scored a career-high 34 points and added seven rebounds against the No. 15 Huskies.

"I wanted him to do it the whole year," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said of Alexander. He's slowed down. He's doing a much better job of reading the defense. He's such a hard matchup."

The two teams have met only once before in the conference tournament with Georgetown winning in 2000.

The winner advances to Saturday's championship game.