PHOENIX - West Virginia will have to deal with a variety of issues tonight when the Mountaineers play Xavier in the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16. A little more size than Duke had and perhaps more athleticism than the Mountaineers possess are factors that are right at the top of the list.

But keep this in mind, too: If the game is close at the end, Xavier is going to make free throws.

There is no guarantee the Musketeers will make more than West Virginia, given the way the Mountaineers have shot in the clutch in recent games. But, statistically speaking, it's still a good bet that Xavier has the advantage.

Then again, West Virginia is lucky in a way. At least Xavier coach Sean Miller won't be shooting any of those foul shots.

"Is anybody [on his team] a better free-throw shooter than me? No. I don't think that's close,'' Miller said Wednesday. "If I can do one thing in life, I can shoot free throws. So I'll bet you anything on that, that I'll hold serve against my team.''

Miller doesn't do a bad job of coaching his team, either. He has the third-seeded and No. 12-ranked Musketeers (29-6) in a 7:10 p.m. (EDT) West Regional semifinal today against seventh seed West Virginia (26-10).

But in a previous life Miller was also the best free-throw shooter in Pitt history. He was arguably one of the school's best players period during a career that ended in 1992, but his lasting legacy is as a near-90 percent foul shooter.

None of his Xavier players can match that, but it's not for lack of effort.

"No one has ever challenged him. He'll come in and practice and shoot a free throw for the sake of a drill and make them all,'' said Xavier senior forward Josh Duncan. "But that's a big emphasis for our team. Every time in practice when we break down into free-throw shooting, he says no talking, concentrate on shooting free throws because it's one of the most important things for our team. As you can see, it has been playing off in big situations for us.''

Indeed, the Musketeers have won their share of close games this season, and shooting 75.5 percent from the free-throw line is one of the reasons. Of the top five players in Xavier's rotation (according to minutes played and scoring average), the numbers are staggering. Point guard Drew Lavender shoots 86.8 percent. Junior guard B.J. Raymond shoots 86.1 percent. Duncan, a 6-foot-9 forward, is at 85.4 percent and senior guard Stanley Burrell makes 83.1 percent. If a team is looking for someone to foul at the end of a game, try sophomore forward Derrick Brown or junior guard C.J. Anderson. Then again, they shoot a combined 69.5 percent.

Only Alex Ruoff (83.1 percent) and Joe Alexander (82.1) can really hold a candle to most of Xavier's foul shooters, although lately the Mountaineers have been as solid as they've needed to be at the line. In the first two NCAA tournament wins, West Virginia made 8-of-9 in limited chances against Arizona and then 19-of-22 in Saturday's 73-67 win over Duke.

Before getting to a foul-shooting contest, though, there are other issues the teams have to address.

For the Mountaineers, that means dealing with an athletic group of Musketeers that will come in waves. Miller's team is stunningly balanced, with Duncan the leading scorer at 12.1 points per game and the top six players all in roughly the same range. Burrell is the No. 6 scorer on the team at 9.8 points per game.

Lavender is the catalyst. A two-year starter at Oklahoma before transferring closer to his Columbus, Ohio, home, the 5-7 senior is a tough matchup. But Xavier can also use its size.

"I think they're much more physical than what they've been in the past and probably a lot of that has to do with Sean having a lot of upperclassmen,'' said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who annually coached against Xavier during the 16 years he was at Cincinnati. "They run great sets. They've got great balance.

"I think Sean has done a great job of exploiting people's weaknesses, which he can do because he has a lot of guys that can score and they can score in a lot of different ways. I think they're much better in transition. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with Drew, but they're much, much better in transition.''

But West Virginia has its own weapons, of course. As has been the case for the past month, tonight's opponent is concerned primarily with 6-8 forward Alexander.

"They have four, five players that can have 20 points on any given night and they play hard on defense,'' Lavender said. "They rebound and they have a great player in Joe Alexander who could have 30. We have to be ready for the challenge and go out there and play good.''

The winner advances to Saturday's West Regional finals against the winner of tonight's second semifinal between No. 1 seed UCLA and upstart Western Kentucky.

To contact staff writer Dave Hickman, use e-mail or call 348-1734.