Big East Basketball Recap: 01/31

#21 ’Nova runs over Cincy in 2nd half

The No. 21 Villanova Wildcats won their 25 th consecutive home game at The Pavilion, over their latest victim, the Cincinnati Bearcats 71-50 on Super Bowl Sunday.

’Nova (17-4, 5-2 Big East Conference) were led by Dante Cunningham with 21 points on 8-11 shooting while also grabbing eight rebounds and swatting three blocks.

Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher were the other Wildcats double figures with 11 points and two assist a piece.

Cincinnati (14-8, 4-5 Big East), coming off their 65-57 win over then No. 23 Georgetown, were held to 29 percent shooting hurt by the 18 turnovers.

Alvin Mitchell scored a team-high 15 points on 5-14 shooting and Yancy Gates recorded nine points, seven rebounds, and two assists.

The Bearcats managed to take a 26-19 lead on a three-point play by Gates with 5:09 remaining in the first half, but Villanova closed the half on an 11-3 run, capped by Reynolds' layup with 4.4 seconds left that gave the Wildcats a 30-29 advantage at the break.

Blair’s 20-20 pushes #3 Panthers past #22 Irish

DeJuan Blair isn’t the nation’s leading offensive rebounder out of pure luck or coincidence.

In just 31 minutes of play in his Panthers 93-80 victory over the slumping Notre Dame Irish, Blair recorded his 28 th career double-double with a game-high 23 points and a career-high 22 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end.

Blair’s 20-20 game was the first in Pittsburgh history since the 1992 season when Chris McNeal scored 27 points and snatched 20 rebounds against Boston College.

Saturday’s 93 point total was the conference highest for the Panthers (19-2, 7-2 Big East Conference) since March 9 th of 2008, when the Panthers defeated DePaul 98-79.

For Notre Dame (12-8, 3-6 Big East) it was Harangody, the nation’s leading rebounder, who would record his 11 th consecutive game with 20+ points finishing with 27 points and 11 rebounds.

Forward Luke Zeller came into Saturday’s game averaging just six points per game, but heated up from 3-point range from the start. Zeller knocked down all six of his 3-point field goal makes in the first half going into the break with 18 points and a six point lead, but an 18-4 opening second half run left the Irish behind for good.

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#8 Louisville hangs on despite 26 turnovers

The No. 8 ranked Louisville Cardinals pushed their unbeaten conference streak to eight with a 69-63 home victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday.

The Cardinals (17-3, 8-0 Big East Conference) were led behind the 20 points on an efficient 7-8 shooting, including 4-5 from 3-point range, from guard Jerry Smith. Smith’s 20 points are a season-high and four 3-point field goals tie his highest mark on the season when his ’Cards defeated Ohio earlier in the year.

The Cardinals led 45-25 at the half, but their 26 turnovers allowed the Mountaineers to make a ballgame out of it.

West Virginia (15-6, 4-4 Big East) had three starters reach double digit scoring with Da’Sean Butler leading the way with 23 points and eight rebounds.

Alex Ruoff had 16 points and three assists while freshman Devin Ebanks had 14 points of his own to go along with six rebounds.

West Virginia’s three 3-pointers are a season low since they began conference play.

Likely new #1Huskies run by Friars in 2 nd half

The No. 2 Connecticut Huskies have all but secured the second occurrence that a Big East Conference team will be awarded the ranking of number one this year when the new polls come out Monday with their 94-61 thwarting of the Providence Friars.

UConn (20-1, 9-1 Big East Conference) had “thabeet,” being led by All-American candidate Hasheem Thabeet who posted his first ever career triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and a career high 10 blocks. The Huskies are now 17-1 when Thabeet records a double-double.

Three other Huskies recorded double digits in scoring with AJ Price leading the charge with 19 points on 8-12 shooting, four rebounds, and three assists, while Stanley Robinson had 18 points on 7-11 shooting, seven rebounds, two rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

Senior Jeff Adrien had 14 points, six rebounds, and three assists to compliment his teammates.

The Huskies broke open a close game by scoring the first 11 points of the second half, part of a 15-0 run, highlighted by a block by Thabeet and a 3-pointer by Robinson at the other end.

Providence, (14-7, 6-3 Big East) came into Saturday’s game averaging 81 points per game and shooting nearly 39 percent from long range. The Friars’ 61 points are a conference low since they defeated DePaul on January 3 rd.

#8 Marquette keep #23 G’town down, also stay perfect in conference

It’s going to take quite an effort for the Georgetown Hoyas to be ranked again this year.

The Hoyas (12-8, 3-6 Big East Conference) dropped their fifth straight conference game, this time coming at the hands of a perfect No. 8 Marquette 94-82.

The Golden Eagles (19-2, 8-0 Big East) were led by the super guard Jerel McNeal who had a near triple double with 26 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, and five steals. Two other Golden Eagle starters recorded over 20 points with Wesley Matthews and Lazar Hayward each scoring 23 points a piece.

Matthews scored 19 of his 23 in the second half to go along with his seven rebounds, three rebounds, and three assists.

While the win is all that matters, the Hoyas got solid all-around performances from four starters.

DaJuan Summers had a team-high 22 points on 9-11 shooting and seven rebounds, Chris Wright had 19 points and eight assists, Greg Monroe recorded 13, and Austin Freeman chipped in 12 of his own.

It doesn’t get any easier in the next three weeks for the Hoyas either.

The Hoyas host Rutgers and Cincinnati while traveling to USF and Syracuse before hosting the Golden Eagles again on February 21 st.

By Al Buzzelli
BigEast-fans.com Staff Writer

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