Big East basketball update 11/18

The Mountaineers defeat Elon 92-47

Pittsburgh uses second half surge to stomp RedHawks

The #6 team in the country Pittsburgh Panthers will stay that way after using a 14-2 run in the opening minutes of Monday’s second half contest to beat the Miami (OH) Red Hawks 82-53. The twelve point run opened up a five point lead at half to give the defending Big East Champions some breathing room, but the victory also pushed their school winning streak to 30 straight home wins against non-conference opponents.

A balanced attack in which all starting Panthers reached double digits in scoring was lead by point guard Levance Fields with 12 points and 12 assists. Senior Sam Young and Junior College transfer Jermaine Dixon each added 14, while last year’s Co-Big East Freshman of the Year DeJuan Blair matched his fellow forward, Tyrell Blair with 10.

The Panthers defense used their trademark physical style of play cutting off passing lanes and challenging shots of Michael Bramos, a member of the Preseason MAC First-Team. Bramos was held without a field goal on 0-6 shooting for the game and only finished with two points in 22 minutes. The Panthers look to extend their streak to 31 straight against non-conference foes, Friday November 21 st against the Akron Zips at 7:00 PM.

Huskies looking good as free throws and defense wear down Hartford

The second ranked team in the country received stellar play out of their starting guards Craig Austrie, AJ Price, and Kemba Walker who totaled 50 of the team’s points in an easy 99-56 win versus Hartford. The trio of guards combined to shoot 19-37 from the field while adding 22 trips to the charity line. UCONN’s post presence in Hasheem Thabeet had nine points on 2-4 shooting and eight rebounds in 22 minutes, but it was the front court that stole this show.

Hartford closed the nine point halftime gap to one just four minutes in, but Jim Calhoun’s team regrouped and went on a 31-8 run to put the game out of reach with just under six minutes remaining. The Huskies take on La Salle November 21 st at 8:00 PM.

Georgetown holds off Jacksonville for first win of season

Greg Monroe, the number one ranked power forward coming out of high school did not disappoint fans as his 14 point eight rebound game three block stat sheet led the way for the Georgetown Hoyas as they defeated the Jacksonville Dolphins 71-62.

Guard Chris Wright was the Hoyas leading scorer at 17 points on 6-8 shooting. Forwards Jessie Sapp and DeJuan Summers both added 13 as well.

The Hoyas uncharacteristically got outrebounded by the Dolphins who are coming off an earlier loss from Saturday to Florida State. Georgetown shot only 21% from three point land, but was able to get to the line 33 times, converting on 24. They’ll look to improve as they take on Drexel at home next.

Cunningham, #23 Wildcats destroy Fordham

Dante Cunningham scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Corey Stokes Fisher each scored 17 points to lead the No. 23 Villanova Wildcats past Fordham 107-68 on Monday night.

The Cats made 30 of their 33 attempts from the foul line (86.6%) and shot 35-60 (58.3%) from the field scoring over 100 points for the first time this early season.

Brenton Butler, from the Rams, scored a team-high 17 points on 6-19 shooting to go along with four boards and four assists. The Wildcats will look to stay hot taking on Niagara Tuesday at 7:00 PM.

Matthews leads Golden Eagles over Chicago State

Wesley Matthews led the No. 17 Marquette Golden Eagles in just about every statistical category as his team beat the Chicago State Cougars 107-87 Monday night. Matthews totaled 19 points seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

The assist category went to Senior Jerel McNeal who tallied five to go along with 13 points and three rebounds. Guard David Holston from State lit it up from three land connecting on 7-12 shooting, 9-17 for the game, finishing with 29 points.

The Golden Eagles will play University Wisconsin-Milwaukee Saturday at 8:30 PM.

by Doug Potter
BigEast-fans.com West Virginia Correspondent

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