Three of four Big East teams fall in Round 2 of the NCAA Tournament

It was a classic clashing of styles between Notre Dame and Washington State. The Irish like to get up and down the floor, and score in the mid-80s. Wash St. prefers to bring the game to a crawl and use defense to grind out wins. Advantage Washington State in this one, and it wasn’t even close. The Cougars pounced on Notre Dame 61-41, and bounced the Irish from the tournament, holding Notre Dame to half their scoring average. Washington St. suffocated Big East POY Luke Harangody, frustrating Harangody into just 3-of-17 shooting, his worst performance all season from the field. Harangody finished with 10 points and 22 rebounds for the Irish, who shot just 25 percent for the game, and 17 percent from 3-point range. Notre Dame managed only seven first-half baskets, and mustered just 19 first half points. Derrick Low led all scorers with 18 points for the Wash St., and Kyle Weaver added 15 points and nine rebounds. The Irish came in scoring just over 80 points per game, while Wash St. surrendered 80 points just one time this season. The Cougars have won two games in the tournament for the first time since 1941, and their reward will be the East Regional’s No. 1 seed, North Carolina.

Fellow Big East second-rounders Pittsburgh and Marquette were ousted from the tournament as well, falling to Michigan State and Stanford respectively in South Regional action. The Spartans ended Pitt’s six-game winning streak behind strong efforts from Drew Neitzel and Kalin Lucas. The duo scored 21 of the Spartans’ final 25 points to help Michigan St run away from Pitt. Neitzel finished with 21 and Lucas had 18. Levance Fields led Pitt with 19 points and along with Fields, Sam Young and DeJuan Blair, the Pitt trio netted 14 of the Panthers’ 17 fields goals, and 44 of Pitt’s 54 points. Despite playing a combined 64 minutes between them, Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin had four points on a combined 2-of-12 shooting (Ramon was 1-of-9). Sixth-seeded Marquette lost a heartbreaker to Stanford in overtime, 82-81 on Cardinal center Brook Lopez’s winning basket with 1.3 seconds left in overtime. Brook Lopez poured in 30 points, and brother Robin finished with 18. The Stanford twin towers lived in the paint and wore down Marquette’s interior defense as the game progressed. The Cardinal advances to the Sweet 16 without their head coach Trent Johnson, who was ejected from the game in the first half. Lazar Hayward’s 30 points couldn’t lift Marquette to the next round, as the Lopez bros. were just too much to handle.

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The lone Big East winner from Saturday’s second round action was West Virginia, as the Mountaineers upset No.2 seed Duke 73-67. Joe Alexander led WVU with 22 points and 11 boards, and guards Joe Mazzulla and Alex Ruoff lifted fellow struggling Mountaineers Daris Nichols and De’Sean Butler. Mazzulla had 13 points and Ruoff added 17 to help hand Duke another early exit in the tournament. Defensively, WVU was too much to deal with, and Duke was severely out-matched. The Mountaineers pounded Duke on the glass 47-27 and forced the Blue Devils to miss 15 straight 3’s at one point. The clamped down on Kyle Singler and DeMarcus Nelson, who each had six points; Singler attempted just three shots and Nelson was a miserable 2-of-11 from the field. Mazzulla nearly pulled out a triple double, adding 11 rebounds and dishing out eight assists to go along with 13 points. In his first season at the helm, head coach Bob Huggins has his alma mater back in the Sweet 16, where they will face the three-seeded Xavier Musketeers.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content

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