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AROUND THE BIG EAST (11/15/2008)

The anticipation of the Keno Davis era beginning in Providence went over like a lead balloon as the Big East suffered their first loss of the young season.

Northeastern 70
Providence 66

Under Keno Davis, the Friars will be using an uptempo attack and the three-point shot as a weapon. If the first game is any indication of how that will work at PC, Davis might want to re-think his strategy for the Big East.

The Friars turned the ball over 21 times and missed 12 of their first 13 three-point attempts in their loss to the Colonial’s Northeastern.

Sharaud Curry struggled in his return to action after missing all but eight minutes of last season with a broken foot, scoring just two points, going 1-8 from the floor, in 30 minutes of action. Last season’s leading scorer, senior Jeff Xavier, scored just three-points, on a late three-point basket.

The Friars were just 12-22 from the foul line, 6-25 from three-point range and had nearly twice as many turnovers (21) as assists (11).

Weyinmi Efejuku led PC with 16 points, but committed 6 turnovers himself. Jonathan Kale scored 15.

The Friars will host Dartmouth on Tuesday.

West Virginia 92
Elon 47

The Mountaineers blew open a somewhat close game in the 1st half, outscoring Elon 54-20 after intermission as the Mountaineers Win Their Season Opener (WVmetronews.com) in front of 10,250 fans.

Junior Da’Sean Butler scored 19 points and added a team-high six rebounds and steals as WVU forced 24 turnovers from the visitors. Alex Ruoff also scored 19 and freshman Daryl ‘Truck’ Bryant added 12 points and a team-high 6 assists off the the bench.

Next up for the Mountaineers is Longwood on Thursday night.
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Zach Smart attended the season opener for Connecticut on Friday night as the Huskies Drop Western Carolina in Season Opener, 81-55. Hasheem Thabeet and Jerome Dyson had impressive performances on a night where AJ Price’s return to the line-up went pretty bad and was called early due to a fragrant foul being assessed on the UConn senior. He had sprained his ankle earlier in the game as Price Sat Out Saturday’s Practice (Hartford Courant) because of the ankle. Check out our Connecticut Team Blog Site for Zach’s coverage of the game, including extensive post-game reaction from the Huskies.
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Ray Floriani saw the game with the most drama on Friday night as he headed to the RAC for the Rutgers‘ season-opener with Marist. Rutgers Survives a MAAC Scare as freshman Mike Rosario scored 17 and the Scarlet Knights set a school record with 16 blocked shots, getting 8 from Hamady N’Diaye and 6 from freshman Greg Echenique, who posted a double-double in his debut.

Check out Ray’s take of the action at our Rutgers Team Blog Site.
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Sunday Schedule in the Big East:

Columbia at Seton Hall, 1 PM

Rutgers vs. Delaware, 4 PM at the Bob Carpenter Center Acierno Arena (Newark, DE)

LeMoyne at Syracuse, 6:30 PM.
Will SU Be Good Enough in the Big East? (Utica Observer-Dispatch)

South Carolina Upstate at Notre Dame, 7:30 PM.
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With Providence dropping their opener Saturday to Northeastern, maybe PC Coach Keno Davis Focusing on Recruiting (Providence Journal) is the wise move. The Friars had five verbal commitments this past fall and four of them signed letters of intent this week: Duke Mondy, Kadeem Batts, James Still and Kyle Wright. The fifth recruit, Antoine Allen of Notre Dame Prep is still committed to PC, but until all his academic requirements are on track to qualify, it looks like he will hold off on signing a letter of intent. The Friars are heavily recruiting his ND Prep teammate Johnnie Lacy as well as Chicago Whitney Young point Chris Colvin as PC looks to close the class with a pure point guard.
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