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AROUND THE BIG EAST (11/26/2008)

Happy eve of Thanksgiving to all NBE Basketball Report readers!

The Big East continues to dominate the college basketball landscape, moving their non-conference record to 57-5 after going 8-0 last night with Notre Dame beating Texas and Syracuse beating Kansas on neutral floors highlighting the list of accomplishments on the evening.

Pittsburgh had a pair of shooting guard recruits on hand as a short-handed Panther squad got a career high from Sam Young to beat Belmont. Villanova cruised past Monmouth, West Virginia routed Delaware State and St. John’s, Marquette and South Florida also picked up double-digit home wins.

There is a lighter schedule tonight, but Notre Dame will look to make the ultimate statement when they attempt to take down North Carolina in the Maui Classic Championship game tonight. DePaul and Rutgers are also in action with that they will hope to be pre-Thanksgiving feasts on their home floors.

Catch the Maui Classic Championship game tonight at the Black Bear Saloon!!

Syracuse took down the defending national champion Kansas Jayhawks in Kansas City (MO) to take the CBE Classic championship. Classic MVP Jonny Flynn scored 25 points, leading SU to the 89-81 OT victory. SU trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half.

Paul Harris added 14 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists while Orinze Onuaku added 19 points and 12 rebounds for the winners.

At 5-0, There Might be Something Pretty Special in the Orange Water (Syracuse.com) as there is another Happy Recap for Orange fans to read about.
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West Virginia remained undefeated after a 76-42 drubbing of Delaware State in the Charleston Civic Center last night. Even thought the Mountaineers are 3-0, they Still Need Consistency and Toughness (Daily Mail), according to coach Bob Huggins.

Alex Ruoff hit seven three’s en route to a team-high 25 points for the Mountaineers.

Darryl Bryant had another solid outing as ‘Truck’ is a Mercedes of a Rookie (Daily Mail) for WVU, scoring 10 points and handing out 5 assists, getting the majority of time at the point as starter Joe Mazzulla was saddled with foul trouble, limiting him to 15 minutes of action.

WVU now heads to the final two rounds of the Las Vegas Invitational on Friday and Saturday as The Real Games Start Friday in Vegas (Charleston Gazette).
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Notre Dame is a veteran team and that experience was key last night as Notre Dame Acts Its Age (South Bend Tribune) in an 81-80 win over 7th ranked Texas last night in the Maui Classic semifinal round. ND withstands a late Texas rally and road the strong back of Luke Harangody to be in position all night to win as Notre Dame Edges Texas in Maui (Austin American Statesman) as AJ Abrams 60-footer caroms off the rim as the buzzer sounded.

The NBE Basketball Report’s preseason Big East Player of the Year, Harangody dominated Texas to the tune of 29 points and 13 rebounds. ‘Gody received supporting help from the other 2/3’s of what is developing as the Irish Big Three as Kyle McAlarney added 19 on seven of 11 shooting (5-9 on three’s) and Tory Jackson added 16 points, 7 assists and 3 steals.

Next up for the Irish, North Carolina in the championship game. It is a marquee match-up between Harangody and Tyler Hansbrough. Much of the country will be anticipating seeing these two Goliaths go head to head (except Hasheem Thabeet, of course).
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St. John’s pulled away down the stretch to defeat Loyola (IL) in the NIT Tip-off consolation round. The Redstorm used nine players, all playing at least 13 minutes and all scoring at least three points to win again without injured star Anthony Mason Jr., who is out for the rest of the season.

The player picking up the slack the most on Tuesday night was redshirt sophomore Rob Thomas. Thomas’ Lucky 13 Lifts SJU Past Loyola (5 Boro Sports), 73-54, and the ‘Storm improves to 5-1 on the young season.

Thomas went five of six from the floor, scoring a point a minute in his 13 minutes of action as Thomas Leads SJU Past Loyola (Newsday). Paris Horne scored 12 and Sean Evans added 11 in the win.
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Villanova continues to make short work of their early season OOC schedule as this time Villanova Torches Monmouth (Philly.com), 71-48. The Wildcats, although short-handed once again, raced to a 45-13 lead at the half before setting cruise for the final 20 minutes.

This was a preliminary game in the Philly Hoop Group Classic. Dante Cunningham scored 19 points and Corey Strokes added 18.

The Wildcats played the game without injured senior Dwayne Anderson and also Casseim Drummond as Drummond was Suspended for One Game (ESPN.com) by coach Jay Wright for undisclosed disciplinary reasons.
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It was not the cleanest performance Stan Heath probably wanted from his club, but South Florida was able to produce a second half rally and USF Escapes With Win Over High Point (highpointpanthers.com), 69-56.

The Bulls trailed 28-24 at the break. Chris Howard led USF with 14 points.
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Marquette failed to reach the century mark and scored 20 points less than their season average, but they still managed to beat Texas Southern 85-68 in what should be An Educational Experience for the Golden Eagles (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

Jerel McNeal led MU with 20 points and also added 8 rebounds and a team-high 5 assists. it was not all good for McNeal, he committed six of the Golden Eagles’ 19 turnovers. Lazar Hayward added 18 points and a team-best 9 rebounds in the win.
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The good news for Pittsburgh on the injury front is Gilbert Brown saw his first game action of the year after missing the first four games with a stress fracture in his foot. Brown, showing expected rust, played 15 minutes off the bench, scoring two points.

The bad news is that star sophomore center DeJuan Blair was held out of action due to swelling in his knee. Blair, a 265-pound TE player hoops, has had an ACL tear in each knee in the past.

Pitt still managed to beat Belmont, 74-60, as Sam Young scored a career high 33 points, but Blair’s Absence Leads to Biggs Problems for Pitt (BCT) as the Bruins out-rebound Pitt 44-34, including 25-5 on the offensive boards. Pittsburgh shot 62% from the field, but only attempted 45 shots. Belmont, on the other hand, shot just 29%, but got off 73 shots, keeping the game rather tight.

Levance Fields added 17 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds for the Panthers.

The good news is the injury is not expected to be serious with Blair as Chris Dokish updates the Blair Injury and Visits made to the game last night by shooting guards in the class of 2009 Dominic Cheek and DeAndre Kane.
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In addition to tonight’s Notre Dame-North Carolina match-up, Rutgers will host Lehigh at 7:30 and DePaul hosts Detroit at 8:30.

See our ‘Donate to NBE’ page for more details on our site donation drive!