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BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (12/10/2009)

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A busy wednesday night yielded a 6-1 mark for the Big East conference in non-conference action. The SEC and Big East split the two games at Madison Square Garden in the opening night of the 2009 SEC/Big East Invitational with St. John’s turning back Georgia and UConn finding out first hand how good John Wall is in a loss to Kentucky.

Elsewhere, Providence lit up the scoreboard in a road win at George Washington and ‘Nova picked up a hard-fought win in the ‘Holy War’ contest against rival St. Joe’s. Notre Dame, Rutgers and West Virginia also picked up home wins last night.

Tonight, the SEC/Big East Invitational concludes with DePaul meeting Mississippi State and Syracuse battling Florida in a highly anticipated match-up. Cincinnati is also in action as the Bearcats must avoid looking ahead to their Crosstown Shootout against Xavier and take care of the task on hand this evening.

In other news, the roster shuffle at South Florida looks to be on schedule again this year. Freshman Jordan Dumars is transferring and current transfer Anthony Crater is not looking to be joining the team when expected in the coming week. But, the biggest blow is an injury to Augustus Gilchrist and the forward could be out for a significant amount of time. Also on the shelf for a while is Rutgers big man Greg Echenique. At Pitt, they are getting a little healthier, but Jermaine Dixon is still playing his way back to health and the Panthers need his scoring touch soon.

Also, it might be three months away, but our 2010 Big East Tournament & Tickets page has the links needed for Big East basketball fans to purchase tickets to any or all of the 2010 Big East Tournament sessions. With all the excitement recently at Madison Square Garden, Big East Tournament tickets could make a great holiday gift for any Big East fan on your shopping list. Stub Hub and the Big East conference have teamed up to provide fans with quality tickets and you can get tickets to any Big East conference or non-league game by following this link: StubHub.com – The Safe Way to Buy & Sell Tickets Online

Read on below for all of today’s News & Notes…

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WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S BIG EAST ACTION:

Kentucky 64, Connecticut 61
–The headline match-up of the 2009 SEC/Big East Invitational did not disappiont as John Calipari’s Cats Hold off Huskies (NY Post) at Madison Square Garden in Kentucky’s 64-61 win over Connecticut.

Highly touted freshman John Wall, a near lock for the #1 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, matched the hype that has been bestowed upon him by scoring 25 points and harassing UConn with six steals. Wall Was the Difference in an Amazing Game (Hartford Courant) as Jim Calhoun’s No. 14 Huskies Fall Short to No. 4 Kentucky in a Thriller (TheDay.com).

Wall got UK off and running, thrilling the crowd with an end-to-end lay-up and finishing an alley-oop on a break as he scored six of the Wildcats’ 12 points in an opening 12-0 spurt to start the game in the first three minutes. After using two timeouts, including one 33 seconds into the game where Calhoun pulled senior Jerome Dyson from the game, UConn responded with a 20-6 run to take the lead. UConn led by as many as eight points in the first half and took a 29-23 lead at the half as UK was slowed by foul trouble.

In the second half UConn Crashed into the Wall (New Haven Register) full bore as the star frosh scored 11 of UK’s 14 points to pull out the victory.

“He’s all of that, whatever that is,” Jim Calhoun said of Wall after the game. “He’s a tremendous, tremendous player. He’s no freshman.”

Wall scored one big basket after another over the final 7 1/2 minutes, including a conventional three-point play with 30.8 seconds left that put Kentucky (9-0) ahead for good, 63-61. The Huskies could not come up with a big score of their own in the final seconds and a Ramone Harris free throw provided the final margin of victory.

Dyson led UConn with 17 points, Gavin Edwards had 16 points, 8 rebounds and three blocked shots, Kemba Walker scored 12 and Stanley Robinson added 10 points and 9 rebounds. Connecticut, which turned the ball over 19 times and missed 10 of 24 free throw attempts, falls to 6-2 on the regular season with both losses come on the Madison Square Garden floor. The also lost to Duke last month at MSG in the finals of the NIT Tip-off Tournament.

The Huskies are now off until December 20th when they wrap up the pre-conference schedule with UCF, Maine and Iona before starting Big East play at Cincinnati on December 30th.
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St. John’s 66, Georgia 56
–Has Winning Finally Become the ‘Norm’ (NY Post) for the Red Storm? With St. John’s defeating Georgia 66-56 Wednesday night in the opening game of the SEC/Big East Invitational at Madison Square Garden, Norm Roberts’ club improves to 7-1. What is more impressive is SJU has yet to have 5th year senior Anthony Mason Jr, a proven Big East player, available this season because of injury and last night played without starting power forward Justin Burrell who missed the game with a sprained ankle. Burrell suffered the injury in the opening minute of SJU’s lone loss of the season, last Saturday at Duke.

The Storm is Starting to Believe (NY Post) in themselves and are relying on each other to win games. Even with the injuries and the importance of performing well ont he big stage, Norm Roberts sticks to his principles and started the game with DJ Kennedy, Paris Horne and Sean Evans on the bench as the normal starting trio were punished for being three minutes late to the team bus earlier in the day.

Kennedy continues to shine in his role, this time coming off the bench, to score 11 points, grad 7 rebounds and dish 5 assists. NYC Native and JUCO transfer Dwight Hardy led SJU with 12 points as the balanced Storm saw all 10 players that played Wednesday score at least three points.

St. John’s will wrap up their pre-conference late with home games against Fordham (Sunday), Hofstra (12/20) and Bryant (12/23) before diving into conference play on the road against Georgetown on New Year’s Eve.
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West Virginia 68, Duquesne 39
–Bob Huggins had his West Virginia club on a mission defensively Wednesday night as they limited the visiting Dukes to 39 points on 32% (14-44) shooting from the floor while forcing 25 turnovers. WVU also dominated the boards with a 45-34 rebounding edge as the Mountaineers Cruised to a Win (Times West Virginia) as WVU Rolls 68-39 (Charleston Gazette) over Duquesne.

Of course, like any coach, even after as impressive of a win as last night was, Huggins is Still Looking for Improvement (Times West Virginia) from his Mountaineers with a long season ahead. Giving Huggs’ immediate attention after the game was some reckless three-point shooting and some dismal play by Devin Ebanks, who was just 2-10 from the field with four rebounds and three turnovers in 29 minutes.

Kevin Jones, the do-everything forward, led West Virginia with 16 points and nine rebounds, seven of them off the offensive boards as WVU had a 20-8 edge on the offensive glass.

Despite the Win, Huggins Expects More (Daily Mail) and his team was certain to receive that message from their head coach. Huggins is Seeking Perfection (Wheeling Register) from his sixth ranked club and their next opportunity to provide it for their demanding coach comes Saturday in the Coliseum against Coppin State. A road date with Cleveland State (12/19) and a home game against #25 Ole Miss (12/23) close the pre-conference schedule ahead of the conference opener at Seton Hall December 26th.

Wellington Smith added 11 points and Da’Sean Butler 10 in Wednesday night’s victory.
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Notre Dame 93, IUPUI 70
–Notre Dame had little trouble Wednesday night as the Irish Bolt to Big First Half Lead and Topple IUPUI (South Bend Tribune) 93-70 at Purcell Pavilion.

On a night where the Weather was Frightful, the Irish were Delightful (Journal Gazette), especially Ben Hansbrough, who scored 22 points to lead the Irish.

Tim Abromaitis continued his strong play with 18 more points in his new starting role and Luke Harangody added an efficient 16 points and 11 rebounds as he moves into fifth place on the all-time Irish scoring list.
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Rutgers 66, Monmouth 52
–Things are not getting any easier for Rutgers as the RU Men Overcome Loss of Greg Echenique and Slow Start to Defeat Monmouth (Star-Ledger) 66-52 Wednesday night at the RAC. Echenique is Expected to Miss a Month (NewJerseyNewsRoom.com), maybe more, after undergoing eye surgery Wednesday to repair a pre-existing condition. The loss is a big blow to the Scarlet Knights as Eqchenique has been averaging 12.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, and was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll this past Monday.

Hamady N’Diaye Fills in Well for Echenique (Asbury park Press) as the 7-foot senior scored 22 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked 8 shots in 29 minutes. Rutgers Erases 2nd Half Deficit With 17-1 Run (Asbury Park Press).

Trailing 37-34 early in the second half, the Scarlet Knights embarked ont he game-changing run over the next 6:14 to open a 51-38 advantage to hand Monmouth their 36th loss in 36 tries against Big East opponents.

Mike Rosario had a game-high 23 points for RU.
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Providence 110, George Washington 97
–Six players in double figures and 16 of 29 from three-point range will result in a lot of points and that is exactly what Providence got Wednesday night as an NBA Game Breaks Out and the Friars Have More Fire Power (Providence Journal) in their 110-97 win at George Washington.

The Friars’ Three-Point Show Downs the Colonials (Washington Times) six different PC players made at least two from beyond the arc. The most potent sniper was senior Brian McKenzie who hit on four of five as part of his season-high 17 points. Sharaud Curry nailed three from deep and dished out 13 assists to go with his 16 points. Jamine Peterson also hit three deep balls and finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Marshon Brooks had a team-high 19 points with freshmen Bilal Dixon (18) and Vincent Council (10) rounding out the Friar double-digit scorers.

The Friars shot 52% from the floor and 55% from three-point range. Their high-paced attack also got them to the foul line 35 times where they made 26 attempts.

PC finishes their four games in seven days on Saturday when they host Iona. Providence is then off for nine days before finishing their pre-conference slate by welcoming Yale (12/21) to the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and they travel to Notre Dame on 12/30 to open conference play.
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Villanova 97, St. Joseph’s 89
–Villanova contines their ‘City Series’ dominance as ‘Nova Outlast St. Joseph’s in Big 5 Rivalry (Philadelphia Daily News), 97-89.

St. Joseph’s Hangs Around for 40 Minutes (Philly Daily News) but ‘Nova Counters Each Hawk Punch (Patriot News) to earn the win at the Palestra on the UPenn campus in their annual ‘Holy War’ contest.

Most of the counter punching came from the shooting tough of Taylor King from beyond the arc. King hit four key three-pointers, each seemingly when the Hawks were trying to climb back into the game. Perfecting the pick and pop, King scored 20 points and added 9 rebounds off the bench. The Duke transfer has found a home in Jay Wright’s attack with his understanding of how to pick his spots for his lethal jumper.

Scottie Reynolds led the Wildcats with 22 points and Antonio Pena scored 15. Junior Corey Fisher added 13 points and 6 assists in the win.

Next up for the Wildcats is another City Series game with Temple on Sunday afternoon.
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THURSDAY NIGHT’S BIG EAST GAMES:

DePaul vs. Mississippi State (5-2), 6:30 PM at the St. Pete Times Forum in the Big East/SEC Invitational
–Dogs Itching to Break Out in Key Stretch (Clarion Ledger)
–Bragging Rights at Stake for DePaul & Big East (Blue Demons.com)

Tall order for the Blue Demons in the SEC/Big East Invitational facing a Mississippi State squad featuring elite shot blocker Jarvis Varnado, especially with the absence of Mac Koshwal who will miss another game with an injured foot. A key match-up will be Will Walker against Bulldog guard Dee Bost, who shoots 52.5% from three-point range on the season.
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Syracuse vs. Florida (8-0), 9:00 PM at the St. Pete Times Forum in the SEC/Big East Invitational
–Chemistry is Tinted Orange (NY Times)
–Gators Face Toughest Test Yet in Unbeaten Syracuse (Florida Times Union)
–Billy D, Gators try to Get Back (Tampa Tribune)
–Florida Could Be Without Two Key Reserves (Syracuse Post-Standard)
–Orange Scouting Report: SU vs. Florida (Post-Standard)
–Georgetown Transfer Macklin Prefers Fast Florida Pace (Post-Standard)
–Gators Success Make Game in Tampa a Big Deal (St. Petersburg Times)

The daunting Orange 2-3 zone will look to claim another victim as SU takes on Florida as the 2009 SEC/Big East Invitational comes to a close. Neither team began the year ranked, but Syracuse and Florida have been two of the surprise teams of the early season. SU will rely on their 2/3 zone and veterans, with two fifth-year seniors, a fourth-year junior and another junior in the starting line-up, SU has as much experience as any team in today’s game at this level. Florida relies on balance, with six players averaging between 8 and 13 PPG. It should be a great close to the Invitational and expect the 2/3 zone to cause fits for Florida.
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Miami of Ohio (2-6) @ Cincinnati, 8:30 PM
–Miami Faces Big Challenge vs. UC (Oxford Press)
–Miami First, then Crosstown Shootout for Cincinnati (Cincinnati Enquirer)
–X Who? Cincy Concerned with Miami First (CNati.com)

With inter-city rival Xavier just around the corner, Mick Cronin’s nationally ranked squad will have to take care of business against coach Charlie Coles and his Miami (OH) Redhawks.
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MORE BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES:

South Florida was hoping to become stronger and deeper as Big East play approaches, but that might not be the case afterall with the status of sophomores Augustus Gilchrist, who injured an ankle this week in practice, and Anthony Crater up in the air as we head towards mid-December. Losing Gilchrist Creates a Vacuum for the Bulls (Tampa Tribune) as the 6-foot-10 forward suffered a severely sprained ankle when he stepped on teammate Dominque Jones’ foot during a scrimmage. Gilchrist, a highly touted recruit from Maryland who leads the Bulls in scoring (18.8) and is second in rebounding (7.4), has been vital to USF’s 7-1 start and they could be without him until late January or early February fears coach Stan Heath.

Ohio State transfer Crater, a point guard expected to become eligible Saturday after sitting out a year as a transfer student, remains ineligible to join the team. An online report surfaced last week alleging Crater violated the school’s substance-abuse policy and must serve a suspension before he can play. Heath acknowledged Crater won’t join the team this weekend, but declined to provide details to the Tampa Tribune at this time.

Meanwhile, freshman guard Jordan Dumars, son of former NBA great and current Detroit Pistons director of basketball operations Joe Dumars, is transferring after playing six games for USF this season.
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The good news for Pittsburgh Tuesday night was the return of Jermaine Dixon to game action, his first of the season after breaking his foot twice since the summer. The bad news of course was Pitt lost to Indiana, 74-64, at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic. Dixon, a 6-foot-2 senior from Baltimore, was cleared to fully participate in practice Friday and went through two practices before playing against the Hoosiers, where he went scoreless in 13 minutes. Dixon’s Slow Return Still Boosts Undermanned Panthers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) who will look to rebound from their disappointing loss Saturday against Kent.

To beat a solid Kent team, the Panthers will need someone other than Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker to score the basketball. Pitt’s Scoring is Lacking Balance this Season (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) and the problem has become glaring in their last two games as the duo has scored 77% of Pitt’s points in those contests. A healthier Jermaine Dixon, who averaged 10 pts and shot 49% last year in Big East play, and the return of Gilbert Brown, who averaged 5.4 points backing up Sam Young last season, from academic suspension around December 20th could provide a boost.
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