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DOUBLE-BYE A CURSE IN BIG EAST TOURNAMENT

‘Nova and Pitt join Syracuse out the MSG door heading into final quarterfinal game

In the unique, 16-team tournament format in the Big East conference the top four regular season finishers breeze into the quarterfinals with a double-bye. The reward for finishing at the top of the grueling and competitive 18 game conference schedule would seem to be a significant one and an advantage in the conference tournament played annually at Madison Square Garden.

Not so fast.

This year in the 2010 Big East Tournament the double-bye has acted more of a curse as Syracuse. Villanova and Pittsburgh all recipients of a double-bye for their outstanding regular seasons, fell one-by-one over the course of the first three quarterfinal contests Thursday.

After Georgetown Put the Squeeze on the Orange in the day’s highly anticipated opening quarterfinal contest it was Marquette knocking off ‘Nova by a score of 80-76.

The game was tight throughout as the Golden Eagles began the game hot from beyond the three-point arc connecting on five of their first six attempts. Darius Johnson-Odom was 5 of 7 from 3-point range and scored a career-high 24 points for the Golden Eagles and senior Lazar Hayward had 20 points and seven rebounds.

Hayward’s three-pointer with 1:51 left to play but the Golden Eagles ahead for good and he clinched the win with a pair of free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining.

“We didn’t play that poorly,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said afterward. “Obviously, you know, a couple of times we lost (Darius) Johnson-Odom [and] we lost [Lazar] Hayward, but it’s easy to say that when you watch the game. They do such a great job of making the extra passes, driving the ball, not taking the initial shot, making the extra passes. They get you scrambling. If you’re not great at playing every possession for 35 seconds defensively, they’re going to get you.”

For the game Marquette was 11 of 18 from behind the arc and had 17 assists against just eight team turnovers. Senior David Cubillan added 17 points and junior Jimmy Butler scored 14.

“They just continued to answer every play, every situation, every little adjustment we made, they had an answer for,” said Wright. “They just did a great, great job. I have to give them credit.”

Villanova shot 54% from the field and won the battle on the boards, yet still came up short.

“It’s very hard to win games when your opponent shots 54% and out rebounds you by five,” said Buzz Williams.

“But our guys hung in there.”

Corey Stokes had the hot hand throughout the game for the Wildcats, scoring 22 points and hitting six of seven from three-point range and only missing once from the field in nine attempts. Corey Fisher added 16 and Antonio Pena scored 14, but the ‘Nova seniors, Scottie Reynolds and Reggie Redding, were a combined 5-19 from the field.

“It’s tough, but you know, that’s basketball,”Reynolds said after scoring 10 points while shooting four of 10 from the field. “You have to go on to the next thing. We’re looking forward to the NCAA Tournament.”

For Marquette the next thing is a date with Georgetown in their first Big East Basketball Tournament Semifinal (click link for tickets) appearance since joining the conference.

In the first game of the night session Notre Dame continued to ride their new slow-down approach to their sixth straight win with a 50-45 win over No. 2 seed Pittsburgh. The Irish are getting it done on the defensive end of the floor.

“I thought we really defended the last seven minutes to win the game, because they defended us,” an elated Mike Brey said following the game. “We couldn’t get much offensively, so it was going to be us defensively to win. And I thought we were fabulous on that end of the floor.”

Seniors Tory Jackson and Luke Harangody scored 12 points each as the Irish won despite making just five field goals in the second half.

“This run we made at the end of the season, it was pretty special,” said Harangody. “Those guys have played great without me. Now to make a run in the Big East Tournament is great as well. We’re just looking forward to playing as well tomorrow and having the momentum we had tonight.”

Pitt’s only lead of the game was 4-2 on their second possession of the game on an Ashton Gibbs jumper. The Irish led by as many as eight early on, but the Panthers were able to tie the game at 27-all. When Harangody scored to regain the lead for the Irish with 1:03 left ND never gave up the lead again despite seeing the lead slashed to one or two points often in the second half.

The Irish will await the winner of the Cincinnati/West Virginia game in Friday night’s semifinal round nightcap. For the Panthers they will be off until the NCAA Tournament where they will be making their conference-best ninth consecutive appearance.

“Right now we don’t feel good,” said Jamie Dixon. “I’ll speak for myself. I don’t feel good. But I’m very happy with our effort and what we did. These kids have given everything they can. These kids have given everything they can. And they’ve been called young, inexperienced all year, but they haven’t played like it. I think this will be a good learning lesson for us today. I think this is something we can get better for.”

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