Teams

BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES

November 30, 2006

The Big East took a couple more on the chin last night as lowly Rutgers was buried by Temple and Georgetown dropped another at home, this time to unranked Oregon at the Verizon Center. Pittsburgh, who their previous time out led Florida St by 36 with 12 minutes left, found themselves down to Robert Morris with 8 minutes left before finding their big man and taking control of the game back. Cincinnati rallied in the second half to beat Oakland behind a big night from John Williamson. Connecticut and Notre Dame secured easy home wins early and cruised in their games.

The only Big East team in action tonight is Villanova as they travel over to meet Stony Brook.

DePaul should get a little shot in the arm in the middle with a return of a player from suspension. We also have some columnists weight in on the Big East at this point, Pitt’s Mike Cook and Tim Welsh’s job security at PC.

We have all the recaps and previews in today’s news and notes stories that can be accessed by clicking ‘Read More” below.

To read the rest of the article…click ‘READ MORE’ below!

Last Night’s Games:

Oregon 57 Georgetown 50
You know this is not vintage John Thompson III basketball when his team gets credited with just 7 assists on 22 made field goals and turns it over 17 times. Those numbers tell the story along with Jeff Green playing 38 minutes and only getting 5 shots and Roy Hibbert, the other half of Georgetown’s All-American candidate front line, shoots just 2-7 against an undersized and unranked Oregon team as it was the Hoyas That Come Up Small (Washington Post).

Oregon Knocks Down #18 Georgetown (The Oregonian) despite shooting just 38.9% fom the field and hitting only 5-22 from 3-pt range. Aaron Brooks led the Ducks with 15 pts and Malik Hairston, seeing his first action of the season, added 8 pts as he tried to get into game shape.

Jonathan Wallace scored 17 for Georgetown and Marc Edgerson added 13 as the Hoyas Falter Again (Washington Times). They should be plenty motivated for their trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium to meet Duke this weekend. The Hoyas will certainly have a size advantage over Duke, but unless they find a way to get their bigs the ball, the result could be much the same.

Temple 77 Rutgers 54
The Fred Hill era is not getting off to a very impressive start as the Temple Owls Rough Up Weak Rutgers (Philadelphia Inquirer), 77-54 as Fran Dunphy’s First Win at Temple Feels Good (Delaware Times).

The Blowout Defeats Are Tough for the Stoic Hill (Courier News) as Rutgers’ offensive struggles continue. last night the Scarlet Knights shot just 19-57 from the floor, including 4-22 from 3-pt range and they were credited with just 6 assists in the game.

Last night it wasn’t just the poor offense as It’s Getting Late Early as Weak ‘D’ Keys 5th Loss (Star-Ledger) for Rutgers, who was led by JR Inman’s 12 pts and 9 rebounds.

Pittsburgh 67 Robert Morris 53
In their last game, Pitt led Florida State by 36 pts with 12 minutes left in the game. This time against Robert Morris, the Panthers found themselves down 42-41 with 8 minutes left in the game before they found their big man, Aaron Gray, and took control of the game down the stretch.

Robert Morris Put a Scare in Pitt (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) before the Panthers went Inside to Defeat RMU 67-53 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Aaron Gray took control of the game against the pesky RMU squad by hitting 10 of 13 field goal attempts and finishing with 21 pts and 15 rebounds.

Pitt shot a crisp 51% from the floor and outrebounded RMU 36-26 and had an impressive 18:9 assits to turnover ratio. The Panthers limited RMU to 37% from the floor and 7-24 from 3-pt range, but Pitt could not hit their open looks from beyond the arc last night, making just 2-17. That also means when they went inside, they were unstoppable, making 25 of their 36 2-pt shots.

Cincinnati 68 Oakland 61
John Williamson scored 27 pts and grabbed 9 rebounds and Deonta Vaughn added 17 pts and 6 assists as Cincinnati rallied from a 4-pt halftime defecit and then Bearcats Hold Off Oakland (Cincinnati Inquirer) using a series of changing defensives in the second half for a 68-61 win.

One game after committing 29 turnovers, the Bearcats are Slowly Learning (Cincinnati Post) to cut their mistakes and take care of the basketball, turning it over just 11 times last night. Cincinnati is going to have to find some depth somewhere as they got only two points from their bench and were outrebounded by a small Oakland Squad, 40-32.

Notre Dame 90 Winston-Salem 45
This game was not supposed to be very close and it was not as Notre Dame Romps past WSSU 90-45 (Winston-Salem Journal) as Everything falss into Place for ND (NWI Times) as senior Colin Falls Joins 1K Point Club (south Bend Tribune) in the Irish win. Falls finished with 13 pts and Rob Kurz led ND with 18 pts and 10 rebounds. Kurz was 5-5 from the floor and 8-8 from the line.

Connecticut 89 Sacred Heart 46
Last night the UConn Guards Were Too Much to Handle (Hartford Courant) for Sacred Heart as the Huskies Dominate (Danbury Times) in the Running Game (New London Day) and cruise to an 89-46 win.

Jim Calhoun has gone with a new model for this team: Four on the Floor and Built for Speed (Hartford Courant) as the Huskies Game Too Fast for the Pioneers (Waterbury Rep-Am) of Sacred Heart. A balanced effort for UConn was led by Doug Wiggins and Craig Austrie, who each scored 12 pts, and Jerome Dyson, Playing Through Pain (Norwich Bulletin), and AJ Price each added 11 pts in the win.

Tonight’s Game:
Villanova will travel to Stony Brook for an out of conference match-up. The timing for Stony Brook is not that great as leading scorer Ricky Lucas is likely out of action tonight due to a sprained ankle. As a relatively new Division 1-A school, it was a coup to get a home date with the Big East’s Villanova and a regional deal with MSG to televise the contest, so it is Primetime for Stony Brook to Put on a Good Show (Newsday) against a team that beat them by 43 last season.

AROUND THE LEAGUE:
It has been pretty clear that DePaul has been seriously missing a post presence on the defensive end of the ball and with 7′1 Center Keith Butler Returning For DePaul (Daily Herald) there is a hope that he will provide that missing element as early as this weekend against Kansas. Butler played his first three seasons at Temple in the Atlantic 10. His sophomore season was his best when he averaged 4.7 PPG, 5.8 rebounds and 1.7 blks in 25 minutes of action. In his three seasons in the A-10, Butler never show better than 46% from the floor, so his offensive capacity for the Big East looks limited. He has been suspended from all team-related activities since July, so getting into game shape might take some time, but there is some potential here with him and Wes Green in the middle and allowing more freedom for Wes Chandler to do his damage, too.

CBS Sportsline columnist Gary Parrish takes a look at the Big East by comparing the highs and the lows of the conference: In the End, Beauty of Big East Only Skin Deep.

I can agree with some of his points and wih 16 teams, you are going to have teams bringing up the rear. But, still, night in and night out, there is too many quality teams in this conference that will challenge anyone in the country, in my opinion.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnists Gene Collier takes a look at a new element of the Pitt Panther basketball team, Mike Cook: Elegant Cook Not a Perfect Fit with Rugged Pitt.

Providence Journal columnists takes a look (again) at the coaching future of Friar coach Tim Welsh: PC’s Welsh Fighting for Coaching Life. Its been a topsy-turvy season already for Welsh, with the uncertainty surrounding Randall Hanke and then the loss to Brown, followed by wins over Boston College and George Washington. This might be a team that surprises in the Big East, we will have to watch and see…