Showing posts with label Big East Tournament. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Big East Tournament. Show all posts

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Louisville Wins Big East Tournament

Louisville 76, Syracuse 66

Louisville used a 21-5 run coming out of half time to erase an 8-point Syracuse lead and went on to win the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden Saturday night.

The Orangemen led 38-30 at the half, but just 6 minutes into the second half, found themselves down 51-43. After a 6 overtime game on Friday night and a single OT in their win over West Virginia on Saturday, the Syracuse starters appeared fatigued and were not executing with the same sharpness as they displayed in the first half.

Take nothing away from the Cardinals, however, who used a swarming defense to take Syracuse out of their game. Louisville also turned up their shooting, hitting 48% for the game, including 10-27 from beyond the arc.

Louisville became the only #1 seed from the nation's Big Six conferences to win their tournament. Washington, North Carolina, LSU, Michigan State and Kansas all were booted from their respective conference tourneys without any of them reaching the finals.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Big East Stunner: West Va. Rocks Pitt

West Virginia 74, Pittsburgh 60

If they don't win another game at Madison Square Gardent, the West Virginia Mountaineers have made their case for inclusion in the NCAA tourney field, whipping #2 Pitt in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

Freshman Devin Ebanks scored a career-high 20 points and led the team in rebounds with 7 as the Mountaineers took a 2-point lead at half time and extended it to a double-digit advantage which they maintained throughout most of the second half. The Mountaineers' defense did a number on Pitt's DeJuan Blair, limiting the forward to 14 points and 5 rebounds in just 18 minutes as the All-American candidate was in foul trouble throughout. Pitt's point total was one of their lowest of the season.

Alex Ruoff scored 18 points, and Da'Sean Butler chipped in with 16. Pitt and west Va. had spilt home and home games during the regular season.

The Mountaineers can get to the finals by beating Syracuse tomorrow night.

In other quarterfinal action, Villanova slipped by Marquette, 76-75, on a last second layup by Dwayne Anderson. It was Anderson's only basket of the game. The Wildcats meet the winner of the Syracuse-UConn game in the other semifinal Friday.

Scottie Reynolds led all scorers with 21 points and Corey Stokes added 20.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Syracuse Blows By Seton Hall

Syracuse 89, Seton Hall 74

Jonny Flynn and Eric Devendorf each scored 19 points and Flynn dished out 11 assists, as the Syracuse Orangemen advanced to the Big east quarterfinals.

Seton Hall trailed most of the game, but scored the first six points of the second half to lead 37-36 and tied the game at 44-44, but from there, it was all Orangemen, as Syraucse built a lead that would expand to 24 points.

Syracuse faces the unwelcome task of having to play UConn in the quarterfinal round on Thursday. The Orangemen played at Connecticut on February 11 and were held to their lowest point total of the season in a 63-49 loss.

Big East: Notre Dame Dumped

West Virginia 74, Notre Dame 62

Notre Dame's Luke Harangody scored 27 points, but the Irish were outplayed, outmuscled and outrebounded by Devin Ebanks and the West Virginia Mountaineers. Ebanks came off the West Virginia bench to dominate the boards, wiping the glass for a game high 18 rebounds.

Alex Ruoff scored 25 points and Da'Sean Butler had 20 for West Virginia.

The Irish, who have been fighting inconsistency demons all season were never really in the game. The Mountaineers scored the first 7 points of the game and never trailed, building up a 17-2 lead just 8 minutes in. With 7 minutes remaining in the first half, the Irish were down 26-6. The closest they got in the second half was 7 points, but they were turned back by the Mountaineers every time they made a run.

Notre Dame bested Rutgers in the opening round of the Big East tournament, but are now 18-14 and likely will not receive a bid to the NCAA tourney. West Virginia will play Pitt in the quarterfinals tomorrow night.

Elsewhere in the Big East, Providence held off DePaul, 83-74 and Marquette beat down St. John's, 74-45, getting 20 points from Wesley Matthews and 17 from Lazar Hayward.

Providence gets Louisville and Marquette will match up with Villanova in tomorrow's games. Tonight, Syracuse faces Seton Hall to determine which will play Connecticut in the next round.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Gators Drop Another One

Tennessee 86 #5 Florida 76On Saturday, the Florida Gators lost to lowly LSU. Last night in Knoxville, evidence that the reigning national champions were in the throes of a late-season slump surfaced as they lost an important game to surging Tennessee.Sports Training Products Against LSU, the Gators couldn't find any offense. Against the Vols, they disregarded defense, allowing Tennessee to hit 58% of their shots, open a 19-point lead at the half and hold off a Florida rally late in the game. Florida has also lost their shooting touch from beyond the arc. They hit only 6 of 21 attempts last night after a 2.17 performance at LSU.

Chris Lofton led the Vols with 21 points, but the bigger story was the lack of production from some of the Gators' leading scorers, Joakim Noah in particular. Against the Vols, Noah scored a mere 8 points, following his 4 point game at LSU. Taurean Green scored just 6 at LSU and 9 last night. Lee Humphrey had 5 points against LSU and 9 against the Vols. Those three players average 36 points per game combined. Over the last two losses, 20.5.

Whatever is ailing the Gators, it became Tennessee's gain as the Volunteers improved to 9-6 in the SEC East and 21-9 overall, having won 6 of their last 7. Both teams close out the regular season on Saturday. Tennessee is at Georgia, while the Gators host Kentucky.

The SEC Men's Basketball Tournament begins Thursday, March 8 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and concludes on Sunday, March 11.

#12 Pittsburgh 80 West Virginia 66 - The Pitt Panthers regrouped after their weekend loss at Georgetown and took care of business at home with a decisive win over the Mountaineers. Pitt regained a share of first place as Georgetown lost at Syracuse on Monday. West Virginia, however, saw their hopes of getting an invitation to the NCAA Tournament slipping away as they lost for the 3rd time in their last 4 outings. The Mountaineers fell into a tie with DePaul at 8-7, good for 7th place in the conference. West Va. has only a one quality win on their resume (UCLA), so they'll have to win their season finale against Cincinnati and perform well in next week's Big East Tournament.

BYU 62 #25 Air Force 58 - The BYU Cougars ended Air Force's 30-game home win streak and clinched at least a tie for the Mountain West championship. The Cougars can win the title outright with a win in their final regular season game, at home - where they own the nation's longest home win streak, 30 straight - against Utah. At 12-3, BYU currently leads UNLV by 1/2-game. The Runnin' Rebels, winners of 9 of their last 11, play at New Mexico on Wednesday and close out the regular season hosting Colorado St. on Saturday.