By Matt Hill
WEEKEND GAMES
UCONN 81, Marquette 53
The NCAA committee Top 16 was revealed on Saturday and UCONN was No. 2 behind Purdue.
It's unclear if the Huskies saw the reveal but UCONN played like it and it was no contest against the Golden Eagles.
The Huskies made a statement from the beginning and led 40-24 with 1:29 to go in the first half.
Donovan Clingan was dominant again, going for 17 points and 10 rebounds. Three other players for the Huskies finished in double figures, Including Tristen Newton with 15 points and eight rebounds and eight assists.
Cam Spencer and Hassan Diarra finished with 14 points.
Clingan is such a presence for the Huskies and he causes mismatches and the Golden Eagles were highly outsized in this one. Marquette was battling for a possible No. 1 seed and was surprisingly put as the No. 7 overall seed in the tournament reveal.
Marquette will have another chance to defeat UCONN in March before the Big East Tournament.
The second half was all Huskies. In year's past there have been one or two players that you really had to pay attention to on UConn's team. This year there are about six as this is a very balanced squad.
Many wondered after last year if UCONN can repeat, but so far things are going just fine in Connecticut.
UCONN had 25 points off the bench and 21 second chance points.
Kam Jones topped Marquette with 15 followed by Oso Ighodaro with 14 points.
Villanova 70, Georgetown 54
Villanova held Georgetown to 19 first half points as the Wildcats comfortably defeated the Hoyas.
TJ Bamba led the Cats with 14 points while Eric Dixon had 11 points, eight assists and eight rebounds.
The most impressive effort of the night for Georgetown was Supreme Cook who had 11 rebounds to go along with eight points.
Creighton 79, Butler 57
The Blue Jays outscored the Bulldogs 45-22 in the second half in a rout at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Baylor Scheierman had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead Creighton while Ryan Kalkbrenner had 21 points for the Jays.
Jalen Thomas had 18 points to top Butler.
Providence 81, DePaul 70
The Blue Demons hung tough, but once again could not get that elusive first Big East win of the year as Providence held on for the victory
Jaden Henley and Elijah Fisher had 15 points to top the Blue Demons in what was one of their stronger Big East efforts of the year.
Devin Carter and Josh Oduro pretty much prevented the major upset from happening as they combined for 58 points. Carter had 31 and 13 rebounds and Oduro had 27 points for Providence.
Seton Hall 68, St. John's 62
In what was one of the biggest comebacks of the year in the Big East, St. John's led 41-23 with 1:25 to go in the first half then the Pirates outscored St. John's 45-21 the rest of the way to take the win from the Red Storm.
For 18 minutes in the first half St. John's was totally dominating the Pirates, but a total meltdown by the Red Storm allowed Seton Hall to take advantage and pull it off.
The most all-around performance for Seton Hall was produced by Kadary Richmond who had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Daniss Jenkins had 17 points and Joel Soriano had 12 rebounds for St. John's.
__________________________
WEEKDAY GAMES
Marquette 78, Butler 72
Tyler Kolek finished with 27 points and five assists with Oso Ighordaro tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds in a close win over Butler.
The Bulldogs, who came into the game 16-8, hung in there and had a chance to possibly pull this out, but Marquette had won seven in a row coming in and the Golden Eagles made it eight.
Butler was led by Pierre Brooks with 15 points and six rebounds.
Providence 75, St. John's 72
Josh Oduro had 28 points and Devin Carter netted 14 points and 11 rebounds in a huge Big East win between two bubble teams.
St. John's led 38-33 at halftime, but the Friars came back and won a tight one at "The Dunk."
RJ Luis Jr. topped the Red Storm with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Creighton 94, Georgetown 72
Creighton ran out to a 46-27 cushion and never looked back.
Baylor Scheierman had Creighton's first triple double since 1985 with a 15-point, 11 rebound and 11 assist effort. Trey Alecander topped the Jays in points with 26 while Ryan Kalkbrenner had 17 on the night
Supreme Cook topped a struggling Georgetown team with 19 points.
Seton Hall 88, Xavier 70
This was a romp from the start as in a big bubble battle BIg East game, Seton Hall did a ton to get back on the right side in a win over Xavier.
The loss is a huge blow to Xavier who now will almost definitely have to win the Big East Tournament to go to the dance.
Quincy Olivari led all scorers for Xavier with 25 points and had six rebounds. Kadary Richmond topped the Pirates with 20 points and 13 assists. Al-Amir Dawes had 14 for Seton Hall.
UCONN 101 DePaul 65
The Huskies tuned up for that big game with Marquette with a blowout win over the struggling Blue Demons.
Six players were in double figures for the Huskies, Led by Alex Karaban with 21 points.
Comments