2.17 Around The Big East

Well, most of a theme. Seton Hall is a bunch of ruiners.

Providence 71, #21 Notre Dame 54 - Let that be a lesson to you: Playing an extra 30 minutes of basketball across two games is probably not good for you in the long run. Then again, Jack Cooley and Tom Knight didn't play for any of the five overtimes against Louisville, so where the hell were they in this one? Yeah, Cooley had 12 points and 10 rebounds, but he only played 26 minutes and Knight only 24 while Kadeem Batts was going for 20 points and six rebounds. Vincent Council was outstanding for the Friars, falling just 3 points short of a triple double with 7 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Council became PC's all time assists leader with his third assist of the game.

Villanova 70, Connecticut 61 - It's not a secret that containing Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright is important to picking up a win against UConn. Villanova took this VERY seriously in this game, holding the Huskies' backcourt pairing to just six combined points. Ryan Arcidiacono had 25 for the Wildcats, while Mouphtaou Yarou had 11 points and 16 rebounds. Villanova used an 11-0 run in the second half to wipe out UConn's three point halftime lead and take control of the game for good. VU Hoops has their recap here.

DePaul 75, Rutgers 69 - Hey, remember when Rutgers was 12-4 with a win over Pitt? Things probably aren't getting better for Rutgers any time soon, as they lost Eli Carter to a broken leg during this one. Worrel Clahar led the Blue Demons with 19 points, while Myles Mack had a career best 28 points to lead the Scarlet Knights. On The Banks has more for you.

#6 Syracuse 76, Seton Hall 65 - Haralds Karlis hit a three pointer to give SHU a 21-12 lead with 11:17 left in the first half, and things were looking pretty good towards The Seven running the table on the day. A 12-0 Orange run over the next 6+ minutes pretty much put an end to that idea, though. The Pirates would never lead again, and a 6-0 run made entirely out of Michael Carter-Williams free throws ballooned the Syracuse lead to double digits.

Marquette heads out on the road to play Seton Hall in the next game for both teams, so I think it's worthwhile to highlight these post game quotes from Pirates head coach Kevin Willard.

On Brandon Mobley:

Brandon is getting surgery Tuesday or Wednesday and will be done for the season. We’re hoping it’s only eight weeks (of recovery time) so he can have a full summer and get stronger and work on his game. Right now all he’s doing is sitting on the sideline (in practice) and trying to play and it’s not fair to him and to his future.

The shoulder, it keeps popping out, it’s so weak . . . it’s like lipping out a putt. If you have a bad cup you’re going to have a bigger lip-out, the ball will lip out more. His shoulder is kind of lipping out.

The only reason he played today, he had 15 family (members) here. We would have gotten surgery after the Rutgers game. He dislocated it in stretching the other day. It’s happening so often, it’s just not worth it. His health is more important.

On Brian Oliver:

Brian Oliver has a self-proclaimed ankle injury so he’s out indefinitely. I don’t know when he’ll be back.

It’s one of those injuries that comes up in practice . . . it’s one of those injuries that when a game appears it goes away and feels real good, and when a practice appears it really hurts.

We’ll have the New England Journal of Medicine come in and study him because they’ll want to know how that’s possible. It’s quite amazing.

Ouch, and I mean that in two different ways. You can read more about this one from South Orange Juice.

(h/t to @BBaranowski for the Willard quotes)