2.25 Around The Big East

#20 Pittsburgh 63, St. John's 47 - St. John's let a golden chance to put themselves cleanly into the tournament slip away in the second half. The Johnnies wiped out a three point halftime deficit and even took a brief lead early in the second half. But instead of trading buckets with the Panthers, they let the Panthers score a few in a row. Five points here, six points there, and when Pitt went on an 8-0 run across a two minute stretch, SJU was down 14 with five and a half minutes left. Tray Woodall did most of the damage for the Panthers, scoring 25 points, including going 4-7 behind the arc. JaKarr Sampson continued his outstanding freshman campaign, scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds. You can check out Rumble In The Garden and Cardiac Hill for more.

#25 Notre Dame 62, Cincinnati 41 - With the hole that they're digging for themselves, I hope the Bearcats took a canary with them to keep track of the air quality. They've now lost five of their last six and currently sit under .500 in conference play. They need to get two wins out of home games against Connecticut and South Florida along with a trip to Louisville just to finish at .500 in the Big East. Notre Dame went up 14-4 and 22-6 in this one, and given how bad the Bearcats are at shooting the ball, that was it for them. Four ND players scored in double digits, led by Jerian Grant with 13. One Foot Down and Down The Drive have the ND and Cincy perspectives respectively.