Recap by Jim Woods
Things heated up on the second day of action with a typical Pitt performance to start things off. The second game of the day featuring Boston College and Syracuse was one of the stranger games you will see, but certainly had plenty of excitement. The night session was once again very competitive with games going right to the final minutes. Villanova has decided to play Cinderella in New York and the Connecticut Huskies proved why you can never have too many good players.
No. 8 Virginia Tech 61 vs. No. 1 Pittsburgh 74
This game went pretty much according to the script that we thought. Pitt never quite dominated the game, but always seemed to be in control. Virginia Tech leading scorer Bryant Matthews bounced back from a poor offensive performance on Wednesday against Rutgers to show why he was the league’s leading scorer. Unfortunately foul trouble plagued him throughout the contest, and he fouled out with 7:14 remaining in the game. The Hokies could have used him down the stretch as they still were in the contest up until the final minute. They could not get the big basket when they needed it though, and could not get the Panther lead below six in the final three minutes. Jaron Brown did a bit of everything for the Panthers as he scored 20 points and added 6 assists. He is a guy who does not get a lot of notoriety, but is just a true warrior and winner. Virginia Tech deserves a lot of credit for their one and only tournament appearance as they played very well in both contests.
No. 5 Boston College 57 vs. No. 4 Syracuse 54
As I mentioned above, this game was perhaps one of the stranger games I have witnessed in a long time. Before the game and in my preview yesterday, I mentioned that somebody, specifically Sean Marshall, needed to step up and knock down some three point shots to stretch the Syracuse 2-3 zone. I spoke with BC assistant Pat Duquette before the game and he felt that Marshall or somebody else needed to make a few perimeter jumpers to open things up for Craig Smith on the baseline. So what happened? The Eagles shot 0-9 from three-point range and did not make a field goal outside of twelve feet for the entire game. But most importantly, they won the game. How did they do it? They crashed the offensive glass and really passed the ball well on the interior. In the second half they put the clamps on Syracuse defensively and held them to 22 points in the second stanza. Hakim Warrick got off to a great start, but really struggled in the second half. Good play out of Gerry McNamara carried the Orange towards the finish, but they did not have enough weapons. The front line of the Eagles came up huge as Jared Dudley (8 offensive rebounds), Craig Smith and Uka Agbai combined for 48 of the Eagles 57 points. Syracuse had chance to tie as McNamara, while being hounded by almost the whole BC team, missed a running three point shot as time expired. BC now moves on to try and knock off the top seeded Pitt Panthers.
No. 7 Notre Dame 58 vs. No. 2 Connecticut 66
Connecticut proved last night why you stockpile high school All-Americans and figure out a way to keep them happy later. Without star Emeka Okafor they were able to dip into their stable of talent just watch Charlie Villanueva go out and put up Okafor-like numbers with 16 points 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. His parnter in crime on the front line was Josh Boone who chipped in his 16 rebounds to the cause. Despite these great performances, the true star for the Huskies was guard Ben Gordon who stepped up his scoring with 29 points, including the “dagger” three-point jumper with :48 seconds remaining to give Connecticut an insurmountable eight point lead. As the saying goes, you can live and die with the three-point shot, and last night Notre Dame died with it. The Irish were 7-29 behind the arch and seemed at times to just settle for a forced three when they could have worked for an easier shot. Chris Thomas led the way with 19 points, but his 1-10 from downtown really crippled their chance for an upset. The happiest people outside of Huskie fans had to be those from Seton Hall. A win by the Irish might have vaulted them over the Pirates and into the “Big Dance.” I think the NIT is in the Notre Dame future.
No. 3 Providence 66 vs. No. 11 Villanova 69
Sometimes it is nice to pick the right upset, and I just had a feeling yesterday about the Wildcats. This team has too much talent to be the 11th seed in any conference tournament. This game was tight throughout and Providence grabbed a four-point lead with 3:54 to play. Villanova responded with an 11-0 run to make the score 65-58 and the Friars did not have enough time to make up the deficit. The Wildcats once again got solid play out Allen Ray and Randy Foye who each chipped in 15 points, but last night was a chance for Jason Fraser to shine. Fraser’s 17 points gave the ‘Cats a much needed inside threat. He also was able to remain out of foul trouble and play 35 minutes. Hopefully he can bounce back and be able to give Nova another effort like that in the semis. Providence was paced by guard Sheiku Kabba’s 24 points, but All-American forward Ryan Gomes was limited by some foul trouble and only scored 9 points. Providence must recover and bounce back to get ready for their NCAA Tournament run.
