NEW YORK – The Big East Tournament afternoon sessions saw upsets with DePaul stopping Cincinnati and Georgetown dropping a decision to St. John’s. The evening held to form as Notre Dame eliminated Rutgers and Seton Hall defeated South Florida.
Rutgers struggled offensively in their 61-50 setback to the Fighting Irish. “It’s a microcosm of our season,” Rutgers coach Fred Hill said. “We get looks, good shots. we just can’t make them.” The Scarlet Knights took care of business on the defensive end. They forced Luke Harangody into a 3 of 17 shooting night and seven points. Offensively they shot 23 of 63 from the field (33%). To make matters worse, whenever Rutgers seemed to get a run going it ended with a missed layup or a similar wasted opportunity.
Notre Dame was out rebounded 14-8 on the offensive board as Rutgers did a respectable job in the paint. “Whenever we lost teams killed us on the offensive glass,” ND mentor Mike Brey said. “They (Rutgers) had an edge but it wasn’t enough to do damage.”
Hamady Ndiaye led Rutgers with 14 points while the Iris were paced by Tory Jackson with 12.
In the nightcap Seton Hall opened things up midway through the second hal on the way to a 68-54 first round triumph. “This team has been great to coach,” Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said. “They have been resilient and battled all year.” Jeremy Hazell ( a game high 23 points) led the run knocking down perimeter shots and finishing on penetrations in transition.
Dominique Jones led USF with 14 points and provided the Bulls their only field goals (3) the game’s final ten minutes. For Seton Hall the matchup was favorable as South Florida ran mostly a four guard set. The Hall has had success this season against those teams. Inside John Garcia had a solid six-point, nine-rebound outing for the Pirates. “We welcome the next challenge,” Gonzalez said. It won’t be easy as UConn awaits in the quarterfinal today.
Notes
- Notre Dame assistant Anthony Solomon had praise for the job Norm Roberts of St. John’s has done. “He (Roberts) has them playing hard all season. We played them here in January (an ND loss) and about a week ago (an Irish win) and they are a much improved team. He‘s just done a great job bringing them around.”
- ND’s Mike Brey does not discuss NCAA possibilities. Yet. “When we had the seven game losing streak (in mid year) we decided as a staff and team to go out and make things interesting. That’s all we are trying to do, make it interesting.”
- Hamady Ndiaye of Rutgers was asked if he enjoys the challenge of facing Luke Harangody whom Rutgers has had success against the last two years. “I try to go out hard every night no matter the opponent,” Ndiaye said. “Tonight was special though because it was my first Big East Tournament game in my three years.”
- Next to yours truly during the Seton Hall- South Florida game was UConn assistant George Blaney doing some advance scouting. Blaney smiled and agreed with my assessment that having all 16 teams here gave us the benefit of seeing the South Florida Dance team, the Sun Dolls.
- South Florida shot over 50 percent the first Half but struggled with an 8 of 22 (36 percent) mark the final twenty minutes. ‘They are not a bad team,” Blaney said of USF. “But they have struggled to make shots all year.”
