It took just one round of Big East play for us to be reminded again just how beautiful double round-robin conference schedules are.
The first five Big East games of the season provided us three dandies, the latest coming with Seton Hall’s exciting 90-84 win over Creighton Thursday night. The Pirates fought back from a 13-point second-half deficit to hold serve at home in front of a raucous atmosphere that played well on TV, and the importance of doing so can’t be stated enough in this league.
Once again, the Big East is positioned nicely to put 5-6 (or more) teams in the NCAA Tournament, meaning teams will have regular chances at big wins. Opportunities for big wins are also chances for more losses, though, meaning it is imperative that teams win at home and also to take care of business against teams below them in the standings, however they may shake out. If a team can steal a couple road wins, all the better.
Providence is one of the teams on the board with a road win already, but it also has the most impressive one so far after winning at St. John’s 94-72. The Friars asserted themselves in the second half by becoming yet another team firing away successfully from three, hitting 16 triples in 30 tries. Kyron Cartwright hit five himself on his way to 21 points and 15 assists, and Jalen Lindsey added six threes as PC toppled a Johnnies team that saw Shamorie Ponds nicked up by injury an ineffective in the second half.
The importance of this win can’t be underestimated for the Friars, who stumbled some of late prior to league play. It also deals a blow to a St. John’s team that appears capable of challenging for a top-five finish, but suddenly saw its typically stout defense go away in this one.
The best part of all of these games is that the losing squads know they’ll get a second shot at the teams they just lost to. Even better for fans, we also don’t have to check a schedule to know if there’s going to be a rematch of any of these contests. Thankfully, we will, and it creates a regular season race that is worth watching from start to finish.
Side Dishes:
- It’s beginning to look like those takes about Temple being vastly improved were unfortunately wrong. The Owls took another puzzling loss, falling at home to improved Tulane 85-75. Melvin Frazier scored 25 for the Green Wave, Obi Enechionyia scored just three for Temple.
- Hartford won at Rutgers 60-58. What a win for John Gallagher and his Hawks, who slowed it down as usual and held the hosts to 34.5% shooting. For the Scarlet Knights…what? You can chalk this up to growing pains for a program, one that now has lost to Stony Brook and Hartford at home since its breakthrough win over Seton Hall.
- New Mexico State played for the first time since nearly winning the Diamond Head Classic, withstanding a tricky road game at UC Irvine for a 65-60 win. It wasn’t pretty against the stubborn Anteaters, but not altogether unexpected for the travel-weary Aggies, who still have not returned back to campus since the tourney in Hawaii.
- It hasn’t taken long for cannibalization to start in several leagues. Presumed Missouri Valley favorite Northern Iowa fell at home to Southern Illinois 56-53. Gutsy win by the Salukis, who were led by Scottie Pippen’s nephew Kavion, who scored 14 points, and Marcus Bartley also shook off a back injury to score 12. This was SIU’s first-ever win in UNI’s McLeod Center. The Panthers, meanwhile, were hurt some by a back injury to sparkplug reserve guard Spencer Haldeman, who suffered an injury in practice Wednesday.
- Also in the Southland, Stephen F. Austin was knocked off by Southeastern Louisiana 73-62. Marlain Veal scored 27 for the Lions, who finished the game on a 12-0 run. Too many fouls by the hyper-aggressive Lumberjacks, who were on the wrong end of a 37-18 deficit in foul shots attempted, and the always-pesky Lions are too good not to take advantage.
- It hasn’t taken long for the wild individual performances to start in the Big Sky. Montana State outlasted Southern Utah 104-99 for a road win, in large part due to Tyler Hall (36 points) and Harald Frey (30) both scoring over 30.
- Ohio Valley play opened with red-hot Murray State freshman Ja Morant putting up just the second triple-double in school history (Isaac Miles had the first, in 2009), with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists in the Racers’ 80-52 blowout of Eastern Illinois. If one is not following Morant this year yet, we’d humbly suggest they should. Also, Tennessee Tech beat Morehead State 69-67 at the buzzer with Curtis Phillips scoring the winning points with a second left.
- Western Kentucky led Louisiana Tech virtually the entire game, only to see the Bulldogs rally late and take the lead on a DaQuan Bracey basket with 18 seconds left. The Hilltoppers recovered, though, as Lamonte Bearden made two free throws and WKU survived 69-68 in both teams’ Conference USA openers.
- Opening night in the Metro Atlantic saw two-time defending regular season champion Monmouth fall at Quinnipiac 78-76. Good win for the Bobcats, who got a solid 20 points and eight boards from Cameron Young, plus Joe Rigoni hit six three-pointers off the bench for 18. The Hawks, meanwhile, continue to struggle to get going.
- The Horizon also got going, and Oakland has a road win after tipping Wisconsin-Milwaukee 76-68. Kendrick Nunn ran wild with 36-nearly half of the Golden Grizzlies’ total.
- Delaware outlasted Cornell 97-96 in overtime, the Blue Hens rallying from 11 down with six minutes left in regulation. The Big Red fell despite a supreme game by the supremely named Stone Gettings, who finished with a career-best 39 points and hit 16 of 21 from the field, including 7 of 8 from three-point range.
- More Hoopville content: we had our thoughts on Georgetown’s non-conference schedule, and specifically why the NCAA Tournament selection committee has given teams like the Hoyas little incentive not to schedule in such a way.
Today’s Menu:
- The day starts with a bang with the annual Louisville-Kentucky matchup in Lexington this year (1 p.m. Eastern, CBS). It’s hard to believe, but the Cardinals haven’t lost since falling to Seton Hall in early December. The Wildcats, meanwhile, are playing for just the fifth time all month, part of a schedule that so far has included only four Saturday games, meaning plenty of practice time, not so much in game action.
- The first games of the Big 12’s fantastic double round-robin 18-game march have West Virginia at Oklahoma State (7 p.m., ESPNU), Baylor at Texas Tech, Kansas at Texas (9 p.m., ESPN2) and Kansas State traveling to Iowa State (9 p.m., ESPNU).
- The Pac-12 opens play, with games including Utah at still-dangerous Oregon (10 p.m., FS1) plus Washington at USC (10:30 p.m., with the Huskies a surprising 10-3 and the Trojans trying to build on the momentum of the Diamond Head Classic title.
- Toledo is at Pennsylvania, a better game than most might think. Penn has emerged as a serious threat in the Ivy League, while the Rockets have been in all of their losses to the end save for a blowout at Kansas.
- Texas-Arlington begins Sun Belt play with a tricky one at Coastal Carolina. Rare chance to see these two teams on ESPN2, 7 p.m. tip.
- The MAAC continues its opening weekend, and a good one off the bat is Iona at Niagara.
- Northeast Conference play also gets started. Perhaps the best game is preseason favorite St. Francis (Pa.) against surprising Central Connecticut State. Also, defending champion Mount St. Mary’s is at Wagner, which had the best record (7-4) through the non-conference run.
- The Patriot League also gets going, and what better way than to have ancient rivals Lehigh and Lafayette squaring off? Don’t be deceived by the Mountain Hawks’ 5-6 record; all were to respectable teams, and Lehigh should still contend in the upper division of the league.
- The Big Sky also has a defending champion against a preseason favorite, this time with the defending champs hosting as Idaho is at North Dakota.
Have a superb Friday and a terrific holiday weekend.
