Big East Notebook

By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
January 12, 2004

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – There were hints in the Connecticut game. And it became apparent when Rutgers knocked off No. 25 Providence last Saturday night: the Scarlet Knights are going to be a handful for Big East teams in the RAC this year.

Last Tuesday, Rutgers gave No. 1-ranked Connecticut all it wanted in a one-point loss to the Huskies. UConn rebounded yesterday to completely dominate No. 6-ranked Oklahoma, 86-59 in Hartford.

On Saturday, Rutgers erased a 10-point Providence lead with 9:39 to play and overcame a five-point Friar advantage in the final 19.1 seconds with a 65-64 victory to improve to 8-4 on the year. Herve Lamizana made two three-point baskets in the game’s final 10.5 including the game winner. Rutgers has now downed seven ranked teams at the RAC since Coach Gary Walters took over the Scarlet Knights program three years ago.

“It’s back now,” said Rutgers junior guard Juel Wiggin of the Knights’ home court mystic.

Rutgers is 6-1 at the RAC this year and has home conference games remaining against St. John’s (Jan. 24), Notre Dame (Jan. 31), Miami (Feb. 4), Virginia Tech (Feb. 15), West Virginia (Feb. 25) and Seton Hall (March 7).

Providence, on the other hand, was poised to move up in the rankings after jumping out to an impressive 8-2 start. The Friars nearly knocked off No. 18 Texas at home and its other loss before Rutgers was a 10-point decision to a very solid Rhode Island team. Providence also owns good non-conference wins against Alabama and Illinois.

Now the Friars must regroup in a hurry to take on Seton Hall Tuesday night on the road.

Rutgers, meanwhile, has a non-league game against Monmouth on Wednesday and then travels to Pitt for a noon game on Saturday.

Speaking of Pitt, the Panthers have quietly jumped out to a 16-0 start after last Saturday’s double-overtime win at Miami. The Panthers were ranked 15th in both polls last week despite having the most wins in the country.

Pitt needed a full-court driving layup from Carl Krauser to extend the game an extra period. Pitt eventually won the contest, 84-80 to run its league mark to 2-0 heading into tonight’s Big Monday showdown against Notre Dame at the Petersen Events Center.

Pitt once again has a balanced scoring attack featuring four players averaging double figures. One of them is a new face in 6-foot-10 freshman center Chris Taft of Brooklyn, N.Y. Taft is averaging 10.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and has blocked 37 shots so far this year. He has replaced senior Torree Morris in the starting lineup and has now made four starts this year.

Taft is shooting 61.7 percent from the floor and has a single-game scoring high of 17 points against Virginia Tech to his credit. He was one of the Big East’s most touted incoming recruits this year, earning Parade All-American honors.

Around the League

On the tube: Notre Dame plays at Pitt and Syracuse is at Missouri on ESPN Monday night; Connecticut is at North Carolina on CBS Saturday; and Syracuse plays at Notre Dame Saturday night on ESPN2.

Some things still remain the same: the top four teams in the Big East after the first two weeks of conference play are Pitt, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Connecticut. After a non-conference game at Missouri tonight, Syracuse gets its first conference test Saturday at Notre Dame.

Seton Hall won its only conference game last week against St. John’s and has reached 11 wins this season without much fanfare. The Pirates only two losses this year have come against Purdue and Louisville and they can get some attention this week with games against Providence and Boston College. Two wins this week could put the Friars into the national rankings.


	Sophomore Joe Herber scored 15 points to help West Virginia down Georgetown Saturday afternoon in Morgantown. The Mountaineers look to maintain their momentum Wednesday against Virginia Tech. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks)

West Virginia registered an important conference victory Saturday at home against Georgetown. The Mountaineers were able to upend the Hoyas despite not having the services of leading scorer Drew Schifino, who was suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. West Virginia has a critical match up Wednesday night at the Coliseum against a rebuilding Virginia Tech team. That game will not be televised.

The enigma continues at Villanova. Despite losing to Chaminade earlier this year, Villanova had an 8-2 record before dropping three straight to Kansas, Memphis and Notre Dame. Coach Jay Wright is still trying to find the right chemistry with eight different players having started at least one game. Allan Ray is Villanova’s top scorer averaging 17.5 points per game, but the Wildcats are still searching for consistent play in the post with 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Jason Fraser still sidelined.

Villanova has an important conference game coming up on Wednesday on the road at Boston College, which got hammered at Syracuse last Saturday at Syracuse 96-73.

The same can’t be said for the Villanova women’s team, despite losing several key players to graduation last year. The Wildcats are 12-2 this year after knocking off nationally rated Rutgers last Friday. Prior to that, Villanova ended Miami’s 12-game win streak to start the season and shows non-conference wins against New Mexico, St. Joseph’s and Temple. Villanova’s two losses this season have come against LSU and at Boston College.

Virginia Tech’s women have fallen on hard times after getting out of the gate 12-0. The Hokies have since dropped consecutive road games to Rutgers and Notre Dame to start conference play. Tech ahs a chance to right itself at home against Villanova Wednesday night.

St. John’s doesn’t like it is going to be a pushover this year like it has been in past seasons. The Red Storm women won their seventh game this year with an impressive 17-point victory at Syracuse. Last year St. John’s won just eight games for the entire season.

Senior guard Kim Mac Millan has been a big reason for St. John’s resurgence, making 3.9 three-point field goals per game to rank second among all Division I players.

West Virginia will get a first-hand look at the new and improved Red Storm Tuesday night in Jamaica.

Miami has since erased any doubts about its soft early season schedule by posting a nice win over Vanderbilt and winning a road game at Boston College, 70-66 last Saturday. The Hurricane women cracked both polls last week for the first time this season.

As expected, Connecticut was able to rebound from its first loss of the season to Duke to go 2-0 in Big East play with a pair of wins against West Virginia and Georgetown. However, Connecticut trailed Georgetown 29-26 at halftime in scoring its lowest first-half total this season. Connecticut travels to Notre Dame for a game against the Irish Tuesday night.

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