By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
January 5, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Big East play begins in earnest this week with a heavy schedule of conference games starting Tuesday.
| |
 |
| |
Forward Tyrone Sally is hoping to lead West Virginia to its first victory at Notre Dame since 1996. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
|
Georgetown owns the only conference win so far with a 63-57 win over Rutgers at the MCI Center last Saturday. Forward Brandon Bowman scored 20 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and blocked 4 shots to help the Hoyas improve to 10-0 on the season. The win was the 100th for Georgetown coach Craig Esherick and the Hoyas look to go 2-0 in conference play Tuesday night against Boston College for the first time since 2001 when they started the season 4-0.
Freshman guard Quincy Douby led the Scarlet Knights with 14 points and forward Adrian Hill contributed 12 points and grabbed a career-high 9 rebounds. Herve Lamizana and Ricky Shields, RU’s top scorers, managed to shoot just 2 of 20 from the floor against Georgetown. The loss drops the Scarlet Knights to 7-3 and Rutgers has lost two of its last five games. Rutgers plays host to Connecticut Tuesday night.
West Virginia gets into conference play Wednesday night at Notre Dame. The Mountaineers are one of 11 Big East teams with a winning percentage of .700 or higher through games played as of Jan. 4. West Virginia is looking for its first victory at the Joyce Center since Jan. 29, 1996, when the Mountaineers defeated Notre Dame, 65-59.
Around the League ...
Providence takes on Texas tonight as part of ESPN’s Big Monday. The Friars are coming off an impressive win at Virginia on Saturday, Jan. 3. Forward Ryan Gomes scored 27 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and produced 4 steals and the Friars shot a season-high 58.2 percent from the floor to run their record to 8-1. PC’s win ended a 34-game home win streak for Virginia and the 8-1 start is the best for Providence since 1995.
Including Providence-Texas Monday night, there are four games featuring Big East teams on national television this week. Villanova plays host to Memphis Tuesday night on ESPN2, Miami travels to North Carolina in a game that can be seen on ESPN Wednesday night, and Connecticut plays host to Oklahoma Sunday on CBS.
Speaking of television, three Big East teams do not play a single nationally televised regular season game this year: West Virginia, Rutgers and Virginia Tech. The Big East team with the most national television appearances is Connecticut with 15, followed by Notre Dame (13), Syracuse (10), Villanova (8), Pitt (8), St. John’s (5), Georgetown (4), Seton Hall (3), Providence (2), Boston College and Miami (1).
The Big East Conference is the only basketball league with six teams having already won 10 or more basketball games. The A-10 (St. Joseph’s, Rhode Island and Dayton), the ACC (Georgia Tech, Florida State and Duke) and the SEC (South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State) have three each. Pitt and Georgetown are two of the nation’s 10 remaining undefeated teams.
Big East teams currently on at least five-game winning streaks include Connecticut, Georgetown, Miami, Pitt, Providence, Seton Hall and Syracuse.
Connecticut’s Omeka Okafor is the league’s top active player with 36 career double-doubles. The junior has seven double-doubles this season. Providence forward Ryan Gomes is second with 27 career double-doubles.
There have been two triple-double games produced by Big East players so far this year and both have come from Connecticut: Omeka Okafor had 18 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocks against Army and Ben Gordon had 17 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists against Iona.
Syracuse guard Billy Edelin and Providence forward Ryan Gomes shared Big East player of the week honors this week. Edelin hit 76.7 percent of his shots in two Syracuse wins. He averaged 25 points and 8.0 assists per game for the week in wins over Canisius and Michigan State.
Gomes posted 27 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals in an 84-69 win at Virginia last Saturday. Gomes made 11 of 18 field goal attempts.
Connecticut freshman Charlie Villanueva earned Big East rookie of the week honors by averaging 22.0 points and 9.0 rebounds including a career-high 25 points in a win over Rice. The Brooklyn native is the league’s top freshman scorer averaging 15.8 points per game.
This week’s league leaders: Scoring, Bryant Matthews (VT), 24.8 ppg.; Rebounding, Omeka Okafor (UC), 11.5 rpg.; FG percentage, Emeka Okafor (UC), 60.3 pct.; Assists, Andre Barrett (SH), 7.42 apg.; FT percentage, Robert Hite (UM), 89.5 pct.; Steals, Jamon Gordon (VT), 3.27 spg; 3PT FG percentage, Ben Gordon (UC), 52.5 pct; Blocked shots, Okeka Okafor (UC), 5.09 bpg.
The Big East women’s conference has two remaining undefeated teams in Virginia Tech (12-0) and Miami (12-0) after Connecticut’s 68-67 loss to Duke snapped UConn’s 69-game home win streak.
Virginia Tech won its Big East opener against Providence last Sunday and has a big game coming up against Rutgers on Wednesday, Jan. 5. The Hokies are ranked No. 15 in last week’s AP poll and are 54-3 over the last four seasons when holding opposing teams to less than 60 points in a game. A big reason for Virginia Tech’s fine start is its defense, which has held eight of 12 opponents to less than 40 percent from the field.
Miami has jumped out to its best start in school history with a 12-0 record. The Hurricanes are averaging 77.2 points per game (2nd best in the Big East) and all five Hurricane starters are averaging double figures. Miami has played a soft non-conference schedule and will have its first real test this Wednesday at 10-2 Villanova.
The Big East women are 103-46 against teams from other conferences this year. The Big East is 6-4 against the ACC and 8-5 against the SEC.
Connecticut has sold out all seven games this year and is averaging 16,294 for its five games so far at the Hartford Civic Center. Other Big East teams averaging at least 1,000 fans per game include Notre Dame (6,138), Virginia Tech (2,703), Rutgers (1,644) and Boston College (1,638).
