Sunday recap: UConn thumps Marquette, West Virginia bests South Florida
Huskies hand Golden Eagles 2nd straight loss
Both UConn and No.13 Marquette were coming off losses last Thursday, to Providence and Louisville respectively. On Sunday, UConn was determined to rebound from the loss at the expense of Marquette. Connecticut dominated Marquette in Storrs, 89-73, handing the Golden Eagles their 2nd straight double-digit defeat in the Big East on Sunday.
A.J. Price led five Connecticut (12-5, 3-3) players in double figures, with 17 points and eight assists. Craig Austrie and Jeff Adrien added 15 each, and Hasheem Thabeet turned in a good afternoon with 15 points, seven rebounds and six blocks. As a team, UConn recorded 10 blocks in the game.
No.13 Marquette (13-4, 3-3) suffered their 2nd straight double-digit defeat on the road, and the Golden Eagles were held to just 40 percent shooting. Lazar Hayward paced Marquette with 14 points and Wesley Mattews added 13. In the loss last Thursday to Louisville, Marquette shot only 30 percent from the field and missed all 12 3-point attempts. The backcourt duo of Jerel McNeal and Dominic James each added nine points apiece on a combined 7-of-20 shooting.
UConn was impressive from the free-throw line, sinking 33-of-39 attempts, with Marquette got to the line just 18 times, connect on 11. The Huskies led 39-24 at the half, and went on a 12-5 early run in the second half to balloon their lead to 51-29, as the Golden Eagles missed on seven of their first nine shots to open the second half. UConn’s largest lead of the game was 67-38 with nine and a half to play.
Connecticut will travel to Cincinnati on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m., while Marquette will have five days off to regroup. They’ll return to action on Saturday against DePaul.
Mountaineers use big 2nd half to storm past Bulls
Four players scored in double figures for West Virginia, as the Mountaineers picked up a 69-52 road win against South Florida on Sunday afternoon.
West Virginia (14-4, 4-2) was powered by Da’Sean Butler and Darris Nichols, who each finished with 15 points; Butler added 12 rebounds. Alex Ruoff added 14 and Joe Mazzulla had 11. Despite shooting only 29.6 percent in the first half, the Mountaineers picked their game up in the second, shooting 48 percent and dropping in 43 second-half points.
Kentrell Gransberry led South Florida (10-9, 1-5) once again, pouring in 22 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Gransberry, however, had a day to forget at the free-throw line, going 2-of-11 from the charity stripe. As a team, South Florida was just 4-of-15 from the line. The Bulls also struggled from beyond the arc, going 4-of-19, including shooting 2-of-12 in the second half.
West Virginia, which has won three in a row, will host Marshall on Wednesday at 8 p.m. South Florida, which has lost five straight and five of six Big East Conference games, will try to end their five-game slide on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against visiting Louisville.
Tags: Big East Basketball, Connecticut Huskies, Marquette Golden Eagles, NCAA Men's basketball, South Florida Bulls, West Virginia Mountaineers