Big East Sports Blog

Men’s Basketball Players of the Week honors were handed out on Monday, Jan.14th, as Deonta Vaughn was named Big East Player of the Week and DeJuan Blair was named Big East Rookie of the Week.

Vaughn helped Cincinnati to a 2-0 week for the Bearcats during games through Jan.13th.  Vaughn started the week dropping 29 points in a win over Syracuse 74-66 on Wednesday, Jan.9th, then followed up with a 25-point outing in an upset victory over Villanova this past Saturday 69-66.  Vaughn is averaging just under 23 points per game in the Big East action this season.

Freshman DeJuan Blair was named Big East Rookie of the Week for the third time this year after helping Pittsburgh to a 2-0 record as well this week.  Blair scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the 79-66 win over South Florida on Wednesday, Jan.9th, then dropped 20 points and pulled down 14 boards in the win over Seton Hall this past Saturday.  Blair shot close to 60 percent in both victories this week (58.8 percent) and he’s nearly averaging a double-double in his first season for Pittsburgh, scoring 12.2 points and grabbing 9.9 rebounds per game.

Sam Young and DeJuan Blair helped lead the offense for Pittsburgh, as the Panthers defeated Seton Hall on Saturday 84-70 in Big East play, keeping the Pirates winless in conference play.

Young scored a game-high 28 points and the freshman Blair added 20 points and snared 14 rebounds in the win.  Pittsburgh (14-2, 2-1) did not trail at all in the game, and they finally were able to pull away from the pesky Pirates after senior center Brian Liang injured his hip.

Liang injured his right hip early in the second half after a collision with Young.  Young’s elbow caught Liang on the hip, forcing the center to head into the locker room.  With Liang, the Pirates fell behind by 10, 45-35 after trailing 33-30 at halftime.  Liang had 15 points in the first half, but once he returned, wasn’t the same player.  In his absence, the Pirates simply could not find a way to get baskets without their leading scorer.  Eugene Harvey led Seton Hall (10-6, 0-3) with 25 points and Jamar Nutter added 10 points in a team-high 36 minutes.  The Pirates shot just 34.8 percent from the field;  the 3-point line was highly unkind for Seton Hall, nailing just 5-of-23 attempts for 21 percent.

Pittsburgh shot 49 percent from the field and 55 percent from 3-point range.  The backcourt tandem of Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin combined for 26 points and 14 of Pittsburgh’s 22 assists.  The Panthers are 3-1 without injured point guard Levance Fields and 3-2 without Mike Cook.

Despite only nine scholarship players due to the injuries, Pittsburgh has emerged as one the premier teams in the conference, as they’ve suffered only two losses.  The Panthers will put their 12-game home winning streak on the line when they host No.5 Georgetown in a much anticipated ‘Big Monday’ match-up. 

For Seton Hall, they’ve arguably had the toughest start to their Big East schedule.  They’ve lost to UConn, Marquette, and Pittsburgh.  Both losses to Pitt and Marquette were on the road and both were ranked inside the Top 25.  The Pirates will look for their first Big East win on Thursday when they host South Florida at 7:30 p.m.