Wednesday recap: No.13 Pittsburgh, Louisville cruise; UConn edges Cincy
No.18 Panthers blast Red Storm 81-57
Pittsburgh loves to play in their home away from home, Madison Square Garden, and they easily handled St. John’s 81-57 on Wednesday night. Forward Sam Young led three Panthers players in double figures with 26. Ronald Ramon added 16 and five assists and DaJuan Blair finished with 10 points, along with eight rebounds.
Pittsburgh (16-3, 4-2) improve to 19-8 all time at MSG since 2000. They’ve played in six of the last seven Big East Championship games, and they also defeated then No.6 Duke a week before Christmas 65-64 in overtime. Pittsburgh shot 54.5 percent for the game and a torrid 61.5 percent in the 2nd half.
Anthony Mason Jr. was the sole bright-spot for St. John’s (7-10, 1-5), scoring 23 points on an impressive 12-of-17 shooting from the field. The Red Storm have dropped four straight and six of their last seven games. They’ll attempt to stop their recent slide Saturday at Louisville, while No.18 Pittsburgh squares off against Rutgers on Saturday also.
Cardinals take care of Bulls 80-60
Earl Clark’s 18-point effort off the bench led Louisville’s rout of South Florida 80-60. Jerry Smith and David Padgett added 12 each. Louisville lead comfortably at halftime 45-26. The Louisville defense held South Florida to 39 percent shooting, while forcing the Bulls into 15 turnovers.
Kentrell Gransberry once more led South Florida (10-10, 1-6) with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Gransberry doesn’t get nearly enough attention he deserves. He’s almost a guaranteed double-doubled every night, but the rest of his support cast just doesn’t provide him with much help. Freshman Dominique Jones finished with 17, however, the next highest output by a Bull player was just seven points. South Florida has lost six in a row, all in the Big East and all by double-digit margins.
Louisville will host St. John’s on Saturday. South Florida returns to action Tuesday, Jan.29th against Marquette.
Huskies slip past Bearcats 84-83
UConn’s balanced offensive attack with four players in double figures, helped the Huskies over Cincinnati 84-83 on Wednesday night. Center Hasheem Thabeet led UConn (13-5, 4-3) with 22 points and seven rebounds and guard Jerome Dyson finished with 20 points.
Cincinnati (9-10, 4-3), on the other hand, was a one-trick pony on offense. Deonta Vaughn dropped 34 points on the Huskies, but was the only Bearcat in double figures. Cincinnati squandered a 12-point lead with six minutes left in the second half, and eventually allowed UConn to square things at 80 with 90 seconds left to play. A.J. Prices’ two free throws gave UConn the lead 84-83 and Cincinnati’s last-ditch effort failed on a miss by Marcus Sikes.
The Huskies found their way to the free throw line 37 times in this one, and more impressively, made 32 of them. UConn trailed at the break 41-38 and picked things up at the offensive end of the floor in the second half with a 46-point outburst.
UConn will aim for their 3rd straight on Saturday afternoon against No.7 Indiana. This could be just the signature type of win the Huskies need on their resume as their play has picked up and improved recently with wins over Marquette and now Cincinnati. The Bearcats have dropped two of their last three and they’ll look for a win against Seton Hall on Sunday afternoon.
Tags: Big East Basketball, Cincinnati Bearcats, Connecticut Huskies, louisville cardinals, NCAA Men's basketball, Pittsburgh Panthers, South Florida Bulls, St. John's Red Storm