Big East Basketball: Notre Dame & South Florida Move to 3-0, Pitt Drops First Game

Two out of three ain't bad? After Wednesday, Notre Dame and South Florida (yes, the Bulls!) are 3-0 on the season. Pittsburgh was in late season form yesterday losing to Long Beach State.

• Let's start with the bad. Pitt was ranked #9 and lost their first game of the season at home to Long Beach State 86-76. The Panthers allowed the 49ers to shoot 59.3% from the field for the game. Pittsburgh trailed 45-36 at the break. Long Beach State's Casper Ware led all scorers with 28 points. Ashton Gibbs had 20 points to lead Pitt but was only 8-21 from the field. The 49ers had three guys dish out at least six assists and beat the Panthers on the glass 26-25.
• Notre Dame pounded Sam Houston State 74-41. After scoring only 12 total points in Notre Dame's first two games, freshman guard/forward Pat Connaughton scored 24 against the Bearkats. Connaughton was 6-10 from the three-point line vs. Sam Houston State's team total 3-15. Jerian Grant had 17 points, 7 assists and 6 boards for the Irish. Notre Dame has one more game to play without Tim Abromaitis, who was suspended for four games by the NCAA playing in exhibition games during a redshirt sophomore season.
• South Florida beat Florida Southern (that's a DII school) 73-43. The Bulls were 7-14 from the three-point line and 8-15 from the free throw line. The Moccasins were held to just 25.7% from the field which allowed South Florida to haul down FIFTY rebounds (only 13 were offensive). Augustus Gilchrist led South Florida in scoring with 15 points.