The Big East finished Saturday's basketball action with a record of 10-2. In the early games, the league went 5-1 with wins by No. 14 Pittsburgh, DePaul, No. 4 Louisville, No. 21 Georgetown and Providence. Cincinnati provided the only blemish to the record and the 2011 Crosstown Shootout featured an ugly display with a bench-clearing brawl with 9.4 seconds to play against No. 8 Xavier. Cincinnati's Yancy Gates, Octavius Ellis and Cheikh Mbodj were suspended today for six games and Ge`Lawn Guyn was suspended for one game.
In the second set of six games, the Big East also went 5-1 with wins by the No.3 Syracuse Orange, No. 11 Marquette Golden Eagles, West Virginia Mountaineers, Seton Hall Pirates and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Villanova Wildcats lost to Temple in a Big 5 matchup.
Temple 78, Villanova 67: Villanova actually led at halftime 36-35. The Wildcats were able to keep pace until around the nine minute mark of the second half. After tying the game at 54, Villanova gave up a 10-0 run to the Owls. The Wildcats, plagued by 17 turnovers and poor three-point shooting, were unable to cut into the Temple cushion afterwards. Temple guard Ramone Moore led all scorers with 32 points. Maalik Wayns had 23 points to lead Villanova but was 0-5 from behind the arc. Wayns had 7 of the team's 9 assists for the game. Villanova was 2-0 in Big 5 play coming into the game with wins over Penn and La Salle.
No. 3 Syracuse 85, George Washington 50: George Washington was really overwhelmed in this game. Syracuse's zone defense held the Colonials to 30.6% shooting and 18 turnovers. The Orange were having such an easy time that the bench was cleared and they ended up using 15 players in the game. Dion Waiters led Syracuse with a career-high 19 points in 21 minutes. He also had 6 steals, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Kris Joseph struggled from the field but finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds for the Orange.
West Virginia 77, Miami 66: Much like the Miami-Rutgers game, Miami came out shooting well and carried a lead into halftime. Unlike that game, they had to contend with a West Virginia team that also shot very well and dominated the paint. Darryl Bryant scored a career-high 27 points for the Mountaineers. Deniz Kilicli and Kevin Jones also reached double figures in scoring for West Virginia. Malcolm Grant had 17 points to lead the Hurricanes but 11 of those points were scored in the first half.
Notre Dame 65, Dartmouth 47: Notre Dame improved to 7-0 playing at home this season with a win over Darthmouth. The Irish used a big run to close the first half to take a lead that the Big Green wouldn't threaten in the second half. Jack Cooley finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds to lead Notre Dame. Alex Dragicevich and Joey Brooks also scored in double figures for the Irish.
No. 11 Marquette 79, Green Bay 61: Marquette was without three injured players but still cruised against Green Bay on Saturday. Alec Brown was impressive for the Phoenix with 22 points and 14 rebounds but didn't have much help. Marquette was sloppy with the ball (16 turnovers) but forced Green Bay in 23 turnovers that produced 34 points. Jae Crowder led the Golden Eagles with 21 points. Davante Gardner and Vander Blue both scored 14 for Marquette. The Golden Eagles are now 9-0 on the season.
Seton Hall 68, Wake Forest 58: Seton Hall's double-double machine Herb Pope went to work against Wake Forest and finished with 26 points and 14 boards. Seton Hall used to double-digit margin scoring runs (one in each half) to put the game out of reach. Seton Hall had a 30-22 advantage in free throws but only made 16 of their 30 attempts. The win was the fifth in a row for the Pirates.
There is only one Big East basketball game on the schedule today: South Florida vs. Florida A&M. The Bulls lead at halftime 39-29 (ESPN3)