Cincinnati Bearcats (6-2 overall)
Last week:
Dec. 13 vs. Xavier, L 76-66
This week:
Dec. 15 vs. Charleston Southern
Dec. 18 vs. Mississippi State, SEC/Big East Invitational
Dec. 20 vs. Eastern Kentucky
The intracity rivalry between Cincinnati and Xavier had everything one could ask for, including five technical fouls. But in the end, it was Xavier coming away with the victory.
The Bearcats were led by Deonta Vaughn with 27 points, hitting five 3-pointers. Dion Dixon and Steve Toyloy each came off the bench to score 11 points for Cincinnati. Vaughn scored 19 of his points in the second half, but the Bearcats’ rally fell short after trailing by 14 at halftime.
Cincinnati shot itself in the foot, turning the ball over 19 times (14 in the first half), and let Xavier shoot 29-of-36 from the free-throw line, giving Xavier 48 points off turnovers or free throws.
It will be a busy week for the Bearcats with three games in six days, including a meeting with Mississippi State. The next victory for coach Mick Cronin will be the 100th of his coaching career.
DePaul Blue Demons (4-4)
Last week:
Dec. 10 vs. Morgan State, L 79-75
Dec. 13 vs. UCLA, L 72-54
This week:
Dec. 17 vs. Liberty at Las Vegas Classic
Dec. 19 vs. Southern at Las Vegas Classic
The Blue Demons went scoreless for seven minutes, and let a 10-point second half lead slip away against Morgan State.
DePaul was led by Dar Tucker with 21 points, followed by 15 points from Mac Koshwal and 14 from Will Walker.
Morgan State had just nine turnovers, and had four players in double figures, led by Reggie Holmes with 29 points.
Then the Blue Demons traveled to the West Coast for the second time in 10 days to face UCLA in the John Wooden Classic, and lost their fourth straight game.
Koshwal scored 12 points and had eight rebounds. Tucker, who didn’t start the game for the first time this season because of “attitude issues,” according to the Chicago Tribune, added 11 points.
UCLA had four players in double figures in scoring, and shot better than 55 percent from the field for the game.
Louisville Cardinals (6-1)
Last week:
Dec. 6 vs. Indiana State, W 83-43
Dec. 7 vs. Ohio, W 91-56
Dec. 8 vs. Lamar, W 78-56
Dec. 13 vs. Austin Peay, W 94-75
This week:
Dec. 18 vs. Mississippi, SEC/Big East Invitational
Dec. 20 vs. Minnesota
Earl Clark had a double-double for the Cardinals with a game-high 16 points and 10 rebounds in their victory over Indiana State. The Sycamores did not get a player in double figures in scoring, while the Cardinals had four. Terrence Williams, Samardo Samuels and Edgar Sosa were also in double figures for the Cardinals with 12, 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Indiana State was held to just 28 percent shooting. Louisville shot 61 percent in the first half en route to a 50-17 halftime lead.
Clark added a second double-double against Ohio with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Samuels led the way for the Cardinals with 19 points, and Jerry Smith added 16. The Cardinals dominated the glass, out-rebounding Ohio 46-26.
The Cardinals shot 52 percent from the field.
Samuels led the Cardinals with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting in their victory over Lamar. Smith added 12 points as well, and Williams grabbed 13 rebounds.
To wrap up the busy week, the Cardinals had three players score at least 20 points, led by Samuels and Preston Knowles with 21. Williams added 20. Samuels also had 12 rebounds.
Louisville will enter the week having won four straight games.
Marquette Golden Eagles (8-1)
Last week:
Dec. 13 vs. IPFW, W 69-50
This week:
Dec. 16 vs. Tennessee, SEC/Big East Invitational
Dec. 19 vs. Western Carolina
In their lone game of the week, the Golden Eagles had little trouble with Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne, thanks to Lazar Hayward.
Hayward scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, the highest rebound total in Marquette history since Amal McCaskill on Nov. 26, 1995, had 19.
And he wasn’t alone as three others for Marquette scored in double figures – Jerel McNeal (16), Wesley Matthews (13) and Dominic James (10).
The matchup with Tennessee was supposed to be a union of coaches Tom Crean and Bruce Pearl.
When Pearl was at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he publicly called out to Marquette for the two city schools to play each other. At the time, they hadn’t played since the mid-1990s. Now Crean is at Indiana.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-2)
Last week:
Dec. 13 vs. Boston University, W 74-67
This week:
Dec. 20 vs. Delaware State
The conference’s leading scorer was up to his usual self against Boston University.
Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for the Irish. Harangody is averaging 23 points per game, putting him slightly ahead of Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell (22.4).
It was the 30th double-double of Harangody’s career.
Kyle McAlarney also scored in double figures for the Irish with 16. He was joined in double figures by Zach Hillesland with 11 and Ryan Ayers with 10.
The victory extended the Irish’s home winning streak to 41 games – the nation’s second-longest. But the streak was nearly in jeopardy as the Irish fell behind by 10 early in the game, and trailed by nine early in the second half. The Terriers were held without a field goal over the final 3:26 of the game. The streak began March 4, 2006, against DePaul. The last loss was Feb. 25, 2005, to Marquette.
McAlarney has 980 career points after the BU victory.
Pittsburgh Panthers (10-0)
Last week:
Dec. 13 vs. UMBC, W 91-56
This week:
Dec. 17 vs. Siena
Five players were in double figures for the Panthers against UMBC, led by 19 from Maryland native Sam Young.
Also hitting double figures was Gilbert Brown (13), Ashton Gibbs (13), DeJuan Blair (12) and Levance Fields (11).
The Panthers shot 60 percent from the field in the second half.
Young is third in the Big East in scoring at 20.6 points per game, and Blair is second in the nation behind Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin in rebounding. Blair is averaging 12.8 rebounds per game.
Gibbs, a freshman, was 3-of-4 from 3-point range against UMBC. He is shooting 12-for-20 on the season from 3-point range.
It will be a test this week with Siena, who return all five starters from a team which beat Vanderbilt by 21 points in the first round of last year’s NCAAs.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Young turned his ankle during practice Monday, but it’s not anticipated he will miss any action.
Providence Friars (6-3)
Last week:
No games
This week:
Dec. 17 vs. Jackson State
Dec. 20 at Boston College
After taking time off for finals, the Friars will return with two games, including regional and former Big East rival Boston College.
Seton Hall Pirates (8-1)
Last week:
Dec. 9 vs. California Baptist, W 92-80
Dec. 13 at Saint Peter’s, W 60-46
This week:
Dec. 20 vs. IUPUI
Both California Baptist and Seton Hall shot 53 percent from the field, and nine players between the two teams were in double figures.
But the difference came at the free throw line with Seton Hall going 21-for-26 at the line, while California Baptist went 12-of-16.
Eugene Harvey and Jeremy Hazell each scored 25 points for the Pirates. Robert Mitchell added 18 off the bench, and Paul Gause scored 11.
Seton Hall made more free throws than field goals in the second half (17-15), but still shot 58 percent from the field in the second half.
Unlike against California Baptist, both Saint Peter’s and Seton Hall struggled to shoot the ball.
Saint Peter’s shot 29 percent, and Seton Hall wasn’t much better at 36 percent. But Saint Peter’s was forced into 19 turnovers, while Seton Hall had 11.
Hazell had a game-high 14 points, while Gause and Harvey each had 12.
The Pirates will enter their game against IUPUI on a five-game win streak.
