The Big East has always been one of the strongest conferences in the country and my personal favorite. Unfortunately many great teams such as Syracuse, Louisville and Notre Dame moved to their new respective divisions this year. Although they have lost some a lot of teams the conference is still extremely strong and this tournament should be a very fun and competitive time at Madison Square Garden. In this entry I will just be giving brief recap on the two games that took place on Wednesday March 12th.
#8 Seton Hall vs. #9 Butler: Although these are not the premiere teams in the tournament people knew that this 8-9 matchup was going to be fun to watch. Both are very hard nose teams who would go after the #1 Villanova Wildcats if they won. In the early going it seemed that Seton Hall had the better team effort with many players capitalizing on offense. The bulldogs hung around due to the incredible effort from their senior forward, Khyle Marshall who scored 12 points in the first half. In the second half there were many streaks back and forth, but down the stretch the defensive stand from the pirates was able to defend their lead and win by a final score of 51-50. Gene Teague lead the way for Seton Hall with another double-double consisting of 14 points and 11 rebounds. This Seton Hall team lost both of their games to Villanova this year, but it is evident that they are hungry and looking for a big upset.
#7 Georgetown vs. #10 DePaul: The Hoyas of Georgetown are one team that is hoping their performance in the Big East Tournament will help them get into the big dance. It was a battle between two athletic teams early on. Georgetown received many of their first points from their two star players, Markel Starks and D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera while Depaul was being fueled by their freshman sensation, Billy Garret Jr. Georgetown went into the half up by 2 points but they were not aware of
Gene Teague of Seton Hall
the tenacity that DePaul would play with in the second half. The Blue Demons came out with a sense of urgency in the second half. Forrest Robinson was the unsung hero as he knocked down 3 three pointers in the early second half to give DePaul momentum. He finished with a tied career high of 14 points. From there on DePaul lead the game and Georgetown could not bridge the gap. It was a great effort from Smith-Rivera converting on all of his free throws, but it was not enough as Garret Jr.'s foul shooting closed it out and DePaul won 60-56. Garret Jr. finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds. Smith-Rivera had 21 and 7 boards and Markel Starks scored 17 points.
It was a great first night making many people excited for the rest of the tournament.
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