BIG EAST Notes in PDF
In league action on Wednesday night, red-hot St. John’s (15-10, 9-4 BIG EAST) is at Villanova (18-8, 7-6 BIG EAST), while Seton Hall (9-18, 4-10 BIG EAST) is at No. 16/14 Louisville (22-6, 10-4 BIG EAST). Both games begin at 7 p.m. ET.
The Red Storm have won five in a row and are under the direction of first-year head coach Joe Tartamella. Villanova has won two of its last three contests and leads the all-time series against St. John’s 31-21. The Wildcats are under the direction of veteran head coach Harry Perretta in his 35th season.
Louisville is 7-0 all-time against the Pirates.
In action on Tuesday, Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer earned career win No. 900 following a 68-56 victory against USF at home. She is the fourth women’s basketball coach to accomplish the feat and just the seventh Division I coach overall. Stringer joined Pat Summitt, Jody Conradt and Sylvia Hatchell on the women’s side, along with Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Knight and Jim Boeheim.
“I think it’s beyond words,” said Stringer. “I’m happy that it’s over. I’m excited. I have such a passion for this game, and I think I said this to you in the beginning of the year – how much I love this team. I appreciate the support we’ve had from our fans and everybody else. It has been frustrating because we’ve come so close, whether it was an overtime game, or whatever, it just seemed like it was meant to be that we would come back here. It was great to see the young people here grow up, and I think that when I look back on my life, this team right here probably best reflects what 900 has been. It helped me to remember that it was never easy.”
“Unless you realize how fortunate you are to be able to get to those special places that I’ve been so fortunately a part of with so many coaches who have dedicated their lives, and players who believed in me, and parents who allowed their daughters to come and be a part of this, and the administrators who allowed me to be a part of this and believed in me, this year, or all the years, has taught me everything. It has been a reflection of everything and I’m grateful for the opportunity to see these young women come together and demonstrate that to me and to them and to the world.”
“It really, really has caused me to reflect. It hasn’t been easy, but it has been great, and I’m really happy to be a part of it.”
Rutgers Video Tribute
A complete recap of the Rutgers-USF game can be found here.
Other action on Tuesday saw No. 2/2 Notre Dame (26-1, 14-0) rally to beat No. 22/20 Syracuse 79-68 at home. The Irish trailed 22-7 early, but cut it to three at halftime and were down 43-40. ND took control with a 9-0 run to begin the second half. Senior Skylar Diggins had 24 points and eight assists as the Irish won their 21st in a row. Kayla McBride netted a game-high 25 points to lead ND. Syracuse moved to 22-5 on the season, 10-4 in BIG EAST play. The Orange got 24 points and 16 rebounds from Kayla Alexander.
Syracuse-Notre Dame Highlights
No. 3/3 Connecticut (26-2, 13-1 BIG EAST) beat Pittsburgh 76-36 at the XL Center. Sophomore Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Huskies. The Panthers (9-18, 0-14 BIG EAST) have lost 14 in a row.
Pittsburgh-UConn Highlights
DePaul (19-9, 8-6 BIG EAST) knocked off Georgetown 75-55 at home on Senior Night. Seniors Anna Martin and Katherine Harry each turned in impressive performances to lead the Blue Demons. Martin saw her first action since Jan. 19 recovering from an injury and played 22 minutes. She scored 10 points and made two 3-pointers. Harry had 14 rebounds, six points, four assists and two blocks in 34 minutes. She leads the league in rebounding at 10.9 boards per game.
Georgetown-DePaul Highlights
Finally on Tuesday, Marquette (13-14, 5-9 BIG EAST) won at Providence 81-70 for its sixth road win of the season. Katherine Plouffe had 20 points and 12 rebounds as the Golden Eagles held a 49-21 advantage on the glass. Providence senior Symone Roberts had 17 points and six steals. She needs 10 steals to match the school single-season record (101), set by Tracy Lis in 1991-92.
Material from interviews, school websites, the Associated Press wire service as well as league and team sources were used in this report. All times are Eastern.
