MBB Minute -- DePaul, Villanova Win At Home
The two BIG EAST teams playing at home on Wednesday picked up victories. Two others lost in tournament play.
DePaul’s senior guard Billy Garrett Jr. scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half, including a bucket just before the buzzer, to lift the Blue Demons to a 68-66 victory against Missouri State at Allstate Arena. Garrett Jr. scored 15 points in the final 7:29. Backcourt partner Eli Cain continued his strong play with 22 points and eight rebounds.
Villanova finished a stretch of six games in 13 days with a 63-47 victory over College of Charleston at The Pavilion. Josh Hart, who leads the Wildcats with an 18.2 scoring average, had 13 points and 11 rebounds. It was Villanova’s 41
st straight win at The Pavilion.
In the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis, St. John’s led twice in the second half against No. 24/20 Michigan State, but dropped a 73-62 decision. Marcus LoVett led the Red Storm with 20 points and seven rebounds. St. John’s meets VCU Thursday evening at 7 p.m. on AXS.
Georgetown shot 51 percent from the floor and held a 34-29 rebounding edge, but the Hoyas were done in by 28 turnovers in a 97-70 loss to Oklahoma State in the third-place game of the Maui Invitational. GU’s Rodney Pryor had a game-high 15 points and Bradley Hayes added 13 points and nine rebounds.
Three BIG EAST teams are fitting games into their turkey day schedule. In addition to the St. John’s-VCU contest, Butler meets Vanderbilt in the first round of the Las Vegas Invitational at 8 p.m. ET on FS1 and Seton Hall takes on Florida in the opening round of the Advocare Invitational in Orlando, Fla., at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2.