Marquette's Joey Hauser was one of three Marquette players with 18 points.
MBB Minute -- League Teams Drop Three Gavitt Games; Series Continues Tonight
BIG EAST squads took losses in the three Gavitt Tipoff Games on Wednesday.
In the rematch of the national championship game participants, Villanova lost 73-46 to Michigan. Playing in their renovated Finneran Pavilion, the Wildcats got behind early and could never recover. Erich Paschall registered team highs of 10 points and six rebounds. The loss was the first time in 109 games that Villanova was defeated by more than 10 points.
At Indiana, the host Hoosiers shot 63.6 percent from the field in a 96-73 victory over Marquette. The normally strong shooting Golden Eagles were only 5-of-23 from the beyond the arc. Markus Howard and the Hauser brothers, Sam and Joey, each scored 18 points.
Seton Hall dropped an 80-57 decision at Nebraska. The Pirates trailed 33-27 at the break, but the Cornhuskers pulled away in the second half. The Pirate veterans had strong games. Myles Powell scored 24 points. Michael Nzei added 13 points and nine rebounds. Sandro Mamukelashvili finished with eight points and 12 boards.
BIG EAST teams are at home in Thursday’s two Gavitt Games contests. Both will be televised on FS1.
Creighton hosts Ohio State at 7 p.m. ET. After only two games, three Bluejay sophomores are the top scorers: guard Ty-Shon Alexander (16.0 ppg), Mitch Ballock (11.5) and New Mexico transfer Damien Jefferson (11.0, 7.0 rebs.).
DePaul hosts Penn State at 9 p.m. with the 2-0 Blue Demons trying to start 3-0 for the first time since 2008-09. Max Strus leads DePaul with a 25.0 scoring average. Eli Cain is second at 14.5. Penn State, last year’s NIT Champion, is also 2-0.