Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: Big East Tournament, Day 3

by Ray Floriani

NEW YORK CITY - The action, recap and assorted numbers of importance from day three.

Outside the rain soaked Garden in the afternoon

The scores...

Team	Score			Team
UConn	76		74	Pittsburgh
Syracuse	79		73	St. John's
Notre Dame	89		51	Cincinnati
Louisville	81		56	Marquette

between doubleheaders, quiet time

Game of the Day:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Syracuse	71	111
St. John's	70	104

The Four Factors:

		FTA
	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
Syracuse	50	34	45	21
St. John's	51	26	47	27

Game was tied at 68 with two minutes left. In the stretch Syracuse made the plays and came up with the stops. Last two minutes saw six possessions each. Syracuse had an 11-5 advantage. That is an offensive efficiency 'lead' of 183-83. When St. John's was trailing and fouled to extend the game, the Orange canned 5 of 6 from the charity stripe.

Good signs for the Orange: Brandon Triche, playing well down the stretch, led the way with 22 points. Triche was 4 of 10 from three and 8 of 8 on the foul line. Fab Melo, the seven foot freshman, also playing well of late, scored 12 points and had 4 boards.

Dwight Hardy led St. John's with 22 points as well. Hardy was 9 of 17 from the floor and had 5 turnovers.

The turnover rate was not awful for Syracuse. The Orange committed a total of 19 but an encouraging note. Only three were after halftime.

Virtually every statistical category was close or near even. Again the difference was Syracuse converting on offense and coming up with defensive stops. Especially the last two minutes.

Steve Lavin meets the press

Notes
UConn had a 129-128 edge in offensive efficiency the first game. Pitt shot an eFG% mark of 63%. On the other end, UConn had an outstanding 10% TO rate and an OReb percentage of 52%.

Ashton Gibbs of Pitt led the way with 27 points, hitting 6 of 7 from three. Kemba Walker had 24 points and the game winner to put UConn in the semis against Syracuse.

Notre Dame had an off the chart 146 efficiency against Cincinnati. Irish defense only yielded 86, not too bad. Game was 60 possessions. Versatility showed as ND shot 8 of 16 from three point range the first half. In the first 8 minutes of the final half, six of the Irish 8 field goals were in the paint.

The final game of the night saw a rout on the scoreboard and in efficiency. Louisville had the offensive efficiency gain 119-85. Cards attempted 48% of their shots beyond the arc. Many of the treys came in transition as they enjoyed a 57% eFG% percentage. They shot 13 of 31 (42%) from three. Mike Marra, a 22 point scorer for Louisville in relief was a perfect 1 for 1 from two point range. The sophomore guard went a red hot 6 of 10 from three.

Marquette, once again cared for the ball with an 18% TO rate. Shooting however, was another story. A 3 of 15 showing beyond the arc contributed to a 33% eFG performance and a trip home.

yours truly and Notre Dame cheerleaders