Around the Big East men's basketball: Week of Dec. 5

The Big East Conference had quite a slate of games this weekend, as we continue to trek our way through December for what has already been an interesting college basketball season.

On Saturday, the No. 5 Connecticut Huskies dismantled the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions by a 101-63 final.

Alex Karaban was magnificent by shooting 9-12 from the field, 6-9 from deep and compiled 26 points with seven rebounds to lead the Huskies to victory.

Connecticut has now won back-to-back games after suffering its only loss to No. 5 Kansas.

A game that I think we anticipated to be a bit closer was between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the No. 8 Marquette Golden Eagles.

Marquette cruised to a 78-59 win, as the Golden Eagles were led by a smooth Oso Ighodaro who posted 20 points on 6-8 shooting and a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe.

Marquette shot 51.8% from the field as a team, while the Fighting Irish hit 36.5% of their attempts.

The Golden Eagles have reeled off three straight and meet with St. Thomas on Thursday.

Traveling over to Omaha, Nebraska, the Central Michigan Chippewas had a duel with the No. 10 Creighton Blue Jays that saw the home squad pour on a plethora of points in the triumphant final of 109-64.

Creighton’s leading scorer came off the bench and impressed with 18 points on 6-7 shooting from the floor and 5-6 with buckets from downtown, as Isaac Traudt made a valid point for why he can slide into the starting five.

The Blue Jays’ efficiency was unbelievable by cashing in 65.1% of their shots and holding the Chippewas to just 2-19 from 3-point range.

The Georgetown Hoyas suffered their fourth loss of the season by falling to the Syracuse Orange by an 80-68 score.

Jayden Epps had 17 points in the contest, but struggled with his deep ball by just converting one of his nine attempts.

The Hoyas are hoping to right the ship after suffering back-to-back losses.

The Butler Bulldogs scraped out a gritty victory in two overtimes against the California Golden Bears, as Posh Alexander and Jahmyl Telfort combined for 41 points to hold off a Golden Bears’ squad that was evidently starving for a win.

The Bulldogs’ 97-90 win puts them at 8-2 on the campaign.

Despite the DePaul Blue Demons having a rough go of things so far this season with a 2-7 record, they were able to collect a 75-68 victory over the Louisville Cardinals.

Jeremiah Oden’s 22 points put the Blue Demons’ five-game losing streak to rest.

Chico Carter Jr. followed with 14 points.

The Xavier Musketeers also eradicated a losing streak by surmounting the Cincinnati Bearcats by an 84-79 final.

Quincy Olivari looked invincible from beyond the arc and at the foul line, as his 27 points helped the Musketeers find the win column to even their record out at 5-5.

Despite Villanova Wildcats’ basketball not being as potent as in years past, the Wildcats were able to best the UCLA Bruins with 65 points as opposed to the Bruins’ 56.

Tyler Burton had a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards, as Villanova won by a comfortable margin despite shooting 32.8% from the field compared to UCLA striking on 36.7% of its attempts.

And finally, to round off Saturday, the Seton Hall Pirates were beaten by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights with the line reading Rutgers 70, and Seton Hall 63.

Kadary Richmond nearly snatched a double-double with his 21 points and 9 rebounds, as his efforts weren’t quite enough to catch up to the Scarlet Knights.

There are two games on Sunday, Dec. 10, with Brown facing Providence in Rhode Island for a noon tipoff, and St. John’s playing at Boston College for a 4:30 p.m. start.

Jake Irwin is a fourth-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jpi5089@psu.edu.