University of Louisville freshman Samardo Samuels was named Big East Player of the Week after a pair of stellar performances in his debut weekend. Samuels led the Cards in scoring in both games over the weekend in the Billy Minardi Classic.

On Saturday, Samuels scored 18 points in the Cards win over 79-41 Morehead State to open the season. Samuels finished 9-10 from the field with 24 points in the Cards 81-54 beat down over South Alabama Sunday.The 6-foot-8 big man also led the Cards in field goal percentage (.773).

Samuels was name preseason Big East co-Rookie of the Year by the league coaches.

WVU 76 - Del State 42

Alex Ruoff went 8-13 from behind the arch and finished with 25 points. Da’Sean Butler helped out with 5 assists and 7 rebounds, in the 34-point stomping.

My prediction of 76-54 (WVU by 22) was 12 points too generous to DSU. Ruoff was shooting 4-13 from three point range previous to this game, excuse me for forgetting he can shoot the deep ball.

 Villanova 71 – Monmouth 48

Dante Cunningham and Corey Stokes combine for 37 points and 14 rebounds in this 23-point shelacking. Cunningham is shooting 63% from the field this season.

I said 94-64 (Nova by 30), which means I overestimated Villanova by 7 points (23 points off 94..ouch). Villanova proved to be more well rounded than I thought. The Wildcats have scored  over 70 points in every game this season.

St. John’s 73 – Loyola (IL) 54

The Storm struggled early and went into halftime with only a 3-point lead.  Harlem native Rob Thomas came off the bench and scored a team high 13 points. Loyola’s bench contributed only 3 points, enabling St John’s to win by 19.   

My prediction of 73-67 (Storm by 6), was off because I gave the Ramblers 13 points. I thought Loyola would creep up a bit on St. Johns, but  coach Norm Roberts is getting the most out of his young squad.

Tonight’s point totals – Big East 220    Opponents 144      Total Points 364

Dale’s Totals – Big East 243    Opponents 185     Total Points 428

Difference- Big East 23    Opponents 41    Total Points 64

Here’s a few postgame quotes from Marquette tonight:

Forward Lazar Hayward on allowing Texas Southern to shoot 64 percent in the second half:
“There’s really no excuse for that. We can’t let that happen, or we won’t win at all.”

Hayward on taking 3-point shots early to break up the Tigers’ zone defense:
“I think sometimes we settle, and I also think sometimes with the great guards we have guys are really wide open and you don’t see them and you really want to take that (3-point) shot…later on we gave up the good shot for a great shot.”

Coach Buzz Williams on Marquette’s defense:
“I thought tonight it was very spotty on both ends, on offense and defense…We can’t have success letting team’s score the way they did.”

Another sloppy game for Marquette today as the Golden Eagles beat Texas Southern 85-68 in a game that was anything but impressive.

Marquette committed 22 fouls and 19 turnovers while struggling in its halfcourt offense for the entirety of the game. The Golden Eagles shot just 24-of-61 (39.3 percent) from the floor and 10-for-23 (43.5 percent) from behind the 3-point line. They often settled for quick outside shots, and Texas Southern seemed content to just eliminate the fast break whenever possible.

Marquette’s 68 points allowed was its second lowest total of the season. The Golden Eagles managed to force 20 turnovers of their own. Guard Jerel McNeal led all scorers with 20 points and forward Lazar Hayward added 18 points and nine rebounds.

Again, senior forward Dwight Burke was ineffective, playing just 13 minutes and scoring two points. Of course, that story is about as groundbreaking as “Dog bites man” at this point.

We’ll get you some quotes when the press conference gets out.

Halftime here at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, and Marquette leads Texas Southern 38-25. The good news for the Golden Eagles is that this is probably the worst half of basketball they’ve played this season, and they’re still up 13.

Thus far Marquette has been unable to create consistent scoring chances from its halfcourt sets, and Texas Southern knows it – I actually heard Tigers assistant coach Damon Archibald implore his players to get back on defense by saying, “They can’t score in the halfcourt, man.”

Texas Southern seems content to slow the game down (straying from its normal game plan) and force Marquette to run an offense. Until Jerel McNeal (14 points, 4-of-5 from three) caught fire in the last 10 minutes of the half, it was working. Marquette is also playing with a small lineup, often using some combination of guards McNeal, Dominic James, Wesley Matthews, Maurice Acker and Jimmy Butler and forward Lazar Hayward.

For the Tigers guards Matthew Miller (six points, two boards) and DeAndre Hall (six points on 3-of-11 shooting) have led the way.

More from this one when it wraps up.

It’s halftime here at the Sun Dome, where the Bulls trail 28-24. Alex Rivas Sanchez provided a spark for USF, scoring four points in just under three minutes, but he was obviously in pain stemming from the sprained ankle he suffered against Virginia last week. 

The Bulls have shot 7-of-20 from the field, and had only 13 rebounds — five of which came from freshman forward Eladio Espinosa. 

USF has had trouble dealing with High Point’s four-guard lineup — which Stan Heath told me they would when I talked to him yesterday. The Panther’s press has also been troublesome for USF.

A quick look at No. 15 Marquette (3-0) vs. Texas Southern (0-3) tonight in Milwaukee.

Probable Starters (season stats in parenthesis):

Marquette:
G Dominic James (9.7 ppg, 5.3 apg)
G Jerel McNeal (19.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
G Wesley Matthews (26.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg)
F Lazar Hayward (21.7 ppg, 10.3 rpg)
F Dwight Burke (2.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg)

Texas Southern:
G DeAndre Hall (16.3 pg, 3.3 rpg)
G Matthew Miller (11.7 ppg, 4.0 apg)
F Ricky Boyles (6.0 ppg, 8.3 rpg)
F Jacques Jones (7.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg)
C Michael Drewy (9.3 ppg, 9.0 rpg)

This will be Marquette’s second game of the Chicago Invitational; the Golden Eagles beat Chicago State 106-87 in the tournament opener (kind of a letdown after consecutive years in the CBE Classic and Maui Invitational, no?).

Expect a lot of points in this one as Texas Southern, under first-year head coach Tony Harvey, likes to employ a fast-paced style of play similar to Marquette’s. The Golden Eagles have been scoring in bunches this season (two straight games with at least 100 points) but their defense has been a concern – Marquette has allowed at least 80 points in two of three games.

Marquette’s biggest concern will be getting more (some?) production out of senior forward Dwight Burke. Burke has more fouls (11) than points (six) this season and has yet to outplay sophomore forward Patrick Hazel.

More on this one as we go.

USF football coach said last week that he’s never had a team with so many players injured. He can add another to that list, with senior cornerback Tyller Roberts in a boot at Tuesday’s practice. 

Roberts was injured in the second half of USF’s 17-13 win against Connecticut Sunday night.

The USF coaching staff doesn’t comment on injuries, so all I could get out of him was Tyller Roberts has a “hurt ankle.”

The injury left redshirt freshmen Quenton Washington and Tyson Butler (mostly a special teamer this year) working with the first-team defense.

On another note, I am live at the Sun Dome for USF’s men’s basketball game against High Point. Check back for updates!

Delaware State – WVU

7pm – Charleston (WV) Civic Center

Tonight’s game will be the sixth stop on a grueling seven game road trip for Del State who is 0-5 on that stretch, and has lost each game by an average of nearly 20 points.

WVU has won their first two games by an average of 38 points, are shooting 52% from the field and 44% from beyond the arch.

DSU has played a pretty tough schedule and are averaging only 42 points in their last three games because of it. This game won’t be much better, but WVU has a history of playing poorly at the Civic Center. WVU will win 76-54.

Monmouth - Villanova

7:30 – The Pavilion, Villanova, PA

These teams are polar opposites.

Villanova is 3-0, Monmouth is 4-0. The Hawks are averaging 63.5 points per game, while the Wildcats average 87.3.

Yet, both teams have players who have scored over 40 points this season, so it will be a good game to watch in terms of individual performances. At the end of the day, however, Villanova will cruise; 94-64.

Loyola (IL) – St. John’s

9:00pm – Carnesecca Arena Queens, NY

The Johnnies (4-1) only loss came from Boston College, but that is also the only good team St. John’s has played, so it’s hard to say how good St. John’s really is or is not right now.

The Ramblers (2-3) have been inconsistent, with nice wins against Georgia and Western Michigan, and big losses against Purdue and Cornell.

Loyola matches up pretty evenly against the Storm in every scoring category except field goals made and total points.

Loyola will have a hard time putting up enough points and St. John’s will take advantage; 73-67.