Mike Vorkunov of The Daily Targum has learned through various sources that Rutgers sophomore guard Corey Chandler may pursue a transfer at the end of the season.

For the full details, check out the story on the Targum’s website.

The Mountaineers (21-9, 10-7) beat DePaul 82-63 tonight and will finish conference play with at least 10 wins or more for the second consecutive season. 

The 82-63 win means that the Mountiees will finish no worse than 6th in the Big East, and the top six teams will have first round byes in the Big East Tournament this season.

Alex Ruoff shot only 6-of-15, but finished with a team-high 20 points as the senior went 6-for-7 from the arc.

Three freshmen, Devin Ebanks (14) , Kevin Jones (13) and Darryl Bryant (12) shot 50 percent or better from the field. 

WVU is now 41-0 under coach Bob Huggins when out-shooting an opponent.

Will Walker scored a game and career-high 31 points for DePaul. Dar Tucker matched his seasonal average with 18 points.

The pair accounted for 49 of DePaul’s 63 points, and were the only DePaul players to score more than 4 points.

It’s pretty incredible that the Mountaineers have won 10 games in the Big East this season. When Joe Alexander left for the NBA it seemed like WVU would struggle against the strength of the conference. But with freshmen like Devin Ebanks, who scored his seventh double-double tonight, it looks like it’s not just a rebuilding year after all.

At the end of the first half, No. 6 Louisville has built an 51-40 lead on Seton Hall.

Senior Night

Three Cardinals’ seniors, Andre McGee, Terrence Williams and Will Scott, were honored tonight before the game, including junior forward Earl Clark who will enter the NBA Draft this year.

In their last game in Freedom Hall, McGee, Williams and Clark have all had solid first halves. Williams leads the Cards with 11 points, four rebounds and two blocks. Clark scored seven and grabbed six boards. McGee threw in a pair of three’s to finish the half with six.

Hot Shooting

Both Louisville and Seton Hall shot the ball extremely well in the first half. The Cards finished 19-32, for 64% and 7-12 from three. The Hall connected on 50% of their first half attempt and 60% of their three pointers. Forward Robert Mitchell (11) and guard Jeremy Hazell (10) have combined for more than half of the Pirate’s point total.

Jennings Strong off Bench

Over the last few months, freshman forward Terrence Jennings has improved vastly. In the first 20 minutes of play, Jennings scored 10 points off the bench and grabbed three rebounds. The improvement has made throughout the second half of the season is reminiscent of the improvement Clark experienced in the second half of his freshman year.

Marquette

The Golden Eagles will travel to Pittsburgh standing fourth in the Big East.

After braking the fifth metatarsal in his left foot, Dominic James wont be standing at all. James was averaging 11 points per game at the time of the injury and had a team-high 62 steals in 28 games.

I feel sorry for James because he was a senior, but I don’t feel sorry for Marquette. With three players averaging over 15 points per game, (Jerel McNeal 19.8, Wesley Matthews 18.8  and Lazar Heyward 15.9) why would I?  

James led Marquette in assists with 5.1 per game, which explains why the Golden Eagles lost to Louisville (62-58) on Sunday. They recoded only 7 assists, and is currently averaging 15.8 per game.

Marquette is lacking a good passer right now, and that will need to change tonight if they want to avoid further slippage in the rankings.

Pitt

Ranking 4th in the nation in assists, it appears Pitt has a plethora of good passers.

Ranking 5th in the country in rebounds, it appears that Pitt has a 6-foot-7 inch, 265 pound sophomore center named DeJuan Blair. The Pittsburgh native is averaging 12.7 rebounds per game.

Ranking third in the Big East, it appears that the Panthers will have the upper hand playing against a team that is trying to avoid a three game losing streak.

The only Marquette player who can match up against Blair on paper is senior Dwight Burke.

I don’t know what the Golden Eagles are going to do about Blair, and not to mention Sam Young and Levance Fields.

Head-to-Head

Overtime

St. John’s took the lead to start extra time with a Justin Burell lay up.

Summers knocked down a three point shot to take a one point, 54-53 lead with 3:13 on the clock.

D.J. Kennedy rejected a shot attempt by Georgetown’s Nikita Mescheriakov which led to a turn around jump shot by Thomas to give the Storm the lead, 55-54.

Boothe intentionally fouled Monroe with 2:06 remaining, giving the Hoyas two foul shots and the ball afterwards. 

Monroe hit both shots to give Georgetown the lead (56-55), but Jessie Sapp was called for a push-off before they could do anymore damage.

Mescheriakov was fouled with 1:36 left to play, but the score remained 56-55 as he failed to make either foul shot.

Chris Wright fouled Kennedy (a 73% foul shot shooter) who hit both to re-take the lead 57-56.

With :44 remaining, Summers took possession in the middle of the lane, but errantly threw the ball out of bounds on a pass intended for Jason Clark.

With the score 57-56 in St. John’s favor, the Storm had a nine second shot clock differential and Horne drove to the basket with 13 seconds left. He missed the shot, but Burrell collected the rebound and dunked the ball with authority.

Trailing by 3 with 10 seconds, Summers took a deep shot that fell off the mark.

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Box Score

Despite taking a 20-19 lead into halftime against No. 25 Syracuse, Rutgers fell apart in the second half yet again and fell 70-40 against the Orange for yet another Big East loss.

Syracuse put together a 14-0 run midway through the second half behind three points and three assists from guard Johnny Flynn and the Knights could never catch up.

Flynn finished the game with seven points and 10 assists as forwards Paul Harris and  Arinze Onaku from Syracuse helped pave the way to the Orange’s second win over Rutgers this season with 28 combined points and 18 rebounds.

On a positive note for Rutgers, center Hamady N’Diaye showed signs of last year’s brilliance by scoring eight points and pulling in nine boards. N’Diaye has struggled with a back injury throughout Big East play.

Freshman guard Mike Rosario also contributed on RU’s side with 16 points on 6-of-21 shooting, but the Rutgers bench was nothing short of ineffective with just one point, coming from reserve guard Pat Jackson.

The next game for the Scarlet Knights is Saturday at 2 p.m. against South Florida. The game is Senior Day at Rutgers meaning that guard Anthony Farmer and forwards Jaron Griffin and JR Inman will be honored for their time in Piscataway before the game.

Second Half

St. John’s entered halftime trailing by a single possession, 31-29.  

They went 0-for-14 from the field to start off the second half and were quickly down by 15 points.

The Red Storm fought back and capped off a 17-3 run with a 3-point shot by Paris Horne which cut the deficit to 2 points, 49-47.

Monroe forced a foul on 5-foot-9-inch guard Malik Boothe and extended the lead to 51-47.

The Storm put up an ugly shot on their next possession and DaJuan Summers came down with the ball, but Rob Thomas took it right back.

Thomas was then fouled driving to the basket and hit his fourth consecutive foul shot to make it a 51-49 game with :50 remaining.

With :20 left to play, Summers missed a foul shot from the corner of the court and it was recovered by Howard who then signaled for a timeout while jumping out of bounds with both his feet off the floor, which by new rule you can no longer do.

The refs awarded St. John’s their final timeout anyway and John Thompson III went crazy.

With 2.3 left, the Hoyas willingly put Thomas on the line due to his low 54 percent foul shot average.

Thomas proceded to score his sixth consecutive foul shot to tie the game and force overtime.

Wide receiver Dennis Campbell was dismissed from the Rutgers football team today for a violation of team policy according to a press release.

Campbell played in 35 career games for the Scarlet Knights prior to what was supposed to be his senior season. He had 25 catches for 307 yards and will be best remembered for his 18-yard touchdown catch (the only one of his career) in Rutgers’ 63-14 rout of Louisville on Senior Night last season.

With Campbell off the team and Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood heading for the NFL, senior Tim Brown is the only remaining member of the Knights’ wide receivers with any real experience.

The Miami, Fla. native had 565 receiving yards and six touchdowns last season as he, and the few remaining members of the wide out corps, prepare for the start of spring camp March 22.

The Second Half

Cunningham scored eight consecutive Villanova points before Reggie Reading and Reynolds knocked down back-to-back threes to help give the Wildcats a 63-50 lead.

A Shane Clark jumper capped off the 13-0 Villanova run.

The Wildcats extended the lead to 16 before Ayers hit his sixth three point shot in nine attempts to make it a 67-54 game with 4:10 to play.

The Wildcats milked the clock and pushed the lead to 70-55 with 2:52 remaining compliments of a three from Redding.

After shooting 37.5 percent in the first half, Villanova ended up hitting 45 percent from the field.

The game was over for me at the 2:02 mark after Cunningham was fouled, missed the first shot and Reynolds made an easy board against a tierd team that was begining to accept defeat.

Reynolds’ rebound led to two free throws from Clark who ended up scoring 5 points in the final 3 minutes, helping close out a 77-60 beat down of Notre Dame.

Villanova 77 – Notre Dame 60

Trouble at Home

Most shocking of all is that this loss occurred at the once proud Joyce Center where the Irish enjoyed a 45 game winning streak. Since Jan. 24, the Irish are 3-3 at the Joyce.

Preseason ranked #9 Notre Dame is barely above .500 overall, and will have to at least make the semi-finals of the Big East Tournament if they want to make the big dance.

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Villanova 32 – Notre Dame 32

The lead has changed 8 times in the first half.

The score was tied for nearly 4 minutes of the first 20.

Harangody and Ayers

Ryan Ayers has a game-high 12 behind a 4-for-6 shooting performance from behind the arc. He has already scored higher than his game average of 11.

Harrangody adds 9 points and 4 rebounds, helping Notre Dame out-board Villanova 19-16

Reynolds and Cunningham

Reyolds is leading the Wildcats with 11 points and 4 rebounds, while Dante Cunningham has 9 points and 3 boards.

No other Villanova player has hit multiple field goals.

The Wildcats have shot under 40 percent from the field in three consecutive half’s of play.