Saturday NYC Preview (Evening Edition)

Unfortunately the evening update gets underway with some sad news. Longtime Iona athletic trainer Joseph "J.B." Buono passed away earlier today at age 97. Buono was named full-time athletic trainer at Iona in 1960, and he'd been a part of the Iona family for more than fifty years. For those who came into contact with J.B., there's also a link on the above page where you can share your thoughts and remembrances of him. My condolensces go out to Mr. Buono's family and Iona College.

Four games were played this afternoon, with St. John's kicking things off with a rather routine beating of winless (in conference play) DePaul in Chicago. The Red Storm (14-15, 5-11 Big East), winners by an 84-63 margin, were led by D.J. Kennedy and Paris Horne (17 points apiece) and Sean Evans (15 points). Rob Thomas added fourteen off the bench, and the Red Storm shot 60.4% from the field. DePaul, who drops to 0-16 in Big East play (8-21 overall), was led by Dar Tucker's 24 points. The Red Storm are off until Tuesday, when they host a desperate Georgetown squad in the Garden.

In the day's other noon matinee, the battle for the eighth seed in the upcoming Northeast Conference Tournament was nothing but as Wagner closed Monmouth's Boylan Gym with a 91-60 beating. Joey Mundweiler, who has to be the frontrunner for NEC Player of the Week honors, knocked down eleven three pointers on his way to thirty-nine points. Wagner is the seventh seed, with St. Francis (NY) dropping into eighth. The Terriers will visit Robert Morris on Thursday while the Seahawks will face either Mount St. Mary's or Sacred Heart.

Fordham (3-23, 1-13) fell at Charlotte 73-55, dropping their eighth straight game, and Hofstra has just gone into overtime with UNC Wilmington.  

Yale (12-13, 7-4 Ivy) @ Princeton (11-12, 6-4), 6 PM

The winner of this game holds faint hope of catching first-place Cornell in the race for the Ivy's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. Yale won the first meeting 60-48, holding the Tigers to 35.6% shooting from the field and forcing Sydney Johnson's team into fifteen turnovers. It also didn't help matters that Princeton was outrebounded 41-21. With Ross Morin and Travis Pinick playing well (35 points, 13 rebounds combined in the win over Penn last night), Princeton will need a monster game from Pawel Buczak inside. Alex Zampier has also played well in the Bulldogs' three-game win streak, and he already would have been a challenge for the likes of Douglas Davis and Dan Mavraides. The slower the pace of the game, the better off the Tigers are. But Yale may be too experienced to fall into that trap. My pick: Yale. 

Columbia (11-14, 6-5) @ Dartmouth (8-17, 6-5), 7 PM

The Lions may have a few more options offensively than the Big Green, but Dartmouth has a first-team caliber player in forward Alex Barnett. Barnett scored twenty in the first meeting, but the lack of assistance from his supporting cast led to Columbia's 65-52 victory. Norwua Agho and Jason Miller combined for thirty-nine points, but the player to keep an eye on is point guard Patrick Foley. In his last three games the senior is averaging 15.7 points per game, four points more than his season average. Columbia is just 3-8 on the road this season, but Dartmouth isn't much better at home with a 5-10 mark. My pick: Columbia. 

Army (9-18, 5-8 Patriot) @ Bucknell (7-21, 4-9), 8 PM

Army needs a win combined with losses by both Colgate and Lehigh in order to grab the fourth seed in next week's conference tournament, thus earning a home game. 2-3 in their last five games, Jim Crews' Black Knights take on a Bucknell team that they've already beaten this season. Cleveland Richard scored twenty-eight in the contest, including twenty in the second half. But the key was Army's defense, which held Bucknell to 37.7% shooting from the field and forced sixteen turnovers. Bucknell relies on a quartet of scorers, led by Patrick Behan (13.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and Bryan Cohen (12.1 ppg). Army is just 3-11 on the road this season (1-5 in conference), which underscores the importance of this game in regards to their fate next week. My pick: Bucknell.

#1 Pittsburgh (25-3, 12-3 Big East) @ Seton Hall (15-12, 6-9), 8:30 PM

The Panthers will be in a bad mood tonight as a result of their loss at Providence earlier this week, so the Pirates need to be ready from the start on Senior Night. The issue for the Pirates, aside from DeJuan Blair, is how they go about containing senior swingman Sam Young. Young has historically been a bad matchup for Seton Hall, something that head coach Bobby Gonzalez acknowledged in Thursday's coaches teleconference. "We hope to hang with [Levance] Fields, but Young is a bad matchup for us," noted Coach Gonzalez. Who gets this assignment will have to work hard at cutting off Young's driving lanes and not biting on his shot fake, one of the best in America. 

Blair, when not hit by foul trouble, has been dominant for the Panthers in the paint. John Garcia will need to play at a level close to where he was in the second meeting with UConn, when he finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds. The perimeter should break even given the number of options that the Pirates have, but it's inside with Blair, Young and Tyrell Biggs where the Panthers have the decisive advantage. My pick: Pittsburgh. 

NJIT (1-27) @ Utah Valley (15-11), 9 PM

The Highlanders haven't won a road game in a couple of years, although they did come close at Texas -Pan American earlier this week. But unlike the Mustangs, Utah Valley has a 10-4 record at home this season, and beat NJIT pretty good earlier this month (61-40 on February 12th). Jheryl Wilson and Isaiah Wilkerson are talented players for Jim Engles, but they still don't have the ability to keep up with many teams from an offensive standpoint (49.5 ppg). Ryan Toolson and Josh Olson lead the way in the backcourt for the Wolverines, and they should be enough to ensure a win for the home team. My pick: Utah Valley.