If Tuesday night was just a tasting of the newly-baked Big East Conference men's basketball season then Wednesday night was a full serving, as four quality games were played and a few teams made an early-season statements. No. 1 Syracuse Orange, No. 9 Connecticut Huskies, No. 12 Georgetown Hoyas and West Virginia Mountaineers all earned victories in their league openers, and if you missed the games, well, you're in luck because here's a brief roundup of the action:
Syracuse crushes Seton Hall, 75-49 -- SB Nation New York recap
Georgetown 71, No. 4 Louisville Cardinals 68: The Hoyas' Markel Starks netted 16 of his collegiate-best 20 point in the second half, as the Cardinals lost their first game of the season Wednesday. Georgetown, which was picked to finish 10th in the conference in the preseason media polls, improved to 11-1 overall (1-0 Big East), while Louisville dropped to 12-1 (0-1).
Visit SB Nation's Casual Hoya for the Georgetown reaction, while Card Chronicle has the Louisville side.
UConn 60, South Florida Bulls 57: Sophomore guard Jeremy Lamb scored 16 of his game-best 23 points in the second half to help the Huskies (11-1, 1-0) sneak by host Bulls (7-7, 0-1). Legendary head coach Jim Calhoun did not travel with his squad, as he's currently serving a three-game suspension by the NCAA.
The UConn Blog responds to the slim victory, while VoodooFive talks about the Bulls loss.
WVU 83, Villanova Wildcats 69: Senior guard Darryl Bryant scored the most point in the league, as he netted 34 points in the Mountaineers (10-3) rout of the Wildcats (7-6). WVU's Kevin Jones, who entered the contest leading the Big East in points and rebounds, tallied 13 points and collected seven rebounds.
For more on the Mountaineers, check out The Smoking Musket, while The Nova Blog has everything Wildcats.