#8 Seton Hall vs #9 Butler
There wasn’t quite enough magic in the air for Butler who fell to the Seton Hall Pirates in a 51-50 loss. Right from the start both team’s lackluster play, which has plagued them all season long, was evident. Inconsistency from both teams was the theme for their night, as Seton Hall took a 23-22 lead into halftime.
For the pretty boring beginning of a game not many had high hopes for the game as a whole. Flash-forward to the second half and finally contention entered the court and sparked a sense of urgency. Gene Teague put his Pirates on his back and racked up 14 points and 13 rebounds thoroughly outmatching the Bulldogs in the low post.
The Cinderella story for Butler will not be so as their valiant comeback wasn’t enough. A standout for Butler was the work put up by Khyle Marshall, who led his team in scoring with 22 points. The Seton Hall Pirates will go on to face #1 seed Villanova on Thursday, a victory against the Wildcats would turn the Tournament on its head.
#10 DePaul vs #7 Georgetown
DePaul came, saw and conquered the Hoyas in the Garden on Wednesday night. The Blue Demons got one heck of a team effort, the standout being Billy Garrett Jr. who dropped 17 points and clinched crucial free throws. Forward Forrest Robinson did his part by snapping a second half tie by rattling in consecutive treys to pull DePaul ahead of Georgetown.
DePaul has been pretty snakebitten in Tournament play and haven’t had a victory since 2009. Now, the realignment and loss of some marquee teams has helped DePaul to breakthrough, but one can’t deny the great victory tonight against a Georgetown Hoyas team that simply looked lost down the stretch. The 11-0 run put forth by the Blue Demons in the first half spelled costly indeed. Georgetown hadn’t lost to DePaul since the 1993-1994 season…what a way to go down.
The Blue Demons will next face Creighton, expectations for DePaul to pull this upset are slim to say the least.