Conference newcomer DePaul held the top spot on the women’s side, with a 7-0 record. Five teams are still undefeated.
Connecticut and Notre Dame have six wins each, and Rutgers has five. Five more teams are at the .800 mark or better.
However, it was Syracuse with the big wins this week flirting with the 100-point mark twice, in wins over Colgate (92-56) and Canisius (91-73).
The two-win week improved the Orange to 4-2 overall. For their efforts, Vaida Sipaviciute and Jenny Eckhart were named Big East player of the week and rookie of the week, respectively.
Only a sophomore, Sipaviciute had two very impressive outings, averaging 31.5 points, 16.5 rebounds and 5.0 blocks. This includes a 41- point effort in the win over Colgate.
The total is the second-highest in Syracuse history. Sipaviciute also added 21 boards for the night.
Rookie of the week Eckhart chipped in with contributions of 23 and 16 points against Canisius and Colgate, respectively.
Twelve of her 16 points against Colgate were from beyond the arc.
The rookie was red-hot, shooting 80 percent from three-point land. She also added six assists for the Orange.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
With the men’s basketball season underway, the new-look Big East has thus far flexed its muscle in non-conference play.
UConn, Pitt, Villanova, and Louisville remain undefeated with six, five, four, and three wins, respectively. The Huskies maintain the top spot on the leaderboard thanks to Friday’s 113-49 pounding of Texas Southern.
The bigger applause, however, goes to fourth-ranked Villanova who defeated No. 5 Oklahoma 85-74. The win was made possible thanks to 32 points from guard Randy Foye. Jason Fraser and Kyle Lowry added 10 points apiece while Allan Ray was the second-highest scorer with 21 to round out the balanced attack. Foye was named the Big East co-player of the week, sharing the award with Quincy Douby from Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights had two wins this week, over Temple and St. Mary’s (California). Douby had 27 points in the win over the Owls and added career-highs of 36 points and 11 boards in the RU win over St. Mary’s.
Teammate Anthony Farmer was the conference rookie of the week.
The freshman had a career-high 14 points against Temple, and beat his mark with 16 the following outing. In addition, Farmer had only one turnover in 73 minutes of play for the Scarlet Knights.
