Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports reported this afternoon that Villanova freshman Mouphtaou Yarou (pictured) will be out for the rest of the season because of a viral infection. The infection is said not to be life-threatening, and Yarou was on the bench in street clothes during ‘Nova’s 81-63 win over La Salle on Saturday at the Ski Lodge.

UPDATE: Yarou in fact has Hepatitis B and will be out indefinitely, according to the university.

Link: Yarou done for the year [Fox Sports]
Yarou has Hepatitis B [Villanova University]
Photo credit: [Villanova University]

As expected after Michigan State’s loss to Florida on Friday, Your Villanova Wildcats have climbed to No. 3 in the country in both the Associated Press (media) and ESPN/USA Today (coaches) polls. The 6-0 ‘Cats host Drexel on Wednesday and play Maryland on Sunday night down in Washington, D.C.

And if you’re into some additional reading, Terry Toohey of the Delaware County Daily Times did a feature that was published Saturday on Antonio Pena and the terrific start he’s had this season. To no one’s surprise, Pena had learned a lot last year from Dante Cunningham. If he continues to play well in the post, ‘Nova can live up to its lofty ranking. That said, we do think the 51-34 rebounding disparity against La Salle on Saturday is a bit of a cause for concern. And the Explorers’ length seemed to give the Wildcats a lot of trouble, especially with their 3-2 zone in the first half. But we’ll see.

Also, Dick “Hoops” Weiss of the New York Daily News wrote a piece published Sunday that discusses how coach Jay Wright has turned Villanova into an elite program. There’s even the revelation that Wright wanted to redshirt freshman Isaiah Armwood this season because of the ‘Cats’ talent glut, only to be rebuffed by Armwood’s father. And Corey Fisher talks about how excited he was watching ‘Nova’s four-guard lineup back in 2006, which pretty much convinced Fisher he wanted to play on the Main Line. The entire piece, which includes some interesting ‘Nova basketball history, can be read here.

Links: Top 25s for Week of Nov. 30 [ESPN.com]
Pena coming up big for ‘Nova [Delco Times]
Hoops Weiss on Jay Wright and Wright’s successes [New York Daily News]

Saint Joe’s (3-2) has had a week off since losing to DePaul in the third-place game at the Paradise Jam, and tonight the Hawks are back in action at Rider over in Lawrenceville, N.J. The Broncs (4-3) have lost at Virginia and at Kentucky, but they did win at Mississippi State, 88-74, on Nov. 13. They returned four starters from a team that was 19-13 a year ago, a mark that included a 69-57 loss against Saint Joe’s at the Wacho Center to open last season. 6-6 senior point guard Ryan Thompson is an All-America candidate, and four Broncs average in double figures. The game tips at 7 and will be broadcast on The Comcast Network (formerly CN8).

The Dragons didn’t score for more than seven minutes at the start. And while they trailed by 11 at the half, they shot 68.2 percent after the break — yes, we’re still talking about Drexel here — to take a two-point lead with 2:05 to go. But Cornell’s Chris Wroblewski answered with a 3, and from there the Big Red (5-2) held on to win, 61-54, in the finale of the Legends Classic yesterday at the DAC.

The Dragons turned it over 18 times, including 12 in the first half. Coach Bruiser Flint was quoted in the Daily News as saying his team was a little out of control at the start, when it might have tried a little too hard to use its athleticism to generate points:

“At the start of the game, my guys were going crazy, trying to go to the basket, trying to do things they can’t do. We wanted to make [Cornell] play defense, because we didn’t feel they could guard us. But you’ve got to be a little patient to do that.”

Jamie Harris again led Drexel with 15 points, and he also had four assists and three rebounds. Gerald Colds finished with 14 points, while sophomore Samme Givens had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Drexel (3-4) heads out to the Main Line on Wednesday to play Villanova.

Link: Drexel can’t catch Cornell after slow start [Daily News]

The Dragons ran out to a huge lead at the half and ran away with a 69-59 win over Toledo yesterday in the Legends Classic at the DAC. It was Drexel’s third win in a row after it started the season with three losses. Jamie Harris again figured out a way to take the ball and put it in the basket, finishing with 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting. He also had four assists. A junior point guard, Harris has averaged 23 ppg in the Dragons’ three wins this week. Sophomore Samme Givens grabbed 10 rebounds, while freshman Daryl McCoy hauled in nine. Another freshman, Chris Fouch, made all three of his 3-point attempts. Drexel led the 0-5 Rockets 41-19 at the half. And the Dragons really did make 44.6 percent of their shots.

Today, in a game that tipped at approximately 2:30, the Dragons (3-3) host two-time Ivy champion Cornell, which defeated Vermont, 67-59, yesterday in the Legends Classic. The Big Red are 4-2, and its wins include Alabama and UMass.

Both teams combined to shoot 30 percent (34-for-113). They turned it over a combined 31 times. And there were 39 fouls called, even on a night when it seemed like the officials were letting guys get away with a lot of contact.

Your final: St. John’s 55, Temple 48. Thud.

Our first question is, where was everybody? The announced Palestra crowd was 3,469, but it seemed like less than that. We know it’s Thanksgiving weekend, but still. And a good number of those who were here were Johnnies fans who came down from Noo Yawk.

Temple was simply beaten at its own game here tonight. Which is to say the Owls lost ugly. That’s because they couldn’t get anything to fall, especially from in close: Temple really did have 17 offensive rebounds but only 19 second-chance points. It’s pretty much the only way to lose to a team that has just four assists and 17 turnovers, which is what the Johnnies had. Coach Fran Dunphy said several times, in describing several different sequences, that the Owls were “out-toughed.” The game got away early in the second half, when the Redmen Red Storm went on a 13-2 run in the first five minutes to take a 34-24 lead, a stretch in which Dwight Hardy made a layup and a pair of 3-pointers. Temple closed to within four twice after that, but that was it.

A highlight was Redmen Red Storm coach Norm Roberts crushing a cup full of water out of frustration and tossing it into press row. It landed on our laptop. We weren’t amused. But this is the business we’ve chosen, as Hyman Roth said in The Godfather, Part II.

The Owls (4-2) play at Western Michigan on Tuesday night.

This. Was. Ugly. La Salle turned it over 27 times — 19 in the first half alone — and made just 20 of 37 free throws (54.1 percent). But the Explorers also had a 51-34 rebounding edge, including 27 offensive boards. And internet connectivity was spotty, which is why we didn’t have our live blog up and running. But enough about us. We’ll tell you more about the game after the jump.
(more…)

WHAT: La Salle (3-1, 0-0 Big Five) at No. 4 Villanova (5-0, 1-0 Big Five)
WHEN: Today, 3:30
WHERE: The Pavilion, Villanova
TV: ESPN2
RADIO: ESPN-FM 97.5; WHAT-AM 1340
SERIES: Villanova leads, 32-26
LAST VILLANOVA WIN: 70-59, Dec. 14, 2008
LAST LA SALLE WIN: 61-58 (OT), Nov. 27, 2001
(more…)

The Owls held Virginia Tech to 29.8 percent shooting last night at the P in a Philly Hoop Group Classic game. It’s starting to look like a trend, really: Opponents are shooting just 37.0 percent this season against Temple, and only one of them — Siena, which had 69 — has scored more than 56 points. If the Owls can find a consistent scorer, the Owls could be trouble. Especially since we know how much they’ve improved over the course of the year the last two seasons.

By all indications, of course, Virginia Tech (3-1) has no one who can score other than guard Malcolm Delaney, who had 64 percent of the Hokies’ points in Temple’s 61-50 win. And according to the Daily News, Delaney had 28 of those points after halftime. He’s the leading returning scorer in the ACC, and he might be the best player in that league no one’s ever heard of.

Lavoy Allen had a dominant game for the Owls: 18 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks. He played all 40 minutes and made 8 of 9 shots. Nobody else scored more than eight points, but with that defense, it again wasn’t necessary.

The Daily News said Micheal Eric missed the game with an injured ankle. We’ll try to get more on his status tonight. That’s right: tonight. Temple (4-1) plays unbeaten St. John’s (4-0) at the P in the finale of the Philly Hoop Group Classic, with tipoff slated for 8:30. The Johnnies beat Siena, 77-68, last night as part of the Hoop Group. The Redmen Red Storm were picked to finish 11th in the Big East this season. They’ve also beaten Long Island (83-70), St. Bonaventure (69-68) and Brown (79-76).

Link: Temple cruises past Virginia Tech [Daily News]

Drexel may have at last found a solution to its puzzling inability to put the ball in the basket: His name is Jamie Harris (pictured), and he’s a 5-10 junior guard from New York.

Harris had 28 points on 9-for-17 shooting yesterday afternoon, and the Dragons beat Vermont, 74-61, in a Legends Classic game at the DAC. It’s the second straight game in which Harris has posted a career high — he had 22 in the Dragons’ win over Penn at the P on Tuesday. A point guard, Harris naturally looks to pass first. But he told Brendan F. Quinn of The Inquirer that he’s starting to see the necessity of looking to shoot more.

“It’s something that’s new to me, but something I have to do for the team. So I’ve got to be comfortable with it.”

Quinn’s story also notes that Harris played 36 minutes and had zero turnovers. A solid outing in a solid win.

The Dragons (2-3) play Toledo today at 4:30 p.m. at the DAC in the next installment of the Legends Classic. The Rockets lost to Cornell yesterday, 78-60, at the DAC, and they’re 0-4, though three of those losses have come against Cincinnati, Michigan State and Cornell, which is one helluva schedule. Eastern Illinois had handed Toledo its first loss, 72-62. Redshirt freshman Stephen Albrecht is averaging 18.5 points per game and is shooting an eye-popping 50 percent (16-for-32) from the arc.

Link: Harris can score! [The Inquirer]
Photo credit: [Drexel University]