Connecticut's start to the 2012 Big East tournament looked a lot like the way the Huskies began last year's incredible run that ended with a conference title and a national championship. Coach Jim Calhoun was on the sideline again, just eight days after undergoing back surgery. The Huskies, again the tournament's ninth seed, had a guard leading the way, but this time it was Jeremy Lamb, not Kemba Walker, who led UConn against 16th-seeded DePaul. Lamb scored 25 points and Ryan Boatright added 19 to lead Connecticut to an 81-67 victory over the Blue Demons Tuesday in the opening round of the Big East Tournament. The ninth-seeded Huskies (19-12) will play eighth-seeded West Virginia in the second round Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. Cleveland Melvin and Moses Morgan both had 19 points for the 16th-seeded Blue Demons (12-19), who closed the season losing 10 of their last 11. Pittsburgh 73, St. John's 59: Ashton Gibbs scored 20 points to lead Pittsburgh to a 73-59 victory over St. John's. Gibbs scored the first seven points of a 13-2 run to close the first half that gave Pittsburgh a 33-28 lead. Nasir Robinson scored on a rebound to give the 13th-seeded Panthers a 43-32 lead with 15:07 left and the Red Storm were never closer than nine points the rest of the game. Robinson went 6 of 6 from the field and scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half for the Panthers (17-15), who play fifth-seeded and 13th-ranked Georgetown in the second round Wednesday. Moe Harkless had 25 points for the 12th-seeded Red Storm (13-19). D'Angelo Harrison added 12 points and 10 rebounds for St. John's but he missed all six of his 3-point attempts. Seton Hall 79, Providence 47: Jordan Theodore put on a show of slick passing and Seton Hall routed Providence 79-47, a crucial victory for the Pirates' NCAA tournament hopes. The senior guard set a career high with 13 assists to go with 13 points, and freshman forward Brandon Mobley scored a career-high 16 off the bench as the 10th-seeded Pirates (20-11) rebounded from a 28-point blowout at last-place DePaul in their regular-season finale Saturday. Herb Pope added 16 points for Seton Hall, which fell behind 9-0 in this one before dominating the rest of the way to reach 20 wins for the first time since 2003-04. LaDontae Henton had 14 points to lead the 15th-seeded Friars. Villanova 70, Rutgers 49: Maalik Wayns scored 28 points and Villanova pulled away to a 70-49 victory over Rutgers. Wayns continued his strong play since missing three games with a sprained MCL in his left knee. He returned for the final two games of the regular season and averaged 22 points and 6.5 assists. He had four assists for the 14th-seeded Wildcats (13-18) on Tuesday as they advanced to face sixth-seeded South Florida in the second round on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. The Wildcats had lost their first game in the last two Big East tournaments.
