Ben Hansborough scored 23 points and dished out six assists as No. 2 seed Notre Dame blew out No. 7 seed Cincinnati, 89-51, in a quarterfinal match-up in the 2011 Big East Tournament on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Notre Dame (26-5) advances to face the winner of No. 3 seed Louisville and No. 11 seed Marquette at 9 p.m. EST on Friday at Madison Square Garden.
The Fighting Irish took a 20-13 lead by the ten minute mark of the first half and built their lead to 40-30 at the intermission. In the second half, Notre Dame outscored Cincinnati, 49-21, to seal the win.
Carleton Scott had 18 points and Tim Abromaitis totaled 17 points and six rebounds for the Fighting Irish, who made 32-of-57 field goals and shot a sizzling 56.1% from the floor. Scott martin had 11 points and Tyrone Nash added eight points, five rebounds and three assists for Notre Dame.
Dion Dixon scored 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting for Cincinnati (25-8), which shot 32.8% from the field. Yancy Gates had 12 points and nine rebound and both Darnell Wilks and Sean Kilpatrick added seven points for the Bearcats.
Tuesday, March 8 - First Round (ESPN2/ESPN 3D)
No. 9 Connecticut def. No. 16 DePaul, 97-71
No. 13 Rutgers def. No. 12 Seton Hall, 76-70
No. 15 USF def. No. 10 Villanova, 70-69
No. 11 Marquette def. No. 14 Providence, 87-66
Wednesday, March 9 - Second Round (ESPN/ESPN 3D)
No. 9 Connecticut def. No. 8 Georgetown, 79-62
No. 5 St. John's def. No. 13 Rutgers, 65-63
No. 7 Cincinnati def. No. 15 USF, 87-61
No. 11 Marquette def. No. 6 West Virginia, 67-61
Thursday, March 10 - Quarterfinals (ESPN/ESPN 3D)
No. 9 Connecticut def. No. 1 Pittsburgh, 76-74
No. 4 Syracuse (25-6) def. No. 5 St. John's, 79-73
No. 2 Notre Dame def. No. 7 Cincinnati, 89-51
No. 3 Louisville (23-8) vs. No. 11 Marquette 9 p.m.
Friday, March 11 - Semifinals (ESPN/ESPN 3D)
No. 9 Connecticut vs. No. 4 Syracuse 7 p.m.
Thursday evening winners 9 p.m.
Saturday, March 12 - Championship (ESPN/ESPN 3D)
Semifinal winners 9 p.m.