Temple's Anthony Lee celebrates following the Owls shocking victory over No. 3 Syracuse. (US Presswire)

Big East scoreboard for Dec. 22

Temple 83, No. 3 Syracuse 79: Beset by poor free throw shooting and porous interior defense, the Orange suffered their first defeat of the season. Syracuse had little answer for Temple G Khalif Wyatt and F Anthony Lee on the inside, as the two combined for 54 of the Owls’ 83 points. Temple expertly dissected the Syracuse zone, finishing with 23 made field goals on 13 assists. Syracuse, meanwhile, did a poor job of sharing the ball and recorded just eight assists on 29 made baskets. The Orange (10-1) were led by forward C.J. Fair with a season-high 25 points. Wyatt led Temple (9-2) with a career-high 33.

No. 15 Georgetown 65, American 48: The Hoyas improved to 8-0 at home with a 17-point win over the Eagles that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Georgetown coasted over the final 10:02 after taking a 60-34 lead on a dunk by Jabril Trawick midway through the second half. The Hoyas (10-1) dominated on the boards, finishing with a 38-25 advantage. Otto Porter led Georgetown with 16 points and 13 rebounds. G Daniel Munoz led American (4-8) with 15 points.

Marquette 84, LSU 80: Golden Eagles F Davante Gardner went 6 for 6 from the free throw line in the final 35.2 seconds, including a pair with eight seconds left to clinch the tight win over the Tigers. Gardner tracked down a home run pass from Vander Blue, saved the ball from going out of bounds and drew a foul on Tigers F Eddie Ludwig on the critical play in the final seconds. Although Marquette rebounded from Wednesday’s shocking loss to Green Bay, it was still an uneven effort by Buzz Williams’ team. The Golden Eagles shot just 6 of 22 (27.3 percent) from beyond the arc. Gardner led Marquette (8-3) with 19 points, while Junior Cadougan and Blue added 17 apiece. LSU (7-2) was led by G Andre Stringer with 20.

Boston College 71, Providence 68: The Friars fell short in an intense, back-and-forth contest between New England rivals. The Eagles took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by G Patrick Heckmann with 5:43 left and held the Friars’ outside shooters in check down the stretch to improve to 6-5. Providence (8-3) was led by G Bryce Cotton with a season-high 33 points. The Eagles were led by F Ryan Anderson with 24.

DePaul 69, UMBC 61: The Blue Demons increased their season-long winning streak to seven games with a closer-than-expected win over the Greyhounds. DePaul (9-3) scored 23 points off 20 turnovers in handing UMBC its 10th loss of the season. DePaul F Cleveland Melvin turned in a stellar effort with a game-high 24 points and eight rebounds. UMBC (2-10) was led by G Aaron Morgan with 15 points.

No. 11 Cincinnati 68, Wright State 58: The visiting Raiders put a scare into the Bearcats early, jumping out to a 28-22 halftime lead. But Cincinnati woke up in the second half, led by JaQuon Parker, who tied his season high with 21 points. Poor shooting was the culprit in Cincy's slow start, and the Bearcats didn't really ever snap out of that slump, finishing just 5 of 17 from beyond the arc. Cincinnati (12-0), however, did just enough to win and remain undefeated. Jerran Young led WSU (8-4) with 14 points and 10 boards.

Villanova 83, Monmouth 56: JayVaughn Pinkston scored 16 points and James Bell added 15 as the Wildcats (8-4) blew past the visiting Hawks (5-7) in Philly. This one was never really close, as Nova sprinted to a 15-point halftime lead and never looked back. Andrew Nicholas led Monmouth with 16 points in the loss.

Seton Hall 89, LIU-Brooklyn 58: The Blackbirds got 27 points from Jamal Olasewere, but it wasn't nearly enough to get past the Pirates (10-2) Saturday night. SHU had six players in double figures, lead by forward Brandon Mobley who finished with 16 points. LIU-Brooklyn (5-6) led for most of the first half before falling apart.

No. 5 Louisville 78, Western Kentucky 55: The Cardinals (11-1) got 20 points from Russ Smith and sophomore Wayne Blackshear added 17 as Louisville smoked WKU Saturday night in Nashville. The Cards used a 19-2 first half run to pull ahead and despite the Hilltoppers' best efforts, Louisville never gave up the lead. Brandon Harris led Western Kentucky (8-5) with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Player of the Day: Friars G Cotton. The Providence junior guard scored 30 points or more for the second time this season with his sharp shooting from long range. In the Friars last two games, Cotton has a dozen 3-pointers. Cotton has been instrumental in helping a short-handed Friars’ team withstand a tough stretch early in the season. With the return of G Kris Dunn and F Sidiki Johnson, there will be less pressure on Cotton to produce.

They said it: Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim on forwards Rakeem Christmas and DaJuan Coleman, as well as C Baye Keita, who combined for just 16 points and 13 rebounds: "We're going to have to get more out of our big guys this year if we're going to have success."

Inside the box score -- 3 numbers worth a second look

19 of 34 -- The Orange missed a season-high 15 free throws, including seven over the final 12:01. G Michael Carter-Williams went just 7 of 15 from the line. By comparison, Wyatt went a perfect 15 of 15 from the stripe. Entering Saturday, the Orange ranked 11th in the conference in free throw shooting percentage (66.1).

10 of 20 -- Oddly, the Hoyas shot better on 3-point field goal attempts than they did on two pointers. Georgetown hit 10 of 20 attempts from beyond the arc, but missed 19 of 32 of their remaining attempts from the floor. Before Saturday's game, the Hoyas ranked 13th in the Big East in 3-point field goal percentage (31.2). 

O-for-4 –- Marquette G Todd Mayo shot 0 for 4 from the field, all from 3-point range in his first game back since being reinstated by Williams earlier in the week. The Golden Eagles will need Mayo to be more accurate from the perimeter. Entering Saturday, Marquette ranked 326th out of 345 teams in Division I in 3-point shoot field goal percentage (31.7).

Dec. 23 games

Kennesaw State at Pittsburgh, 5 p.m. ET (ESPN3)

For more up-to-the-minute news and analysis on the Big East, follow bloggers Evan Hilbert and Matt Rybaltowski @CBSBigEast.