ESPN Men's Basketball

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gerry McNamara scored 25 points and Hakeem Warrick added 23 to lead Syracuse to an 81-57 victory over Rutgers on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

The third-seeded Orange (25-6) will play second-seeded Connecticut in the semifinals on Friday. Connecticut, the defending Big East and national champions, advanced with a 66-62 victory over Georgetown.

The Huskies swept the Orange this season, including an 88-70 victory last Saturday to wrap up the regular season.

Warrick, the conference's player of the year, grabbed 13 rebounds as Syracuse, which was last in the semifinals in 2003 when it went on to win the national championship, had a 43-32 advantage on the boards.

McNamara, a first-team all-conference pick, was 6-for-9 from the field, including 6-for-8 from 3-point range, and 7-for-7 at the free throw line.

Quincy Douby had 14 points to lead Rutgers (10-19), which upset Notre Dame 72-65 in the opening round. The Scarlet Knights were trying to reach the semifinals for just the second time in school history. They got there in 1999.

McNamara hit a 3 to cap a 10-0 run that gave Syracuse a 22-10 lead with 13:53 left in the first half. The Orange extended the lead to 47-22 at halftime.

McNamara hit consecutive 3s to give Syracuse its biggest lead, 57-30 with 15:21 to play.

Rutgers used an 8-0 run to get within 64-49, but McNamara hit 3s on consecutive possessions to end the run and the Scarlet Knights didn't get closer than 19 points the rest of the way.

In the teams' only meeting this season, Syracuse won 86-84 at Rutgers after overcoming an 18-point halftime deficit.