By Kenneth Cross
As the Big East Conference opened its arenas to conference play about a week ago, the idea of a competitive league with many “upsets” was underscored as some unlikely things happened immediately.
Villanova and Providence were the only two squads that took their first two games as St. John’s, UConn, Marquette, Xavier, Seton Hall, and Butler split the two while DePaul and Georgetown went 0-2 and Creighton’s loss in its lone game was a 68-66 decision to Villanova.
“We try to treat each game as its own entity, but I thought we showed growth this week, said Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune, after his Wildcats jettisoned DePaul. “It’s never easy getting wins on the road in the Big East.”
The following is a look at the beginnings for all nine Big East squads.
Villanova (2-0, 9-4) – Wildcats guard Eric Dixon’s three-pointer with 28 seconds remaining was enough to lift the Wildcats over Creighton, 68-66, in overtime in Omaha, NE.
Dixon had 21 points as he made 12 of 21 shots from the field as his triple with 4:14 remaining in the overtime gave the Wildcats their first lead since they lead 6-5 with 15:30 to play in the first half.
In dropping DePaul, Villanova jumped to a 34-18 lead with 6:45 remaining in the first half en route to an 84-48 victory over the Blue Demons.
Villanova shot 53.6 percent from the floor as Hakim Hart paced the Wildcats with 20 points while Villanova outrebounded DePaul, 43-25.
“We are obviously most focused on defense and rebounding,” said Neptune. “It never hurts when some shots go in. Our ball movement and decisions were good and that got us some open looks.”
Providence (2-0, 11-2) – Coach Kim English came over to Providence from George Mason and now, sitting with the Friars currently on top of the league and 11-2 overall, Providence feels like a player from, the entire season.
Devin Carter was huge in the first two wins as he led the Friars with 22 points and eight boards as PC upset Marquette, 72-57, in the Big East opener.
The Friars led 60-41 midway through the first half as Providence’s defense held Marquette to 1-of-14 from the floor over the first 12 minutes of the second half.
Carter also paced Providence with 10 of his 24 points in overtime to allow the Friars to capsulize the road victory.
The Friars jumped on the Bulldogs immediately and grabbed a 15-0 lead as Ticket Gaines and Bryce Hopkins combined for those 15 points as the Friars set the pace early.
“Butler came with a world of adversity and they found a way to play through it,” said English. “Our guys just kept finding a way to compete.”
St. John’s (1-1, 8-4) – Whenever Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino took over the Red Storm, it intimated the SJU, given time, would be a tough out in Big East play.
Right away, Pitino started with one of his high level schedules which prepared St. John’s for the 81-66 win in the opener over Xavier and also taking UConn to the wire in a 69-65 loss.
Joel Soriano led five Red Storm in double figures with 18 points and 11 rebounds as St. John’s controlled Xavier, 81-66, in SJU’s Big East opener.
Naheim Alleyne expanded the Storm’s lead to 58-42 with a conventional three-point play with 12:30 to go. SJU held the Musketeers to 34.9 percent from the field and they scored 14 points off of 18 Xavier turnovers.
St. John’s battle UConn, but fell, 69-65, to the Huskies as both teams battled each other with Soriano posting another double-double with 14 points and 11 boards.
Glenn Taylor, Jr., made a jumnper with 4:15 remaining to give the Red Storm a 63-61 lead, but defensively the Huskies came up in the clutch in holding the Storm to 1-of-5 after Taylor gave SJU the lead.
“It’s a missed opportunity, but the best game we have played this year,” said Pitino. We had six turnovers in the game, and we were turnover-prone to start the year. We outrebounded them. We are coming as a basketball team. It should be a nice Christmas for these guys because they played their hearts out, gave everything they can, and they lost on the road.”
Marquette (1-1, 10-3) – The Golden Eagles had been ranked in the Top 5 throughout the early part of the season before they fell, 72-57, to Providence in the opening Big East game.
The Friars held Marquette to 32 percent from the floor while Tyler Kolek led them with 21 points. MU’s guard play was an issue vs. the Friars as PC assisted 17 of 22 made field goals.
The Golden Eagles broke into the win column in their second outing as they rolled past Georgetown, 81-51. David Joplin led MU with 20 points.
Ben Gold hit three three-point field goals off the bench as Marquette boosted it’s lead to as many as 38 points.
“It’s not one-on-one, it’s a unit out there on the defensive end and the offensive end and the way we play goes a lot beyond the individual statistics on this page right here,” explained Marquette head coach Shaka Smart.
UConn (1-1, 11-2) – The Huskies fell in their opener to Seton Hall, 75-60, but rebounded in their second Big East outing to eclipse St. John’s, 69-65.
The Pirates held the Huskies to 38 percent from the floor and the scored 17 points off of 17 UConn turnovers.
Seton Hall broke the game open with an 11-2 run through the middle of the second half as the Huskies trailed, 63-48, with 5:30 remaining.
Tristen Newton led the Huskies with 16 and 7-2 Donovan Clingan had 14 before he was injured.
UConn outscored St. John’s, 43-33, in the second half as they overcame a 32-26 lead by Red Storm at halftime.
Cam Spencer scored five points in a 10-0 Red Storm run that gave the Huskies their first lead since 17-16 with 9:05 to play in the first half. Connecticut defended will as the Johnnies shot 38 percent from the floor.
Samson Johnson led UConn with 16 points while Spencer and Tristen Newton netted 15 each.
“It’s not one-on-one, it’s a unit out there on the defensive end and the offensive end, and the way we play goes a lot beyond the individual statistics on this page right here,” said UConn head coach Dan Hurley.
Seton Hall (1-1, 8-5) – The Pirates opened some eyes with their 75-60 victory over UConn in the initial Big East game of the conference schedule.
Kadary Richmond led four Pirates in double figures with 23 points while Dre Davis netted 17.
Seton Hall scored 17 points off of 17 UConn turnovers and outscored the Huskies, 46-36, in the paint. the Pirates also had an eye-popping 18-0 advantage off the fastbreak.
“The reason why I’m so excited about this team is because we are still not playing the way I think we could play,” said Pirates head coach Shaheen Holloway. “That’s why I said it a couple weeks ago andI’m saying again, ‘We still trust we can get a lot better.’”
Three days later, Xavier had runs of 10-2 and 8-0 in the first half as the Pirates shot only 32.4 percent from the floor in dropping a 74-54 decision at the hands of the Musketeers.
Dre Davis had 18 points and Kadary Richmond scored 13 for Seton Hall as Xavier had 25 assists on 31 baskets.
“They played desperate, they played hungry, and we played satisfied,” explained Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway. “I saw it in practice the last two days. Everybody was hurt and nobody practiced.”
Xavier (1-1, 7-6) – The Musketeers lost their opener, 81-66, to St. John’s as Desmond Claude led XU with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Xavier shot only 35 percent while SJU shot 46 percent as St. John’s took a 12-3 lead over the first four and a half minutes and never trailed.
Claude made 12-of-14 free throws, but the Red Storm enjoyed 14 points off of 18 forced turnovers.
The Musketeers took a 22-14 lead over Seton Hall with 6:48 remaining in the first half as Xavier held the Hall to 25 percent in the first half to roll to a 74-54 win.
Quincy Olivari scored 12 points in that beginning as the Xavier defense had tightened after it’s loss to St. John’s in holding the Pirates to just 2-of-15 from three.
Olivari was 11-of-20 from the floor and made five threes to push the Pirates forward offensively as their defense held Seton Hall to 32.4 percent from the field.
“You know the Big East opener and they had a lot of energy in the arena,” explained Xavier head coach Sean Miller. “They were clearly ready and their scheme hurt us. They haven’t played zone all year and they surprised us.”
Miller explained how Xavier had made improvement in 72 hours.
“Cutting our turnovers down being more more consistent where no matter when you watch us play from one game to the next that we can take care of the ball against these different defenses away from home,” explained coach Sean Miller of a key in making sure that Xavier performs as well as it can from game to game.
Butler (1-1, 10-3) – Posh Alexander and Pierre Brooks had 13 points each and DJ Davis and Jahmyl Telfort went for 12 as the Bulldogs defeated Georgetown, 74-64.
Butler shot 46 percent from the field and then outscored the Hoyas, 46-22, in the paint.
The Bulldogs broke the game open midway through the second half as Telfort made a layup to give BU a 60-44 lead with 9:25 to play.
Butler outscored Providence, 16-6, in overtime as the Davis scored 16 of the Bulldogs’ last 20 points in regulation to force the overtime period.
Butler trailed the Friars, 33-19, with six minutes remaining in the first half before Brooks scored seven points in a 12-0 Bulldogs run to get them back into the game.
Free throws were unseen from both teams as the Bulldogs were 11-of-20 while the Friars only made 13-of-22.
Creighton (0-1, 9-3) – The Bluejays led Villanova, 41-27, with 17:05 remaining and from that point the Wildcats made 17-of-28 field goals to posture the win.
The Bluejays are not a high-level defensive team in forcing turnovers and getting steals as they are 362nd out of the 362 D-1 teams, according to kenpom.com analytics, in both categories view analytics.
Trey Alexander had 16 points and 15 rebounds to pace Creighton, who shot only 39.7 percent for the game.
DePaul (2-9, 0-1) – It’s a tough season so far for the Blue Demons, who only have wins over South Dakota and Louisville.
Villanova destroyed DePaul, 84-48, in the Blue Demons’ Big East opener on Dec. 23. The Blue Demons led 11-8 some five minutes in, but the Wildcats flexed and went on a 26-7 run to take a 34-18 lead and were never threatened.
Chico Nelson, Jaden Henley, and Da’Sean Nelson had 11 each fo the Blue Demons.
Georgetown (7-6, 0-2) – The Hoyas dropped a pair of games to Marquette and Butler in Coach Ed Cooley’s first season as the head coach in the nation’s capital.
Butler built a 42-25 halftime lead thanks in part to a 13-0 run late in the first half. Georgetown never threatened the Bulldogs as Butler led by 16 on several occasions in the second half.
Dontrez Styles led Georgetown with 19 points while Butler outscored the Hoyas, 46-22, in the paint.
Marquette won it’s home opener in the Big East, 81-51, over the Hoyas. Georgetown shot 32.8 percent from the floor and committed 19 turnovers.
Jaden Epps led the HOyas with 14 points while Styles scored 12.