NEW YORK, NY — The road to the Big East Tournament title officially began on Wednesday as the conference tournament returned to Madison Square Garden, known as “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”
With the first game tipping off at 4:00PM ET, teams opened the four-day long event looking to survive and advance in one of college basketball’s most iconic historic conference tournaments.
The afternoon opened with No. 9 Providence facing No. 8 Butler, followed by No. 7 Marquette vs No. 10 Xavier, and No. 6 DePaul vs No. 11 Georgetown closing out the night.
No. 9 Providence defeats No. 8 Butler
In the opening matchup, No. 9 Providence defeated No. 8 Butler, 91-81, to advance to the next round. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead, but the Friars responded with a strong offensive stretch, shooting efficiently and knocking down three pointers to take control of the game in the second half. Providence Stefan Vaaks led the Friars with 28 points, helping spark the offense as the team pulled away in the second half. Vaaks tied a Big East tournament record for most-three pointers made in a single game, going 8-13 from behind the arc.
“Kim’s been telling me to shoot the ball—if you really look at the sideline, whenever I wouldn’t shoot the open shot, he would go crazy,” said Vaaks of his performance while getting extra motivation from his head coach Kim English. “But, yeah, it felt good to be, like really back in the rhythm.”
Next Up: Providence, moving on to the quarterfinals, will face No. 1 St. John’s at noon eastern on Thursday
No. 10 Xavier edges No. 7 Marquette
After Providence’s win over Butler, Xavier edged Marquette, 89–87, in a tightly early-evening contested Big East Tournament clash. The Musketeers relied on timely execution down the stretch to secure the win, with Jovan Milicevic leading the way with 21 points. In a game that featured multiple lead changes and remained close until the final seconds, Xavier made the key plays late to hold off Marquette and advance to the next round of the tournament.
“They’re as dynamic as any guards that we play off the bounce, so I thought we did a better job in the second half, making them earn those plays as best we could,” said Xavier’s head coach Richard Pitino.
Next Up: Xavier, advancing to Thursday, will go up against No. 2 UConn at 7:00 PM ET
No. 11 Georgetown takes down No. 6 DePaul
To close out the night at MSG, No. 11 Georgetown took down No. 6 DePaul, 63-56, as the Hoyas gained momentum late in the game to secure the victory. Guard Jeremiah Williams and center Vince Iwuchukwu led the way with 17 points each.
Georgetown’s Jeremiah Williams 17 points helped lift the Hoyas to a huge win over DePaul Wednesday night at MSG – Image Credit: Georgetown University Athletics
Georgetown’s head coach Ed Cooley expressed how well the team was prepared and how proud he is of his group, stating, “I know DePaul is one of the more physical teams in our league, (Brandon) Maclin, (NJ) Benson, (Layden) Blocker, you know, competing against coach (Chris) Holtmann over the years. But I’m really proud of our guys. It has been a long year for us with respect to coming down the stretch and losing games by a possession, losing at the buzzer. We’ve had 10 games this year with either the lead or a tied score, one with 1:47 on the clock.”
Next Up: Georgetown will look to keep the momentum going against No. 3 Villanova at 9:30PM ET on Thursday
Second round action of the BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Tournament will continue all day Thursday at Madison Square Garden in a two-session format—beginning at 12:00PM ET and 7:00PM ET, respectively.
Furthermore, the day session for Thursday will be televised live on Peacock while the night session is set to be on FOX Sports 1.
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