Big East Conference Rundown: First-Place Showdown
Providence Puts Perfect Home Record on Line vs. Villanova
Providence puts its gaudy 14-0 record at home on the line when preseason Big East Conference favorite Villanova comes to town on Tuesday night. Certain games don’t need much to be hyped and this is certainly one of them as a win by the Friars would give them a three-game lead in the loss column on Villanova.
The Seton Hall-UConn showdown on Wednesday is another key game this week as Big East teams jostle for position.
Providence (-235) is the clear favorite in the odds to win the Big East title followed by Villanova at +130.
Game of the Week
Villanova Wildcats at Providence Friars
Date, time, TV: Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network
Providence sits atop the Big East standings and conference preseason favorite Villanova is nipping at the heels of the Friars, so this is certainly a game to check out.
Villanova and Providence rank first and second in the Big East in scoring defense so this has might not go down as one of the conference’s offensive showcases. Consider that St. John’s and UConn, the top two scoring teams in the conference, combined for just 123 points on Sunday.
No. 10 Villanova (19-6, 12-3 Big East) has won six of the last eight games, although Providence did post a rare road win in 2020. Each of the last four games between the teams went under the total.
No. 8 Providence (21-2, 11-1) has won eight straight games but covered in his four of them. Six of the Friars’ last nine games have gone over the total.
Jared Bynum had 25 points off the bench in Providence’s overtime win against DePaul on Saturday. He earned Big East Player of the Week honors for the second week in a row.
Jared Bynum repeats as @BIGEASTMBB Player of the Week pic.twitter.com/V4FmPLtVLr
— Providence MBB (@PCFriarsmbb) February 14, 2022
Justin Moore had 14 of his 16 points in the second half as Villanova rallied past Seton Hall on Saturday.
Here’s a team-by-team breakdown in the Big East with some information and trends to consider in upcoming games for those who bet online
Butler Bulldogs
It can be suggested that Butler has more than held its own in the series against DePaul. The Bulldogs have won 15 of the last 16 games against DePaul, with just two of the last 11 games between the teams being decided by less than 10 points.
Butler has covered in the last four meetings and in eight of the last nine.
Butler (12-13, 5-9) pulled off an upset the last time out, handing Marquette a six-point loss to snap a three-game losing streak. Butler has covered in three of its last four games.
Butler made 13 3-pointers in Saturday’s upset of Marquette.
Creighton Bluejays
Creighton rolled to the 88-77 win over Georgetown on Monday night behind 28 points from Alex O’Connell to sweep the season series with the Hoyas for the third time in the last five seasons. Creighton won by 14 points at Georgetown on Feb. 12 and were aided by 12 3-pointers. The Bluejays matched that total with 12 more 3-pointers on Monday.
Creighton (15-8, 7-5) travels to DePaul on Thursday looking for its 16th win in a row against the Blue Demons. The Blue Jays have covered in 13 of the last 15 games in that series.
Four of Creighton’s last six games have finished under the total.
Ryan Hawkins had eight 3-pointers en route to a season-high 30 points in Saturday’s win over Georgetown.
DePaul Blue Demons
DePaul has had its issues with Butler over the years, although the Blue Demons did win by 13 points at home when listed by the college basketball spreads as a four-point underdog in 2020. Each of the last four games has gone under the total.
DePaul (12-11, 3-10) has lost five of its last seven games, although the Blue Demons have covered in each of the last four. Five of DePaul’s last seven games finished under the total.
DePaul also has a game against Creighton on Thursday and that may not be good news. The Blue Demons have dropped 15 straight games to the Bluejays, including eight straight at home.
The Blue Demons narrowly missed a stunning upset when they squandered a 13-point lead in an overtime loss to first-place Providence.
Georgetown Hoyas
The last time Georgetown played at Creighton, the result was an entertaining 86-79 win by the Hoyas in 2021. Georgetown also rolled past Creighton in the 2021 Big East championship game. It was a much different result on Monday night, with Georgetown falling behind by 23 points before losing 88-77.
Five of the last seven games between Georgetown and Creighton have gone over the total established by the Las Vegas odds
Georgetown (6-18, 0-13) is still looking for its first road win. The Hoyas have dropped their last 14 games and failed to cover in four of the last five.
Among the other issues for Georgetown is that Aminu Mohammed and Tyler Beard are the only players to appear in all 24 games.
St. John’s Red Storm
St. John’s has lost its last two games (both at home) and the Red Storm has lost five of their last six decided by less than 10 points.
If there is a silver lining, each of the team’s last three wins has come on the road.
St. John’s (13-11, 5-8) had dropped 12 games in a row to Xavier before a 93-84 win in the last meeting. The Red Storm haven’t won at Xavier since 2015, although three of the last four matchups in Cincinnati have been decided by eight points or less.
St. John’s, the top-scoring team in the Big East, was held to its fewest points in the last seven games in Sunday’s loss to UConn.
Seton Hall Pirates
Seton Hall has covered in four of the last five games against UConn and the Pirates have won two of the three games since the Huskies began their second run as a Big East program.
Seton Hall (15-8, 6-7) saw its three-game winning streak end when it played at Villanova on Saturday. However, a six-point loss on the road, when the Pirates were nine-point underdogs, is the type of performance that they can build upon.
Seton Hall had six straight games go under the total but the last two went over.
The Pirates made 11 3-pointers against Villanova on Saturday. It was the third time in the last four games that Seton Hall made at least 10 made 3-pointers.
UConn Huskies
Yes, Virginia, UConn can win a close game. After dropping its last six games decided by six points or less, the Huskies made their way to Madison Square Garden on Super Bowl Sunday and returned home with a hard-earned 63-60 win. One of those six losses came against Seton Hall on Jan. 8 as nine different players from the two teams scored in double figures in the entertaining overtime affair.
The 24th-ranked Huskies (17-7, 8-5) did fail to cover as a 4½-point road favorite vs. St. John’s and are 1-5 against the spread in its last six games. The game ended a three-game run of UConn games going over the total.
Although UConn lost the last time it played host to the Pirates, the Huskies had won the previous 11 games at home in the series. The bad news is that the most recent home win by UConn against Seton Hall came in 2012, since the teams did not play during the Huskies’ time in the American Athletic Conference.
Andre Jackson, who had 19 rebounds in the last five games combined, grabbed 16 of them in Sunday’s win at St. John’s.
Xavier Musketeers
Since winning seven games in a row in November and December, Xavier has struggled to string wins together. The Musketeers had a pair of two-game winning streaks in 2022 before a victory on Wednesday against St. John’s pushing it to three such streaks. The good news is that Xavier is 12-3 at home.
Xavier hasn’t lost back-to-back games to St. John’s since 2015 and will be looking to keep that streak alive when the teams play on Wednesday. The Musketeers (17-7, 7-6) are 6-1-1 in their last eight games against the spread vs. St. John’s.
Four of the last six games in the series have finished over the total.
Jack Nunge had 22 points in his last outing, his second consecutive 20-point effort.
