Around the Big East: Week 10 (Basketball)

Story posted January 28, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Trevor Grady

The top of the Big East probably looks very familiar to college basketball fans this year. Villanova is sitting atop the conference and ranked No. 3 in the country. No. 17 Creighton is right behind them in the conference standings.

Let’s take a look at how things have gone so far in the Big East.

We’ll start with the No. 3 Wildcats. Villanova has a 10-1 overall record this season, and is still undefeated in conference play with a 5-0 record. In their last matchup against Providence this past Saturday, the Friars gave the Wildcats some trouble early on and were leading 27-24 at halftime. But Villanova turned it on in the second half and took down the Friars 71-56.

Villanova’s next matchup is set for this Saturday at 3 p.m. as they travel to Newark, New Jersey to take on Seton Hall. The Pirates are 9-7 overall and 6-4 in Big East play.

Seton Hall is on a two-game losing skid, but both losses came against the two best teams in the Big East: Villanova and Creighton.
The Pirates will have a chance to avenge that Villanova loss on Saturday, and they will need a strong performance from their senior forward Sandro Mamukelashvili who is averaging 17.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

Creighton has reached as high as No. 7 in the AP Poll this season, but the Bluejays have gone 2-2 in their last four games. Creighton has been led by their senior guard Denzel Mahoney who is averaging 15.3 points per game this season. Their next matchup will be this Saturday against the 3-6 DePaul Blue Demons.

Another team in the Big East that shouldn’t surprise college basketball fans that they are near the top of their conference standings is UConn. The Huskies have lost two of their last three games, but sit at 8-3 overall and 5-3 in conference play.

UConn has had a bunch of games postponed this year due to COVID-19 concerns, and its next matchup is not until Feb. 6 when the Huskies will take on Seton Hall.

The team sitting ranked fifth in the conference is 10-2 on the season. That team is Xavier.

The Musketeers have had plenty of postponements as well, and haven’t played a game since Jan. 10. As of now, they are scheduled to travel to Indianapolis to play Butler on Saturday.

Butler is one of only three teams in the Big East that has an overall record under .500. The other two teams are Georgetown and DePaul.

Saint John’s and Marquette are set to square off on Sunday afternoon, and both teams are 4-6 in Big East play. Sophomore guard Julian Champagnie has been an efficient scoring machine this year for Saint John’s. He is averaging 19.7 points per game while shooting 44.3 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from three-point range.

 

Trevor Grady is a junior majoring in management information systems and minoring in journalism. To contact him, email tmg5685@psu.edu.