Villanova Meets West Virginia Friday in the NCAA East Regional
MBB Minute -- Villanova, Marquette Still Alive in Postseason
Villanova and Marquette are the two BIG EAST teams that have not packed away their uniforms and practice gear yet.
Villanova, the No. 1 seed in the NCAA East Region, will play No. 5 seed West Virginia Friday at TD Garden in Boston, Mass. Tipoff is 7:27 p.m. ET on TBS. Villanova reached the Sweet 16 round by knocking off 16th-seeded Radford 87-61 and ninth-seeded Alabama 81-58. The Wildcats are making their sixth Sweet 16 appearance under coach Jay Wright.
Marquette has won a pair of games in the NIT and hosts Penn State Tuesday in the quarterfinal round. ESPN will televise the contest at 7 p.m. The winner goes to Madison Square Garden next week for the semifinals. Marquette defeated Harvard 67-60 in the first round and Oregon 102-93 in the second round. Andrew Rowsey had 29 points and nine assists in the Oregon victory.
In the NCAAs to date, BIG EAST teams own a combined 5-5 record. Xavier, Seton Hall and Butler won their first games before falling in the second round. Xavier, which had earned a No. 1 seed for the first time in school history, was placed in the West Region and beat No. 16 seed Texas Southern 102-83. In its second NCAA contest, Xavier lost to ninth-seeded Florida State 75-70. Seton Hall, the No. 8 seed in the Midwest Region, beat No. 9 seed N.C. State 94-83 before losing to top-seeded Kansas 83-79. Butler, the No. 10 seed in the East Region beat No. 7 seed Arkansas 79-62 before dropping a 76-73 decision to No. 2 seed Purdue 76-73.
Creighton and Providence lost their NCAA first games. Creighton, the No. 8 seed in the South, lost to No. 9 seed Kansas State 68-59. Providence was the 10th seed in the West and the Friars lost 73-69 to No. 7 seed Texas A&M.
With six NCAA berths this season, the BIG EAST has amassed 28 NCAA invitations in the five years of its 10-school alignment.