Tyrique Jones had 19 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's win at Providence.
On a light two-game Saturday, Butler knocked off DePaul behind a strong performance by ace Kamar Baldwin and Xavier played a blistering second half to make it a 2-0 week for the Musketeers with a win at Providence.
Both teams broke out of three-way ties in the standings with their victories. Butler moved into fifth place with a 6-7 BIG EAST mark while Xavier jumped out of a tie with Providence and Creighton to improve to 5-8.
Saturday’s results brought the record of home teams to 35-27 (.565). Twenty-seven of the 62 conference games (.435) have been decided by six points or less or gone into overtime.
At a sold out Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler got an early lead against DePaul and used an 11-0 spurt in the second half to secure a 91-78 win. Baldwin, who scored the Bulldogs’ first eight points of the game, finished with 25 points. Sean McDermott added 15 points and seven rebounds. Butler led for all but 27 seconds in the contest. Max Strus had 23 points for the Blue Demons (13-11, 5-8) and Eli Cain added 17 points. Both teams shot over 54 percent from the floor, but Butler won the rebounding battle 31-23.
Xavier (13-13) ended a six-game losing streak earlier in the week with an overtime win over Creighton and followed that with a 75-61 win at Providence. Trailing 32-26 at halftime, the Musketeers started what coach Travis Steele called Xavier’s best half of the season with a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. Xavier shot 19-of-26 (.731) from the floor in the second half, including 6-of-7 from 3-point range. Tyrique Jones finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Naji Marshall added 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Nate Watson finished with 16 points for Providence (14-12, 4-9).
Two more games are slated for Sunday. No. 13 Villanova, 20-5 overall and 11-1 in the BIG EAST, starts a three-game road swing with a battle at Madison Square Garden against St. John’s at 5 p.m. ET on FS1. The Wildcats rallied to beat the Johnnies 76-71 on Jan. 8 behind Eric Paschall’s 25 points. Shamorie Ponds had 23 points for St. John’s. The Johnnies, who are coming off a 77-73 overtime win over Butler, are 18-7 overall and 6-6 in league play. In BIG EAST games, Villanova ranks first in scoring defense, allowing only 67.2 points per game. St. John’s is first in turnover margin at 3.2.
Seton Hall and Creighton, two teams that met just eight days ago, will play at the CHI Health Center in Omaha at 3 p.m. on FS1. The Pirates won the first meeting 63-58 led by Myles Powell who scored a team-high 22 points, including the last nine points for his team. Martin Krampelj had 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Bluejays. Seton Hall goes into the game 15-9 overall and 6-6 in BIG EAST play. Creighton is 13-12 and 4-8. The Bluejays are returning home after an 0-3 road trip that included two overtime losses and the five-point defeat at Seton Hall.