BIG EAST Announces 2019-2020 Women’s Basketball Schedule - Big East Conference Skip To Main Content

Big East Conference

The BIG EAST Conference The Official Website of The BIG EAST Conference

Members

BIG EAST Announces 2019-2020 Women’s Basketball Schedule

BIG EAST Announces 2019-2020 Women’s Basketball Schedule

Bookmark and Share

FOX Sports to nationally televise 15 regular-season games; BIG EAST Digital Network to stream 75 contests.

2019-2020 TV Schedule
NEW YORK –
The BIG EAST Conference 2019-2020 women’s basketball schedule, announced on Thursday, tips off Nov. 5-9 for all 10 teams. Conference play will begin on Dec. 29, with all teams playing at least one BIG EAST game prior to the New Year.  FS1 and FS2 will air a total of 22 games, including the quarterfinal, semifinal and championship games of the 2020 BIG EAST Tournament at Wintrust Arena in downtown Chicago.

All 10 BIG EAST teams will appear on at least two nationally televised games during regular-season play across the FOX Sports family of networks, while an additional two games will be featured on CBS Sports Network (CBSSN). For the fifth straight year, the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) will air all women’s basketball games during conference play that are not scheduled for a television broadcast, for a total of 75 tilts.

For the seventh consecutive year, FS1 and FS2 will provide coverage of the BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Tournament, with this season’s event returning to Wintrust Arena in Chicago for a third consecutive year. FS2 will air the quarterfinal round on March 7, with games set for 1, 3:30, 7 and 9:30 p.m. (ET). FS1 picks up the remainder of the tournament, with the semifinals on March 8 slated for 6 and 8:30 p.m., and the championship game set to tip off at 8 p.m. on March 9. The BIG EAST Digital Network will live stream both first round games on March 6, with tip times not yet determined.

Through the first six seasons as a 10-team league, nine different programs have received bids into the national postseason, including two squads earning NCAA Tournament berths in 2019. The BIG EAST has combined for 16 NCAA invites over the last six seasons. Since conference realignment, 23 teams have qualified for the WNIT, including Georgetown in 2019, when the Hoyas marched on to the quarterfinal round. Four teams carry multi-year national postseason streaks into the 2019-2020 season led by DePaul’s 20-year postseason run, which includes 17 consecutive NCAA appearances, along with Villanova (eight years) Georgetown (four years) and Marquette (three years).

The Conference is in the seventh year of its multi-year contract with FOX Sports, which has exclusive television rights to all BIG EAST competitions. Two non-conference games are included in this year’s television lineup, in what will be a preview of things to come. Seton Hall will host Connecticut on Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m. ET on FS1, before DePaul welcomes the Huskies to Wintrust Arena on Dec. 16, which is set for an 8 p.m. tipoff on FS1. It was announced this summer that 11-time NCAA Champion UConn would rejoin the BIG EAST beginning in the 2020-2021 season.
Conference play tips off on FS1 when Providence, coming off its most successful season since 2009-10, travels to Villanova on Dec. 29 at 4 p.m. Less than a week later, the Friars return to the national stage when they host reigning and four-time BIG EAST Tournament champion DePaul on Jan. 3. Tipoff between the Blue Demons and PC is set for 6:30 p.m. on FS2.

Two days later, Villanova and St. John’s meet at 2 p.m., in the first of four nationally televised games for each squad. The pair will tangle on CBS Sports Network, one of two BIG EAST games airing on CBSSN this season. The second CBSSN contest features Providence at Creighton on Jan. 11, set for a noon tipoff.

Under the direction of first-year head coach Melanie Moore, Xavier makes its national television debut Jan. 10 on FS2 at 6:30 p.m., when the Musketeers travel to Georgetown. St. John’s returns on Jan. 12 when the Red Storm travel to Chicago to face DePaul. Expected to be two of the BIG EAST’s top contenders in 2019-20, they tipoff at 1 p.m. on FS1.

The other new head coach in the BIG EAST this season, Megan Duffy and Marquette make their first appearance on Jan. 17 at Butler in a game airing on FS2 at 6:30 p.m. The Golden Eagles have won at least a share of back-to-back BIG EAST regular-season titles and have made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

Two BIG EAST women’s basketball games will air live on Jan. 26, beginning at 1 p.m. on FS2 when Providence hosts Xavier. Coverage continues at 6:30 p.m. on FS1 when longtime rivals St. John’s and Seton Hall meet in South Orange, N.J. The following two televised games will also feature the Pirates, starting with their tilt at Georgetown on Jan. 31 (7 p.m., FS2) and followed by a home contest against Marquette on Feb. 7 (7 p.m., FS2).

Butler returns to TV on Feb. 9 at 3 p.m., when the Bulldogs host Villanova in a game airing on FS2. The Bulldogs had their most successful season since joining the BIG EAST in 2018-19, beginning the year 15-1 and advancing to the Round of 16 of the WNIT.

 Creighton will be featured in two of the final three televised game of the year – beginning on Feb. 14 when the Bluejays host St. John’s at 7 p.m. on FS2. Creighton begins the final weekend of the regular season on FS1 when Villanova travels to Omaha on Feb. 28, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. The final televised game of the regular season features the headline matchup of the last three seasons – DePaul at Marquette on March 1 at 3 p.m. The game will air on FS2. DePaul or Marquette have won at least a share of the BIG EAST regular-season title in all six seasons since conference realignment, and one of them have won five of the last six BIG EAST Tournament titles. 

The BIG EAST Digital Network will provide coverage of 75 additional women’s basketball conference games. BEDN launched in September 2014 as a streaming-only offering of 225 live regular season and championship events annually for the BIG EAST Conference. SoFi became the presenting sponsor of BEDN in 2017-18. Announced this fall, BEDN continued its relationship with Caffeine, a recently launched social broadcasting platform for live sports, gaming, and esports, as a distributor of Women’s Basketball and Olympic sports championships and events. The BIG EAST has a dedicated channel on Caffeine, www.Caffeine.tv/BEDN, where fans can find all BEDN content. In addition to appearing on Caffeine, all BEDN events will be co-streamed on YouTube via the conference’s main channel, www.youtube.com/BIGEASTConference, and Twitter on the main BIG EAST handle, @BIGEAST.