Tune-In Television
Two of the nine BIG EAST women’s basketball games on this weekend’s docket will air live on national television, beginning Friday when No. 16/17 DePaul travels to Providence. The BIG EAST preseason favorite and reigning conference tournament champion Blue Demons will face the Friars at 6:30 p.m. ET, airing on FS2. Fast forward to Sunday when BIG EAST preseason No. 2 St. John’s hosts Villanova at 2 p.m. The game will air live on CBS Sports Network. The remaining seven BIG EAST tilts will stream live on the BIG EAST Digital Network presented by SoFi, including the Wildcats at Seton Hall at 1 p.m. on Friday.
Why We’re Watching …
Villanova at Seton Hall –
Friday, 1 p.m. (
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Caffeine): The Hall carries its league-leading four-game winning streak into Friday’s matinee, which will feature two of the top freshmen in the league in the Pirates’ Mya Jackson and Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist. Siegrist has been impressive from the jump, leading the BIG EAST in scoring at 20.7 points per game but limited to a 14.0 in the opening weekend of conference action. Jackson, however, shined in her BIG EAST debuts, highlighted by a 25-point outing in Sunday’s win at Xavier to average 16.0 per game over the first two. Also not to be missed are BIG EAST Player of the Year contenders from both squads – Shadeen Samuels of Seton Hall and Mary Gedaka of Villanova.
16/17 DePaul at Providence –
Friday, 6:30 p.m. (FS2): Friday’s contest pits the top scoring offense in the BIG EAST, and second-best nationally, in DePaul (88.5 ppg) and the league’s top scoring defense in Providence at 56.5 points per game. Additionally, three-pointers will be flying as the Friars lead the league in long-range accuracy (.390) with Kaela Webb connecting on 2.86 per game, while the Blue Demons have made 152 triples on the year, second-most in Division I, with Sonya Morris knocking down 2.4 per contest. PC dropped a pair of single-digit decisions in its first two games of BIG EAST play, while unanimous preseason favorite DePaul cruised by Marquette in its lone league contest so far.
Georgetown at St. John’s –
Friday, 7 p.m. (
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Caffeine): The Hoyas ended the Red Storm’s winning streak in the series at 10 games last year as Georgetown knocked off St. John’s, 82-80, for its first win over its longtime foe since February of 2014 – a string which included nine regular-season contests and one BIG EAST Tournament meeting. Both scored wins on Tuesday afternoon, with St. John’s improving to 2-0 in BIG EAST play thanks to Qadashah Hoppie’s fifth 20-point outing of the season. The Hoyas picked up BIG EAST win No. 1 by edging Providence, and are on track to collect more Ws as the season goes on thanks to emergence of Tayanna Jones and Taylor Barnes.
Marquette at Creighton –
Friday, 8 p.m. (
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Caffeine): Two teams that were somewhat overlooked in the preseason, the Golden Eagles and Bluejays enter the New Year with impressive resumes. As of January 1, Creighton shows a No. 14 RPI and Marquette is at No. 37 – all three of the Golden Eagles’ setbacks on the year were to teams in the 20 of the RPI and two were by single digits. Jaylyn Agnew has been the story for Creighton, with the senior forward twice eclipsing the 30-point mark, including in Tuesday’s win at Villanova, and ranking second in the BIG EAST in scoring at 19.3 points per game. Marquette has seen the emergence of Selena Lott and Lauren Van Kleunen, who have both more than doubled their scoring averages from a year ago (Lott: 15.2 from 7.1; Van Kleunen: 10.7 from 4.5).
Butler at Xavier –
Saturday, 2 p.m. (
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Caffeine): Both squads enter the second full set of conference games eyeing their first league wins of the year after falling to St. John’s and Seton Hall. The game will feature a pair of established veterans in Butler’s Kristen Spolyar and Xavier’s A’riana Gray. Spolyar is No. 3 in the BIG EAST in scoring at 18.3 points per game, reaching double figures in all but one game this season. Gray is the league’s top rebounder at 9.5 per contest, while also listing ninth in scoring at 14.7. Xavier’s record is not indicative of its potential, as the Musketeers took St. John’s, Florida, Cincinnati and RV Colorado all down to the wire in recent weeks. Butler swept the season series with Xavier in 2018-19, but only after a run of three-straight wins by the Musketeers.
Upcoming Schedule
Friday
Villanova at Seton Hall, 1 p.m.*^
16/17 DePaul at Providence, 6:30 p.m.*!
Georgetown at St. John’s 7 p.m.*^
Marquette at Creighton, 8 p.m.*^
Saturday
Butler at Xavier, 2 p.m.*^
Sunday
Georgetown at Seton Hall, 1 p.m.*^
Marquette at Providence, 1 p.m.*^
Villanova at St. John’s, 2 p.m.*+
16/17 DePaul at Creighton, 2 p.m.*^
All times Eastern
*BIG EAST contest
^BEDN
!FS2
+CBSSN