Junior guard Colin Gillespie recorded 14 points and dished out seven assists in a win over No. 13 Butler.
MBB Minute – Tuesday’s Home Teams Hold Off Rallies to Earn Victories
Tuesday’s home teams – Villanova and Marquette – built double-digit leads in the second half of their games, then had to survive comeback attempts to nail down conference wins.
In a battle of ranked teams, Villanova, ninth in the AP poll, defeated No. 13 Butler 76-61 at Finneran Pavilion. The Wildcats led 43-26 in the second half before the Bulldogs cut the deficit to 49-45 midway through the period. Villanova (15-3, 5-1 BIG EAST) pulled away with the help of a balanced scoring attack. Jermaine Samuels paced five players in double figures with 20 points. Kamar Baldwin had a game-high 21 points for the Bulldogs (15-4, 3-3).
At Fiserv Forum, Marquette led St. John’s 59-45 before the Johnnies rallied to make it 62-60 with eight minutes left. The Golden Eagles (14-5, 4-3), though, were able to pull away for an 82-68 win. Markus Howard contributed a game-high 32 points with strong support from Sacar Anim who had 21 points. Howard moved up to sixth place on the BIG EAST’s career scoring list (league games) with 1,292 points. On Tuesday, he passed Chris Mullin of St. John’s, Kerry Kittles of Villanova and Dana Barros of Boston College. St. John’s (12-8, 1-6) was led by Mustapha Heron’s 18 points.
Wednesday’s BIG EAST slate shows three contests. FS1 has a doubleheader that starts with Georgetown at Xavier at 6:30 p.m. ET. In last year’s two meetings, each team won on its home floor. The Hoyas (12-7, 2-4) lead the BIG EAST in scoring, averaging 79.0 points. The Musketeers (12-6, 1-4) have taken six of the last seven matchups.
Seton Hall hosts Providence in the second game of the FS1 doubleheader at 8:30 p.m. The Pirates (14-4, 6-0) are sailing on an eight-game winning streak while the Friars (11-8, 4-2) sit in third place in the league standings. The longtime rivals, who are meeting for the 106th time, split a pair of meetings last year with each winning on its home court.
At 9 p.m. on CBS Sports Network, Creighton visits DePaul. The Bluejays (14-5, 3-3) have taken the last 10 games of the series. The Blue Demons (13-5, 1-4) are coming off a 79-66 win against Butler. Paul Reed averages 15.9 points, a league-leading 11.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks.
Home teams are 19-11 (.633) in league games going into Wednesday.