Sean McDermott poured in 25 points to carry Butler over Georgetown 69-64.
MBB Minute – Butler, Villanova Enjoy Comeback Victories
Butler and Villanova fell behind early in their games on Tuesday, but both recovered to post important road wins.
Butler had the more rugged road, defeating Georgetown 69-64. The Bulldogs (17-4, 5-3), ranked 16th by AP, fell behind by 14 in the first half, before rallying for the win. Sean McDermott’s seventh 3-pointer of the game with 49 seconds left put Butler ahead to stay 67-64. McDemott finished with a game-high 25 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Omer Yurtseven led Georgetown (12-9, 2-6) with 14 points and 13 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season.
Villanova started slowly against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden, falling behind 8-1 before Collin Gillespie took over and sparked the No. 8 Wildcats to a 79-59 triumph. Gillespie stuffed his stat line with 17 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and three steals while committing only one turnover in 37 minutes. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl added 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. The Wildcats (17-3, 7-1) have won seven in a row. St. John’s (13-9, 2-7) was led by Rasheem Dunn’s season-high 24 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Two more conference games are set for Wednesday with FS1 telecasting both contests. Seton Hall hosts DePaul at 6:30 p.m. ET followed by Marquette at Xavier at 8:30 p.m.
Seton Hall (15-4, 7-0), ranked 10th by AP and 8th by USA Today, has won nine straight and will be looking for a sweep of the regular season series with the Blue Demons (13-7, 1-6). The Pirates won at DePaul 74-66 on Dec. 30. Myles Powell scored a game-high 27 points. DePaul’s Paul Reed is tied for fifth in the BIG EAST in scoring (17.6) and remains first in rebounding (12.0).
Marquette’s Markus Howard, who is averaging 31.0 points per game in league play, needs eight points to become the 72nd player in college basketball history to score 2,500 points. The Golden Eagles (14-6, 4-4) beat the Musketeers (13-7, 2-5) 85-65 on Jan. 15 in Milwaukee with Howard scoring 35 points. Freshmen have helped Xavier lately. Forward Zach Freemantle had 18 points and nine rebounds in Sunday’s loss at Creighton. Guard KyKy Tandy had 18 points in last week’s win over Georgetown.
Home teams are 23-16 (.590) in league games going into Wednesday.