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Ever since the BIG EAST realigned itself prior to the 2013-14 season, the Wildcats have been the hands down kingpins of the league. In that time the Wildcats have appeared in five of the seven BIG EAST Tournament championship games, winning four of them. That says nothing about the absolute dominance the Wildcats have unleashed on the conference during the regular season.
Yes, for the most part, VIllanova has owned the BIG EAST, and here they were Friday night, looking for yet another title game trip, sniffing around for another piece of championship hardware to place in their trophy case.
A Hall of Fame coach in Jay Wright, the BIG EAST Player of the Year in Collin Gillespie, a repeat performer, by the way, and the Villanova Way? That’s a tough Holy Trinity to go up against on any night, let alone the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals.
But here was UConn, a former charter member of the league-turned kind of new kid on the block, back in the BIG EAST, back where it belongs, after an almost decade away from the conference. The Huskies’ answer for Nova’s Holy Trinity is one of their own as UConn can come at you with the triumvirate R.J. Cole and Adama Sanogo - a pair of All-BIG EAST First Teamers - as well as senior Tyrese Martin, the Huskies’ third-leading scorer, second leading rebounder and defensive disruptor. UConn’s version of a Swiss Army knife.
Two blueblood programs each with the same goal - a trip to Saturday night’s BIG EAST Tournament championship game. A chance for VIllanova to shoot for its first title since 2019. UConn for its first since 2011 when the “old” BIG EAST was still in business. Does it get any better than this on a Friday night in New York City?
Jay Wright doesn’t think so.
“I’m sure I’m biased but I’m just going to be honest. Friday night, Madison Square Garden, semifinals, Billy Joel is playing, Villanova-Connecticut. If you grew up in the Northeast it’s a basketball junkie’s dream,” Wright said. “This rivals the NCAA Tournament. We talk about it as coaches in our league, what’s better, Sweet 16 or playing in the Garden on Friday night and winning a BIG EAST championship?
This game was a classic just waiting to happen and it didn’t disappoint.
Jermaine Samuels, who was battling back issues prior to the game, so much so that he could not partake in pregame warmups, logged a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds, Brandon Slater added 15 points and a monster block of a Tyrese Martin dunk attempt at a key point of the second half and a pair of free throws by Samuel and one from Collin Gillespie in the final 15.4 seconds finally sealed the deal for Villanova as the Wildcats outlasted UConn, 63-60, at a packed and raucous Madison Square Garden.
Second-seeded Villanova (25-7) moves onto the BIG EAST Tournament championship game for the 11th time and will face No. 4 Creighton, which knocked off top-seeded Providence in the early semifinal game.
“They’re an outstanding team, extremely well coached. They can beat anybody in the country,” Wright said. “They’re going to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.”
The game was tightly contested throughout as the two teams played to a 32-32 tie at halftime in a contest that saw seven ties and 15 lead changes. It wasn’t until Villanova used an 8-0 spurt midway through the second half that the Wildcats could get any breathing room from the Huskies. With the score tied at 44-44, Gillespie, who had 10 assists in the win, started things off with a layup. After Samuels completed a three-point play, Eric Dixon drained his only three-point attempt of the game and the Wildcats were up, 52-44.
But the Huskies weren’t about to go away. Not with legions of Huskie Nation having made the trip down from Connecticut to see the Huskies do battle. They twice shaved the Villanova lead to three points, the second time coming on a putback by Sanogo with 56 seconds to play to pull UConn within 60-57.
Samuels answered with a pair of free throws for a 62-57 lead and it appeared Nova had finally outlasted UConn. But UConn’s Andre Jackson drilled a three-ball with 8.4 seconds to play to make it a two-point game. But that was it for the Huskies as Gillespie hit one of two free throws with three seconds left and the Huskies could not get a shot off before the buzzer to end matters.
Wright said he could not get over the guts Samuels showed in playing over 30 minutes in a game he was unable to warm up for.
“It’s unbelievable. We got a chiropractor up here from Philly, he got here (at) like 4 o’clock,” Wright said. “We have a masseuse with us. He couldn’t go through the walk-through, couldn’t stand long enough to go through the walk-through. I’m amazed by him. He’s a tough kid and a great competitor.”
UConn coach Dan Hurley said the loss hurts but that the Huskies (23-9) season is far from done.
“It’s deflating. This team wanted a regular-season championship and a BIG EAST Tournament championship. We didn’t get either but we strived for them,” Hurley said. “This team has had a very, very good year and nothing to be ashamed of here. It’s going to hurt like (crap) probably until Sunday morning and we start thinking about the Selection Show.”
In an ironic twist, the BIG EAST season will began - and will end - with the same two teams facing each other. Back on Dec. 17, VIllanova traveled to Omaha to open the season and the Bluejays handed the Wildcats a 79-59 loss. While it’s anyone’s guess how Saturday night’s title tilt will turn out, Gillespie plans on enjoying it after missing last year’s tournament with a knee injury.
“It’s a lot of fun to be in an environment like this, be back with my teammates and coaches,” said Gillespie, who played in his 150th game, the most in Villanova history. I wasn’t able to be here last year. But we’re just taking it one day at a time. We’ll go back, rest up, watch a little film on tonight’’s game learn from it and get better.”