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UConn, DePaul Win at Home; Georgetown, St. John's Take Road Wins


MBB Minute: No. 2/2 UConn improved to 19-1 and 9-0 in BIG EAST play with a 75-67 overtime win over Villanova in Hartford.  Georgetown erased a 21-point second half deficit to win at Providence.  No. RV/25 St. John's trailed by as many as 16 in the second half before winning at Xavier, giving head coach Rick Pitino his 900th on-court victory.  DePaul led wire-to-wire in a win at home against Seton Hall.

Saturday, Jan. 24

UConn 75, Villanova 67 OT - Box Score 
The No. 2/2 Huskies won their 15th straight - the longest single-season win streak since 1994-95 - in overtime at home over Villanova.  Solo Ball led UConn with a game-high 24 points, including five 3-pointers, to go with five rebounds and three assists.  Villanova started out with the first eight points of the game.  The two teams traded runs and after 20 minutes, the Wildcats held a 31-27 lead.  A pair of 3-pointers from Ball and Braylon Mullins tied the game at 33-33 early in the second half, before six unanswered by Nova gave them a six-point lead with 15:06 left in regulation.  UConn countered with nine straight points as the battle of runs continued.  There were seven ties and six lead changes in the second half.  A Matthew Hodge corner 3-pointer gave Nova a 61-59 lead with 1:06 to play, but Tarris Reed forced the extra period with a putback on the next possession. The two teams traded baskets to start overtime before UConn scored the final eight points of the period.  For UConn, Alex Karaban scored all 17 of his points in the second half and overtime.  Tarris Reed Jr. added a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards.  Four Wildcats reached double-digits, led by double-doubles from Duke Brennan (16 points; 14 rebounds) and Tyler Perkins (16 points; 10 rebounds).

Of Note:
  • UConn's Silas Demary Jr. scored his 1,000th collegiate point on a layup early in the first half. He finished with 10 points and seven assists.
  • It marked the first time this season that two Villanova players tallied a double-double in the same game
Georgetown 81, Providence 78 - Box Score 
The Hoyas scored 42 of their 81 points over the final 13 minutes of the game to complete a road comeback at Providence.  KJ Lewis led all scorers with 26 points, making 4-of-7 from beyond the arc - including a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left that made it a two-possession game.  After a back and forth start to the game, a Jamier Jones 3-pointer put Providence ahead for the remainder of the first half.  The Friars connected on 50% of their shots from the floor, building an 18-point lead  - 43-25 - at the break.  PC led by as many as 21 points in the second half and held a 59-39 lead with 13:04 to go before Georgetown caught fire.  A 3-pointer and layup in transition by Lewis got it to four - 64-60 - with 7:07 to play.  Providence would push its lead back to six (71-65) at the 4:42 mark before the Hoyas rattled off seven straight to take its first lead of the period.  Georgetown closed the final 13 minutes on a 42-19 run.  Vince Iwuchukwu added 16 points and Malik Mack 13 for Georgetown.  The Friars were led by Jaylin Sellers' 18 points and 14 apiece from Jamier Jones and Stefan Vaaks.

Of Note:
  • Georgetown's KJ Lewis scored 21 of his 26 points in the second half.  Lewis is one of five BIG EAST players with at least three games with 25 points or more this season
  • Providence's Stefan Vaaks has scored in double figures in each of his first 20 games of his collegiate career.  The only two BIG EAST players to do so since 1996 are Henry Ellenson of Marquette in 2015-16 and Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony in 2002-03.
St. John's 88, Xavier 83 - Box Score 
The Red Storm posted its sixth consecutive win - and their second straight double-digit comeback win  - at Xavier on Saturday.  With the win, head coach Rick Pitino became the fourth coach in NCAA Division I history to record 900 victories.  Bryce Hopkins led the Johnnies with 18 points and eight rebounds.  The Red Storm jumped out to an early 20-11 lead, as Ian Jackson drilled three 3-pointers and accounted for 13 of SJU's first 20 points.  A 15-5 run by Xavier, capped by a Tre Carroll 3-pointer, gave the Musketeers a 26-25 lead with 11:06 left.  Carroll would finish with a career-high 31 points on the day.  X continued to give it to the Red Storm the rest of the half, outscoring SJU 23-12 and taking a 49-37 lead into the break.  Xavier would build its largest lead of the day - 16 points - before St. John's reversed course over the final 16:40.  A traditional 3-point play by X's Filip Borovicanin gave Xavier an 82-81 lead with 1:12 to play before a Dylan Darling dagger 3-pointer put SJU ahead for good.  The Johnnies outscored the Musketeers, 49-28, over the final 16:40 of the game.  Dillon Mitchell finished with 17 points, seven boards, and six assists for St. John's.  Ian Jackson had 16, Dylan Darling 11, and Zuby Ejiofor registered his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 boards.  For Xavier, Malik Messina-Moore tallied 18 points, four rebounds, and five assists while Jovan Milicevic added 14 points.

Of Note
  • Xavier's Tre Carroll logged his third consecutive game with at least 29 points in BIG EAST play.  Carroll had 31 vs. St. John's and 29 against Butler and at Creighton. 
  • The last BIG EAST player to do so was Marquette's Markus Howard - who accomplished the feat three times - the last coming during the 2019-20 season.
  • Over his last three games, Dillon Mitchell is averaging nearly 15 points and 10 rebounds, while connecting on 64% of his field goal attempts
  • While Rick and Richard Pitino had coached against each other on four previous occasions prior to 2025-26, this marked the first time in league history that a father-son duo faced off in a BIG EAST game.
DePaul 67, Seton Hall 60 - Box Score 
CJ Gunn led four Blue Demons in double figures with 19 as DePaul earned a wire-to-wire home win over Seton Hall.  DePaul jumped out to a 12-3 lead and never looked back, building a 12-point lead after a Brandon Maclin 3-pointer with 6:57 left in the half made it 21-9.  The Pirates got within four after a Budd Clark jumper cut it to four - 24-20 - but the Blue Demons scored six straight and led 30-20 at the break.  DePaul continued to build its lead to as many as 16, after an NJ Benson dunk made it 57-41 with 6:08 left.  For DePaul, Gunn added a career-best four blocked shots to go with three boards and three assists.  Maclin contributed 14 points, while Benson tallied 10 rebounds.  For Seton Hall, Clark finished with 14 points and five assists, while Tajuan Simpkins came off the bench to tally 14 points, including three 3-pointers.  

Of Note:
  • With the win - DePaul's fourth straight in BIG EAST play at WinTrust Arena - the Blue Demons matched their conference win total from a season ago.
  • Seton Hall has held 17 of its 20 opponents under 70 points this season and rank 10th in adjusted defensive efficiency (94.8), 10th in effective FG% (45.6) and turnover rate (21.7), and tops in block (18.4) and steal percentages (14.1) per KenPom.
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Looking Ahead: The BIG EAST is off on Sunday and Monday and returns on Tuesday with a pair of games, as Providence visits UConn and Creighton heads to Marquette.  

Tuesday, Jan. 27

TNT & truTV
Providence at UConn - 7:30 p.m. ET
Spero Dedes (pxp); Greg Anthony (analyst); Jared Greenberg (reporter)

Creighton at Marquette - 9:30 p.m. ET
Brian Anderson (pxp); Grant Hill (analyst); Andy Katz (reporter)
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This Week in the BIG EAST Podcast:  Austin Swartz from Creighton, Marquette head coach Shaka Smart, and legendary broadcaster Bill Raftery are the guests on the fourth episode of This Week in the BIG EAST.  Now in its 12th season, This Week In The BIG EAST (#TWITBE) is distributed by Westwood One radio and is available wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.