Archives for March 9, 2022

Seton Hall Endures; Defeats Hoyas

March 9, 2022 by Digital Sports Desk

NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release0 – On a night that saw the BIG EAST Tournament feel like old times, packed house of 17,163 and three gripping games with outstanding individual performances and renewed rivalries.

Georgetown travelled to the Garden knowing their last victory against a Big East opponent came in last year’s BIG EAST Tournament title game, a mere 362 days ago. During the season, the Hoyas held a halftime lead against a conference foe in just three games and never by more than three points. And last night’s three-point lead over Seton Hall was its first at the half since Feb.9 against DePaul.

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The Pirates came into the BIG EAST Tournament as the conference’s hottest team, winning their final five straight and eight of their last 10. They had just logged their sixth 20-win season in the past seven years and the Pirates kind of had the Hoyas number of late, having won 12 of the last 16 against Georgetown.

So it should have been little more than a walk in the park for the Pirates, no?

Um, no. And the Pirates should have known as much as they had just played the Hoyas a week ago and needed to rally late to take down Georgetown in a five-point win on The Hall’s Senior Night. So it should have come as no surprise that the third tilt of the season between the Pirates and Hoyas would once again go down to the wire as it did. But the Pirates used an 11-3 run over the final 4:38 to rally from a four-point deficit and pull out a hard-fought 57-53 victory.

The Pirates (21-9) move on to face No. 3 seed UConn in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The Pirates and Huskies split the season series with Seton Hall winning, 90-87, in overtime on Jan. 8 before UConn evened the score with a 70-65 win on Feb. 16.

A three-pointer by Jamir Harris with 40.3 seconds to play gave the Pirates the lead for good at 55-53. But the Hoyas were not about to go quietly. With 27 seconds to play, Georgetown’s Collin Holloway had a wide open look on a three-pointer from the corner, but his shot clanged off the rim and right to teammate Donald Carey. But Carey’s attempt at a putback to tie the game was squashed when The Hall’s Ike Obiagu blocked his seventh shot of the game.

But after Seton Hall’s Alexis Yetna misfired on a free throw with 20.2 seconds to play, Georgetown had one more opportunity to either tie or win the game in the final seconds. But Carey made an errant pass to Kaiden Rice with six seconds to play and Jared Rhoden sank two free throws with two seconds left to ice the win for the Pirates.

Rhoden finished with 17 points to lead the Pirates while Myles Cale added 14. Freshman Aminu Mohammed was tops for the Hoyas with 12.

Afterwards, Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard credited his team’s poise with helping to pull out the victory over a feisty bunch of Hoyas.

“What’s great about this group is that they never get rattled,” Willard said. “We got down four and they understood what we had to do and it’s nice having that veteran presence.”

That’s six straight wins for the Pirates who now turn their attention to the third-seeded Huskies, who will be coming at The Hall with BIG EAST All-First Teamers R.J. Cole and Adama Sanogo. The Huskies have also won six of their last seven coming into the tournament.

“The biggest thing is we rebounded in the second half and in the first half they really kicked our butts on the boards,” Willard said. “So going against a very physical UConn team, we’re going to have to rebound the basketball.”

St. John’s Defeats DePaul at Big East

March 9, 2022 by Digital Sports Desk

NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The crowd filled in for the first of two evening games of the BIG EAST Tournament’s opening-round triple-header as the top two scorers in the conference went head to head, representing DePaul and St. John’s University.

DePaul’s Javon Liberty-Freeman, this year’s Big East scoring champion at 21.9 points per outing, was looking to take down St. John’s and the conference’s No. 2 scorer, Julian Champagnie, and his 18.9 points per game. In their two meetings during the regular season, Champagnie scored 34 points in the Johnnies’ 88-84 victory on Jan. 5 before Freeman-Liberty got his revenge in a 99-94 victory over the Red Storm on Feb. 27 when he dropped 39 points on the Johnnies. Wednesday was the rubber match.

Liberty-Freeman helped the Blue Demons jump out to a quick 12-2 lead to open the game with six quick points in the spurt, you wondered – for a moment at least – if Champagnie was going to join in on the offensive fun. Champagnie might have been a little late out of the starting gate as St. John’s came out flat, but once he got rolling there was little DePaul could do to stop him in the first half. Champagnie scored 22 of his game-high 26 points in the opening 20 minutes and the Johnnies outscored the Demons, 47-17, through the final 16:46 of the first half to take a 20-point lead at the half before coasting to a 92-73 victory in their first-round game.

Freeman-Liberty finished with 17 points for the Blue Demons (15-16).

St. John’s (17-14) will play No. 2 seed Villanova and newly-named BIG EAST Player of the Year Collin Goillespie in Thursday’s 7 p.m. quarterfinals. The Red Storm lost both meetings with the WIldcats this year, with Nova taking a 73-62 decision on Jan. 29 before posting a 75-69 win on Feb. 8.

Those early shaky minutes by the Johnnies vs. DePaul was the only negative on an otherwise exceptional night by the Red Storm, who never let the Blue Demons get any closer than 17 points in the second half. St. John’s head coach Mike Anderson said those bumpy early minutes were just a case of a little stage fright.

“First game, you never know how they’re going to come out,” Anderson said. “But I thought once we settled down, we settled down by playing straight up defense. I thought our guys manned up and made it difficult on DePaul to get to the basket. I thought our defense really stiffened.”

The Johnnies relentless defense hounded the Blue Demons all night, forcing 17 DePaul turnovers and limiting the Demons to just 3-of-18 from three-point range. The Johnnies converted those turnovers into 24 points.

“We talked about coming out and being defensive,” Anderson said. “Last time we played them I thought we tried to beat them with offense. But our defense enabled us to get into transition with our offense.”

On the flip side the Red Storm was near flawless with the ball, posting 22 assists with just two turnovers. Posh Alexander led the Johnnies with seven assists. And while Champagnie did most of the heavy lifting on offense for the Red Storm, Anderson was quick to point out that contributions came from throughout the roster.

“Those guys coming off the bench, Stef Smith (13 points), Esahia Nyiwe (10 points), those guys deserve game balls,” Anderson said. “Obviously with Julian and Posh, you know what they’re going to bring. But I thought our bench was fantastic.”

Champagnie said his big night was brought about by both Anderson and his St. John’s teammates telling him to just be himself on the court.

“Honestly my coaches have the utmost confidence in me,” Champagnie said. “They continue to tell me to shoot the basketball and get to your spots and just be confident. My teammates do the same thing for me so I just come out and play hard for them and that’s what sealed it.”

Champagnie, who toyed with the idea of turning pro after last year, said playing in the BIG EAST Tournament was one of the reasons he returned to St. John’s this season.

“A lot of guys wish they could be here. We get to be here automatically,” Chamagnie said. “Coming back, this is definitely what I thought about, being here and playing in front of all the fans. There’s no atmosphere like it.”

WIth the win the Johnnies now turn their attention to Villanova, their opponent in the quarters Thursday night. The Johnnies were swept by the Wildcats this season but Champagnie is hoping the Red Storm can build off Wednesday night’s lopsided victory.

“They’re a good basketball team, you got to give them credit for that,” Champagnie said. “But come tomorrow we’re looking to continue our momentum and hopefully get a W.”

St. John’s is now 2-3 at Madison Square Garden this season, defeating DePaul and Georgetown but losing to Seton Hall, Villanova and Connecticut.

Missed Free Throws Cost Xavier

March 9, 2022 by Terry Lyons

NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – After closing out their regular season schedule with a 3-7 skid, and continuing a history of struggles in the months of February and March during the past two seasons, Xavier’s hopes of hearing its name called on Selection Sunday really needed a boost in the form of a victory over Butler in its BIG EAST Tournament opener Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

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A win and the Musketeers could sleep soundly Saturday night and wait to see who the NCAA Tournament would match them up with for next week’s Big Dance. A loss, and well, there could be night sweats. But thanks to Butler freshman Simas Lukosius’ coming out party, Xavier will now have to sweat out Sunday’s NCAA proceedings as the Bulldogs knocked Xavier out of the BIG EAST Tournament for the second straight year with an 89-82 overtime victory. Last season’s tournament win over Xavier also came via overtime.

Lukosius, who came into the game averaging a mere 6.3 points a game, erupted for a career-best 27 points while doing the bulk of his damage in overtime. With Chuck Harris and his game-high 28 points having fouled out at the end of regulation, Butler needed someone to step up with the hopes of extending the Bulldogs’ season and it was Lukosius who answered the bell. And after scoring seven points in the first half and eight more in the second, Lukosius poured in 12 points in the extra session to help the Bulldogs pull away.

But Lukosius thinks it was his final two points of regulation – a pair of free throws with 5.1 seconds to play which knotted the game at 68-68 – that were his most important of the night.

“If I don’t make those free throws we don’t have overtime,” Lukosius said. “Those were the biggest points.”

Lukosius was darn near unstoppable in the overtime with his jumper with 4:47 to play giving the Bulldogs a 70-68 lead and they would never trail again. But he was just getting started.

Lukosius followed with a three-pointer at the 3:59 mark, then added another three-ball and a free throw with 2:20 to play for a 77-72 Butler lead. At that point Lukosius had scored all nine of the Bulldogs’ points in the extra session. He would add three more free throws down the stretch with the final two coming with 20.3 seconds to play that put the finishing touches on the Butler victory.

As you might expect, Butler head coach LaVall Jordan was impressed with his freshmen’s effort in his very first BIG EAST Tournament game.

“The kid’s got a big heart and he’s got courage, man,” Jordan said. “I love him because he’s not afraid. That gets you in trouble sometimes but it also allows you to have a moment like this. He rises to the occasion and I know his teammates are excited for him.”

If Xavier does not hear its name called Sunday, the Musketeers can look to their poor foul shooting as a reason for the NCAA snub. After missing five straight free throw attempts in the final 40.4 seconds of regulation, the Musketeers sank just five of 10 in the overtime to help seal their fate.

The Muskleteers (18-13) seemingly had things in hand at the end of regulation when Paul Scruggs converted a layup and was fouled with 8.5 seconds to play for a 68-66 lead. But when Scruggs missed the ensuing free throw, it left open the door for Butler. Lukosius’ two free throws with 5.1 seconds to play sent the game to overtime and he took things from there for the Bulldogs.

While Xavier awaits its fate on Sunday, Butler will have little time to celebrate its victory as the Bulldogs need to prepare to face top-seeded Providence in Thursday’s noon quarterfinal. Butler dropped both games to the Friars this season, losing 69-62 at Providence before dropping a 71-70 overtime decision on Feb. 20.

Gillespie Named Big East Player of Year

March 9, 2022 by Digital Sports Desk

NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Villanova graduate guard Collin Gillespie was named the 2021-2022 Big East Player of the Year. Gillespie, who shared the award in 2020-2021 with his Villanova teammate Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Seton Hall’s Sandro Mamukelashvili, is the first repeat winner of the award since Providence’s Kris Dunn in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.

Gillespie led the Wildcats to a 16-4 record in Big East play with 16.1 points and 3.1 assists per game. He was the fourth leading scorer in the league, trailing only DePaul’s Javon Freeman-Liberty, St. John’s Julian Champagnie and Marquette’s Justin Lewis.

Gillespie led the Big East in free throw percentage, at a 91.5% clip, and three-point percentage, at 43.1%. He was sixth in the league in field goal percentage, making 44.7% of his shots. He was also named the Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year, on Wednesday, for his strong academic performance this year. He was one of two 4.0 student athletes on the Wildcat roster for the fall semester, along with fellow graduate student Jermaine Samuels.

The awards are the latest of a long list of accolades for Gillespie. Earlier this week, Gillespie was the only unanimous choice for the All-Big East First Team, and nationally he was named as a Third Team All-American by the USBWA and the NABC in 2021.

Gillespie is one of 15 finalists for the Wooden Award, given to the Most Outstanding Player in College Basketball. If chosen, Gillespie would be the first Wooden Award winner from Villanova since Jalen Brunson in 2017-2018.