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Archives for March 2022

BIG EAST & The Garden Share 40 Years of Fantastic Tournament Memories

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NEW YORK – (Staff Report from official News Release) – The 2022 BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden marks the 40th Anniversary of the prestigious postseason championship being staged at “The World’s Most Famous Arena.” The BIG EAST Tournament first took to the famed Madison Square Garden basketball court in 1983, making it the longest-running postseason championship at the same location in college basketball.

One of college basketball’s most treasured events, the BIG EAST Tournament, first signed an agreement to bring the annual postseason classic to The Garden on October 7, 1981. Led by tournament MVP Chris Mullin, St. John’s defeated #1 seed Boston College 85-77 to win the first BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden in ’83. That weekend set the tone with sellout crowds and alumni parties up and down the Northeast corridor which quickly became a staple to circle the dates on The Garden’s yearly sports calendar.

Countless tournament memories have been made throughout the years, including Walter Berry’s block on Dwayne “Pearl” Washington in 1986; Kemba Walker’s spectacular 130 points in five games during the 2011 Tournament; Allen Iverson vs. Ray Allen in the 1996 Championship game; Doug McDermott scoring 92 total points in Creighton’s first BIG EAST Tournament in 2014; and of course Syracuse and UConn scoring 244 points over the course of 3 hours and 46 minutes in six overtimes in a wild game that ended at 1:22 a.m. in 2009.

“This year’s competition will be a fierce as ever,” said BIG EAST Commissioner, Val Ackerman. “And, we know that an electric atmosphere and the unforgettable moments that have defined the BIG EAST tournament for decades will once again await our amazing fans.”

“The BIG EAST Tournament and Madison square Garden have been synonymous with one another for 40 years,” said Joel Fisher, executive vice president, MSG Marquee Events. “Since 1983, the tournament has become a staple on The Garden calendar and has provided millions of fans with thrilling long-lasting memories. College hoops junkies will once again rush through our turnstiles this week for another four days of scintillating college basketball.”

The BIG EAST and Madison Square Garden will welcome fans back to the tournament this week for the first time since 2020 when the COVID Pandemic brought an early halt to the postseason tournament. Quarterfinal doubleheaders will be played this afternoon and evening, March 10. The semifinal doubleheader will be held Friday, March 11, followed by the title game on Saturday evening, March 12.

The first three BIG EAST tournaments were held in Providence, Syracuse and Hartford, respectively.

The BIG EAST Conference is an association of 11 nationally prominent colleges and universities that foster healthy athletic competition, community service and the pursuit of excellence in academic environments. The athletic programs of BIG EAST institutions provide national-caliber participation opportunities for more than 4,100 student-athletes on over 200 men’s and women’s teams in 22 sports. Established in 1979 and headquartered in New York City, the BIG EAST’s members are located in eight of the country’s top 37 largest media markets and include Butler University, University of Connecticut, Creighton University, DePaul University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Providence College, St. John’s University, Seton Hall University, Villanova University and Xavier University.

Stormy Weather at The PLAYERS

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH – First-round tee times at The PLAYERS were delayed by one hour due to overnight rain and area thunderstorms. Unfortunately, stormy weather will be the storyline as ‘the fifth major’ is underway, and the golfers who can navigate the weather (rain/wind/humidity) will rise on the dripping wet leaderboard.

This week’s PLAYERS Championship will be more of a challenge than the Tournament Players Club of Sawgrass usually can dish out. The weather report is not cooperating as thundershowers, high humidity and a 30-degree dip in temperature from Friday to the weekend could wreak havoc for the contenders when the sun shines on Sunday.

The PLAYERS Championship is the first of five tournaments on the PGA Tour schedule offering 600 FedEx Cup points to the winner, along with the four major championships.

The field includes 47 of the Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking and 109 PGA TOUR winners combining for 418 titles. Justin Thomas is looking to become the first player to successfully defend a title at The PLAYERS Championship. The best result by a defending champion of The PLAYERS is T5 (Jack Nicklaus/1977, Tom Kite/1990, Hal Sutton/2001). In the last six attempts, only one defending champion has finished in the Top 50 (Webb Simpson, 2019). Thomas, a 14-time Tour winner (most recently at The PLAYERS in 2021), has successfully defended a title once on the PGA Tour (2016 CIMB Classic) and has earned multiple titles at three different PGA Tour events.

With his win at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Scottie Scheffler moved to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings for the first time in his career. Three players have won the week before The PLAYERS and then won The PLAYERS: Raymond Floyd (1981), Tom Kite(1989) and Tiger Woods (2001).

The people of the Ukraine were recognized by the PGA Tour and its Commissioner. As the tournament began at TPC Sawgrass with round 1 of The PLAYERS Championship, representatives of the Tour expressed its unified support for the people of the Ukraine.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced support via Golfers For Ukraine, an industry-wide effort that is collecting donations for UNICEF, the United Nations agency that provides humanitarian and developmental aid to children impacted by the crisis.

“Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine and those caught in the crosshairs of the conflict,” Monahan said. “We hope for an end to this senseless violence and a peaceful resolution. The game of golf has a way of rallying around important causes and this is one.”

Seton Hall Endures; Defeats Hoyas

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

Bruins to Honor Rask March 31

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BOSTON – The Boston Bruins will honor the career of Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask on Thursday, March 31 when Boston hosts the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden at 7 p.m.

Rask, who spent all 15 seasons in the NHL with the Bruins, will perform the ceremonial puck drop prior to the start of the game. The goaltender amassed a record of 308-165-66 during his time in Boston, with a 2.28 goals against average and .921 save percentage. Rask is Boston’s leader in wins (308) and is second among the franchise’s goaltenders in shutouts (52).

The Savonlinna, Finland native won multiple awards with Boston throughout his career, including the William M. Jennings Trophy in 2019-20, the Vezina Trophy in 2013-14, and a Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2010-11. Rask was also voted to the NHL First All-Star Team in 2014 and the NHL Second All-Star Team in 2020.

Rask announced his retirement on Wednesday, February 9, 2022.

PGA Tour: Scheffler Wins at Bay Hill

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ORLANDO – Scottie Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer Invitational by one stroke, earning his second PGA Tour title 21 days after his first victory (Phoenix). Scheffler’s last three starts on Tour: Won/WM Phoenix Open, T-7/The Genesis Invitational, Won/Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

Scheffler’s 72-hole total of only 5-under is the highest by a winner on Tour since the 2020 BMW Championship (Jon Rahm, -4). With his second win of the season, Scheffler moves to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings for the first time in his career.

Third-round co-leader Billy Horschel (T-2) at (-4) earned his eighth career runner-up on Tour and first since the 2021 World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession (Viktor Hovland also T-2). Horschel fell to 2-for-4 with the 54-hole lead/co-lead on the circuit.

Second-round leader Viktor Hovland (T-2) at 9-4) earned his third career runner-up on Tour and first since the 2021 World Golf Championships-Workday Championship (Horschel also T-2). Hovland fell to 1-for-3 with the 36-hole lead/co-lead in individual stroke-play PGA Tour events.

First-round leader Rory McIlroy (+1) finished T-13, snapping a streak of five consecutive Top-10s at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

API | Final Leaderboard

Scottie Scheffler 70-73-68-72—283 (-5)

Tyrrell Hatton 69-68-78-69—284 (-4)

Viktor Hovland 69-66-75-74—284 (-4)

Billy Horschel 67-71-71-75—284 (-4)

Gary Woodland 70-72-70-73—285 (-3)

Chris Kirk 69-76-68-72—285 (-3)

Final Leaderboard: (link)

TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook – March 6

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Somewhere over the double rainbow, the snow is melting and the birds are chirping and that damn woodpecker is back in action. The 2022 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference is in the books and the annual College Basketball Conference tournaments are already underway. My fave – the BIG EAST Tournament – will tip-off Wednesday.

The saying is that March comes in like a lion but goes out like a lamb. Whoever coined that phrase did not live in New England. In fact, first mention can be found in a volume of proverbs by English author Thomas Fuller, dated 1732. As the thermometer outside reads 19-22 degrees, many of us think he was Fuller Bologna.

The news from Major League Baseball and its Players’ union is not good, but aside from the wonderful 11:10am Minny at Red Sox start on Patriots’ Day, many a baseball fan would be happy with a May 1st season start for the game they used to call the National Pastime. MLB has already cancelled all Spring Training games and the first two series of the regular season for each club. The revenue from those games is gone. Vanished. The December lockout is now real money for both management and the players’ union.

The question is just how much of the 2022 season will go down the drain to further Baseball’s nosedive towards Boxing and Horse Racing on the list of sports that once dominated in popularity the USA public’s point of view, but fell from the sky – Icarus style. It’s not good.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The PGA Tour instituted a new and interesting program to increase its players’ engagement on Social Media and thus interact with golf fans. It’s known as the Player Impact Program. Not surprisingly and although he didn’t play a single event because of the terrible auto accident he experienced as a solo driver in the ‘burbs of Los Angeles, Tiger Woods took top prize from a pool of cash the Tour put aside. Phil “Lefty” Mickelson placed second. Of course, that was well before he put a few brainless comments in his mouth regarding the rival Saudi Super League of golf.

Said Mickelson on a podcast (Note to self, beware of podcasters with good PR firms), “They’re scary mother——s to get involved with. We know they killed (Washington Post reporter and US resident Jamal) Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay.

“Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates. They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse. As nice a guy as (PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan) comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right.

“And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage.”

The complete list of money-winners from the PGA Tour Player Impact Program:

  1. Tiger Woods $8 million
  2. Phil Mickelson $6 million
  3. Rory McIlroy $3.5 million
  4. Jordan Spieth $3.5 million
  5. Bryson DeChambeau $3.5 million
  6. Justin Thomas $3.5 million
  7. Dustin Johnson $3 million
  8. Brooks Koepka $3 million
  9. Jon Rahm $3 million
  10. Bubba Watson $3 million

NICE PICK-UP: The Boston Celtics added a little extra offensive depth and shooting with a nice free agent pick-up this week. Nik Stauskas played in 26 games (25 starts) with the Grand Rapids Gold of the NBA G League this season, averaging 23.8 points on 47.6% shooting (41.6% 3-PT, 87.9% FT), 5.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 38.0 minutes. He scored a career-high and set the franchise scoring record with 57 points on 20-of-29 shooting (11-15 3-PT) against the Wisconsin Herd on March 1, and tallied 43 points on 16-of-21 shooting (9-13 3-PT) the very next night against the Lakeland Magic, becoming only the second player in G League history to produce 100+ points in a two-game span.

SIDWELL FRIENDS: “We aims to please” in this collection of notes and that includes a “MUST MENTION” of the Sidwell Friends Quakers (@SFSQuakers #GoQuakers). Congratulations is in order to Kiki Rice. The Sidwell Friends basketball guard (Class of ‘220 is the school’s first McDonald’s All American. She is also a finalist for the prestigious Naismith High School Player of the Year award. “No wonder Sidwell Friends is the No. 1 high school team in the country,” said a Sidwell social media post. Ms. Rice is the daughter of a former NBA employee, John Rice, now the founder and CEO of MLT (Management Leaders of Tomorrow). He grew up in Washington, D.C. where his father Emmett J. Rice was a governor of the Federal Reserve System. His mother, Lois Dickson Rice, was considered “the mother of Pell Grants.” John’s older sister is Susan Rice, a famous diplomat and the Director of the United States Domestic Policy Council. John received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BA with honors from Yale, where he was a three-year starter on the basketball team. He resides in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife Andrea and their two children, Mateo and, of course, Kiki, a promising scholar and basketball star. … Sidwell Friends’ varsity girls play for DC’s AA Championship in the finals March 6 at 4pm (ET) while the school’s varsity boys play for their title at 6pm (ET), with both games at George Washington U’s Smith Center.

March Madness Special: Read more of the weekly notes by subscribing HERE.

BIG EAST Individual Award Winners

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NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The BIG EAST Conference named the winners of four individual awards for its 2021-22 men’s basketball season on Monday. Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner has been named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. Justin Lewis of Marquette has been selected BIG EAST Most Improved Player. Jared Bynum of Providence has won the BIG EAST Sixth Man Award. Georgetown’s Donald Carey has been named the winner of the BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award.

The BIG EAST will announce the remaining individual awards: BIG EAST Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete on Wednesday, March 9.

The league’s head coaches select the award winners and they are not permitted to vote for their own players.

Kalkbrenner, a 7-1 sophomore center from St. Louis, Mo., has been the leader of a Creighton squad that has transformed into a strong defensive club. His 80 blocked shots lead the BIG EAST and his blocked shot average of 2.7 ranks second. Kalkbrenner has been the anchor of a Bluejay defense leading the BIG EAST in field goal percentage defense, allowing only 40.0 percent shooting. Creighton ranks second in scoring defense in conference play, yielding only 67.5 points per game.

Marquette’s Lewis took the leap from top reserve in 2020-21 to elite player and scoring champion this season. Last year, the 6-7 forward from Baltimore, Md., averaged 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds as a top reserve. This season, Lewis earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors after averaging 17.1 points and 8.0 rebounds. His scoring average ranked third in the league and he was fourth in rebounding. Lewis is the only player in the league to rank among the top five in both categories. On the final day of the regular season, Lewis became the scoring champion, averaging 18.2 points in BIG EAST games.

Providence’s Bynum has been the dynamic backcourt leader who has helped propel the Friars to their first regular-season BIG EAST title with a 14-3 conference mark. They are 24-4 overall. The 5-10 point guard from Largo, Md., started only three conference contests, but led the Friars in scoring in league play with a 15.6 average. He shot 46.5 percent from 3-point range and ranked third in the BIG EAST in assists with a 4.9 mark, all in league games. Bynum became the first league player in 25 years with three games of 25 or more points off the bench in the same season.

Georgetown’s Carey was the first team captain chosen in the Patrick Ewing era. The 6-5 graduate student is in his second season with the Hoyas and is known for his productive and sportsmanlike play. This year, the native of Upper Marlboro, Md., has averaged 13.6 points in all games and 14.2 points in BIG EAST play. His .909 free throw percentage ranks second in the BIG EAST.

BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year

Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton 

BIG EAST Most Improved Player

Justin Lewis, Marquette

BIG EAST Sixth Man Award

Jared Bynum, Providence

BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award

Donald Carey, Georgetown

Visit BIG EAST for complete coverage of Men’s Basketball in the conference