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Archives for March 12, 2025

BIG EAST: DePaul Faces Tough Georgetown Challenge

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NEW YORK – Georgetown showed major improvement in coach Ed Cooley’s second season as Micah Peavy earned a spot on the All-Big East first team and injured center Thomas Sorber made the third team and the conference’s all-rookie team.

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Still there were moments of inconsistency for the seventh-seeded Hoyas (17-14), who oppose 10th-seeded DePaul in the first round of the Big East tournament Wednesday night with the winner advancing to face second-seeded Creighton on Thursday.

The Hoyas are 2-4 since Sorber’s last game and ended the season with an 83-77 loss at DePaul on Sunday that infuriated Cooley. While Peavy scored 29 points, the Hoyas allowed 56.6 percent shooting.

“We know in order to win games, everyone has to step up,” Peavy said. “We haven’t had a full squad for most of the year, but we’ve still been in close games, and we’ve learned how to execute when it counts.”

DePaul (13-18) nearly beat Villanova in the opening round last season before taking a one-point loss to end a 3-29 season. The Blue Demons improved by 10 victories in coach Chris Holtmann’s debut season and are coming off consecutive wins over Providence and Georgetown.

DePaul scored at least 80 points and shot at least 50 percent in the wins over the Friars and Hoyas. It was the first time the Blue Demons shot at least 50 percent in consecutive conference games since Jan. 2-6, 2019, and the first time it scored at least 80 in consecutive conference games since Feb. 27-March 2, 2022.

“I think that you want to be playing well late,” Holtmann said. “One of our goals this year, I said, ‘I’d like for us to be able to say we’re playing well late.’ And that’s clearly demonstrated here. So I think we hit that goal, now we need to play well in New York.”

DePaul is led by CJ Gunn (12.8 points) and Isaiah Rivera (10.7), who combined for 38 points on 13-of-26 shooting on Saturday. Rivera scored a season-high 21 against the Hoyas for his fifth straight double-figure outing.

–Field Level Media

BIG EAST: Can Dixon Lead ‘Nova to Victory

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NEW YORK – Villanova’s Eric Dixon is the nation’s top scorer and the Big East’s top 3-point shooter.

Despite Dixon’s individual success, the sixth-seeded Wildcats are barely on the NCAA Tournament bubble heading into Wednesday night’s Big East tournament opener against 11th-seeded Seton Hall.

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If they can beat Seton Hall, a matchup with UConn awaits the Wildcats (18-13), who enter their third conference tournament under coach Kyle Neptune. Villanova enters Wednesday with an NET rating of 53, one behind 19-12 Indiana and three behind 17-14 Cincinnati.

Villanova has wins over St. John’s, Marquette and UConn along with two losses by a combined nine points against Creighton. The Wildcats were trending in the right direction with three straight wins before blowing a nine-point lead in the final 3:43 of a 75-73 loss at Georgetown in the March 4 regular-season finale.

Dixon scored 24 points against the Hoyas and Jordan Longino added 17 but the Wildcats allowed the winning layup with five seconds left.

“We’re looking ahead, looking at whoever our next matchup is,” Longino said. “Hopefully, we’re going to crumble this one up and throw it away after we watch film and regroup.”

Seton Hall (7-24) took a five-point home loss to Villanova two weeks ago and ended the regular season of the second 20-loss season in school history on a six-game losing streak. Of the Pirates’ 18 conference losses, 11 were by double digits and they were held to 60 points or fewer 16 times.

“Obviously, they got a mismatch with Dixon,” coach Shaheen Holloway said of the fifth-year Villanova senior who scored 57 points against the Pirates in two games. “He causes problems for everybody. There’s a reason why he’s the No. 1 scorer in Division I.”

The Pirates ended their trying regular season with an 81-50 loss at UConn on Saturday when they shot 35.3 percent. It was the 17th time they shot under 40 percent this season.

Seton Hall is led by Isaiah Coleman’s 15.3 points. No. 2 scorer Chaunce Jenkins missed the final 13 games after sustaining a knee injury Jan. 18 against St. John’s. Coleman scored 10 points Saturday and scored at least 20 in 10 games, including 22 in the first meeting with Villanova on Dec. 17.

Dixon averages 23.6 points per game.

–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

OKC Thunder Into Boston

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BOSTON – Two of the favorites to win this year’s NBA championship will meet Wednesday night when the Boston Celtics close out a seven-game homestand against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Boston will enter the game as the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference behind Cleveland. The Celtics have won five in a row and are 5-1 on their current homestand with the lone loss coming against the Cavaliers on Feb. 28.

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Oklahoma City, which is at the top of the Western Conference standings, is coming off Monday’s 140-127 home loss to Denver, which ended the team’s seven-game winning streak. The host Thunder beat the Nuggets 127-103 one night earlier.

“We play so many games, so many good teams in the league — a win is never as good as it seems,” Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “A (loss) is never as bad as it seems. That’s what I always tell myself. (Sunday) night, I went to bed and was like, ‘Tomorrow’s gonna be a new day, you have to play them again. If you lose, you’re gonna have a terrible feeling.’

“It’s life. It’s basketball. Just gotta stay level-headed and learn from your mistakes and try to be better tomorrow.”

Oklahoma City forward Jalen Williams didn’t play in the second half of Monday’s loss with what the team described as a right hip strain. Williams was injured when Denver’s Peyton Watson landed on him after Watson committed a foul with 6:07 remaining in the second quarter.

Following Monday’s game, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Williams would be evaluated further on Tuesday. Williams is averaging 21.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game this season.

The Celtics avoided what would have been an embarrassing loss by holding on to defeat the Jazz 114-108 on Monday. Boston nearly squandered a 24-point lead against visiting Utah, which is last in the Western Conference standings.

“I think a game like tonight, I think you would call it a trap game,” Boston’s Derrick White said following Monday’s victory. “We just had a big game against the Lakers (on Saturday), and obviously OKC’s coming in in two days. So games like this, it’s going to be up, it’s going to be down. You’ve just got to find a way to win them.”

The game also will feature two of the league’s marquee players in Gilgeous-Alexander and Boston’s Jayson Tatum. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging a league-best 32.7 points per game and is a strong candidate to win the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award. Tatum, who didn’t play in Boston’s victory over Utah on Monday because of a right knee issue, is averaging 27.2 points per game, which is tied for fourth.

Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points and 11 rebounds when Oklahoma City earned a 105-92 home victory against Boston on Jan. 5. Tatum finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds.

The Thunder held the Celtics to 27 points in the second half of that game. Boston was just 9 of 46 (19.6 percent) on 3-point attempts.

It remains unclear when Kristaps Porzingis will be available for Boston. Porzingis has missed the last six games with a viral illness.

“He’s doing what he can to get back,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “But he kind of said it best … at the same time, we’ve just got to kind of make sure he’s good, and we do what’s best for him.”

–Field Level Media

Johnnies’ Luis Jr. Named Big East MVP

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NEW YORK – St. John’s forward RJ Luis, Jr. was named 2024-25 BIG EAST Player of the Year. St. John’s coach Rick Pitino was chosen BIG EAST Coach of the Year and Connecticut forward Liam McNeeley was tabbed as BIG EAST Freshman of the Year.

The conference’s head coaches make the selections and are not permitted to vote for their own players. The awards were presented at Madison Square Garden prior to the start of the 2025 BIG EAST Tournament Presented by JEEP. It is the 43rd consecutive year the BIG EAST is playing its postseason tournament at the World’s Most Famous Arena.

Luis, a junior wing from Miami, was a critical piece in helping St. John’s win the outright BIG EAST regular season title and earn the top seed in this week’s BIG EAST Tournament. He averaged a team-leading 18.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals. His scoring average ranked fourth in the BIG EAST and his rebounding mark was sixth.  He finished the regular season with a flourish, averaging 24.3 points over the last three games. He is the first BIG EAST Player of the Year from St. John’s since Walter Berry captured the award in 1985-86.

Pitino, the leader of St. John’s revival, is in his second season in Jamaica Estates. He became the first coach in college basketball history to lead five different schools to regular season conference crowns. This year’s St. John’s team is 27-4 overall, 18-2 in BIG EAST play and ranked sixth in this week’s Associated Press poll. Pitino is the active winningest coach in college basketball with 881 victories. This year’s St. John’s squad tied a school record with 27 regular season victories and compiled an 18-2 BIG EAST mark, which tied the league record for a regular season win total.

McNeeley is the second straight Husky to earn Freshman of the Year honors. Stephon Castle was last season’s winner. McNeeley, a forward from Richardson, Texas, was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week seven times despite missing eight games early in the league campaign due to injury. He finished second on the team in scoring with a 14.7 average and pulled down a team-leading 6.2 rebounds. McNeeley’s single-game high of 38 points in a win at Creighton on Feb. 11 was the highest point total by a UConn rookie in a BIG EAST game.

BIG EAST Player of the Year

RJ Luis, Jr., St. John’s

BIG EAST Coach of the Year

Rick Pitino, St. John’s

 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year

Liam McNeeley, Connecticut