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Big East: English Dropped at Providence

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Providence College dismissed basketball coach Kim English on Friday after three seasons and a sub-.500 record.

English’s teams were 48-52 (23-37 Big East) during English’s tenure, which ended Thursday night with an 85-72 loss to top-seeded St. John’s in the Big East tournament quarterfinals.

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The Friars finished the 2025-26 season with a 15-18 record (7-13 Big East). They were 21-14 in English’s first season and 12-20 in his second.

“We appreciate Kim and his staff for their efforts over the past three seasons leading our men’s basketball team,” athletic director Steve Napolillo said. “We wish him and his family all the best in the future.”

Providence said it immediately will begin a national search for its next coach.

English, 37, was hired March 23, 2023, to replace Ed Cooley, who departed for Georgetown. English previously was the head coach at George Mason.

At the time, ESPN reported English signed a six-year contract.

–Field Level Media

PGA Tour: Round 1 at The PLAYERS

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges, Sahith Theegala and Sepp Straka formed a tie for the lead in Thursday’s weather-hit opening round of The Players Championship when play was suspended in fading light.

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Surprise package Austin Smotherman, one of four players yet to complete the opening round, has a chance to seize the outright lead when play resumes on Friday as he faces a 15-foot birdie putt on his final hole — the par-5 ninth.

Smotherman was at 5 under after mixing four birdies with a lone bogey on his back nine, but he regretted playing a chip shot from 40 yards out before deciding to mark his ball on the green and return the following morning to complete his round.

“It was just getting so dark,” said Smotherman, a three-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour who was a runner-up at last month’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. “Greens are getting — I mean, the rain softened them enough to where spike marks, footprints, all that stuff’s kind of adding up.

“So a 15-, 16-footer, whatever I have. I mean, it’s not worth it right now (and he will) get fresh greens in the morning, which is the benefit of that. Do I wish I hit the chip in the morning as well? Went back and forth. The fact I was even questioning it, I probably should have maybe backed off.”

McNealy, Hodges, Theegala and Straka fired matching 5-under-par 67s on a day of mixed weather conditions at TPC Sawgrass, where the course was relatively firm in the morning before being softened by early afternoon thunderstorms.

Former world No. 1 amateur McNealy, who teed off in the morning wave, reeled off five birdies in his first 12 holes on his way to an early one-shot lead. He was then caught late in the day by fellow American Hodges, who birdied two of his last three holes, and Austrian Straka, who eagled the par-5 16th with a chip-in from 50 feet.

“It was a very straightforward chip,” said Straka, who has won four times on the PGA Tour with his most recent victory coming at last year’s Truist Championship. “It was just off the green, upslope in the first cut. It was about as easy as they come, and I was able to take advantage of it.”

American Theegala made it a four-way tie at the top after covering his back nine in 3 under, highlighted by a hole-out eagle at the par-4 12th where he hit a stunning 99-yard approach from the right fairway, his ball bouncing sharply to the left off the fringe before disappearing into the cup.

“I hit it a little skinny and just came out a little right,” said Theegala, whose only PGA Tour victory came at the 2023 Fortinet Championship. “Got a nice bounce … it was probably going to spin left off that slope, was probably going to go like 20, 25 feet down that slope, just straight left of the hole. So for it to crash into the pin and go in is pretty cool. It’s a nice bonus.”

World No. 6 Russell Henley and fellow American Justin Thomas, who won this event in 2021 and is making his second PGA Tour start of the year after undergoing back surgery in November, were among a group of four players who opened with 68s on a tightly bunched leaderboard.

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, bidding for a rare third victory at The Players Championship, produced a mixed bag as he opened with an even-par 72. He birdied his final hole, the par-5 ninth, following consecutive bogeys.

“I did some good things, changing weather out there, but overall I felt like I gave away some shots,” said Scheffler, who clinched his 20th career victory on the PGA Tour at The American Express in January. “Hoping to clean it up a little bit the next few days.

“It can get very challenging when you get some high winds like we had this morning. It can get even more challenging when you’re playing from the rough, which I felt like I was doing a bit too much of today … I struck it better on the back nine. Just made a few mental errors and just need to be a little bit sharper the next few days.”

World No. 2 and defending champion Rory McIlroy, looking to shrug off a back injury that led to his withdrawal from last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, experienced a frustrating day as he battled to a 74. Often wayward off the tee, he mixed three bogeys with a lone birdie to finish seven strokes off the pace.

“I would say the most discomfort was like when the ball was below my feet or with chipping,” McIlroy replied when asked if his back had posed any problems. “Just like getting down a little bit to it. Honestly, overall it was fine. Got a little bit tired at the end of the day, but yeah, it was actually all pretty good.”

The elite Players Championship field is one of the strongest in the game with the top 10 golfers in the world rankings — and 47 of the top 50 — assembled at TPC Sawgrass for the tournament’s 52nd edition.

However, World No. 4 Collin Morikawa withdrew from the tournament due to a back injury after playing just one hole on Thursday. After teeing off on the 10th hole and making a par, he experienced some discomfort while taking a practice swing on the 11th tee box.

– Field Level Media

Note: Ryan Fox (illness) withdrew prior to the start of the first round and was replaced by David Ford (T82/+3)

#11 Georgetown Upsets Villanova

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NEW YORK – Julius Halaifonua collected 21 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double as 11th-seeded Georgetown pulled away late in the second half for a decisive 78-64 victory over third-seeded Villanova on Thursday in the Big East tournament quarterfinals.

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The Hoyas (16-17) advanced to the semifinals for the first time since their surprise run to the 2021 title as an No. 8 seed. Georgetown will face second-seeded and sixth-ranked UConn, which rolled to a 93-68 rout of Xavier earlier Thursday.

Halaifonua made all nine of his attempts inside the 3-point arc and finished 9-for-12 overall. His best rebounding performance helped the Hoyas command the glass by a 46-25 margin.

Jeremiah Williams added 14 points and Kayvaun Mulready also scored 14, including eight straight Hoyas points when they surged to a double-digit lead late in the second half. Malik Mack scored 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting but hit a tying 3-pointer with 76 seconds left in the first half.

Caleb Williams contributed 11 as the Hoyas shot 50.8% overall and made 8 of 20 3-point attempts.

Villanova (24-8) failed in a bid to reach the semifinals for the first time since winning the title in 2022 during coach Jay Wright’s final season.

Duke Brennan led the Wildcats with 14 points and six rebounds. Tyler Perkins added 13 points and Bryce Lindsay chipped in 11, but star freshman Acaden Lewis and sixth man Devin Askew combined for 12 points on 5-of-21 shooting.

The Wildcats hit 37.7% from the floor and made only 7 of 29 3-point tries (24.1%).

The Hoyas overcame a nine-point deficit in the first half and scored the final seven points of the half for a 35-31 lead. Mulready’s four-point play with 52 seconds remaining capped a 14-2 run.

After Perkins hit a free throw to cut the gap to 47-46 with 13:33 remaining, Georgetown gradually surged ahead.

The Hoyas took a 51-46 lead when Halaifonua found a cutting Jayden Fort for a baseline dunk with 12 1/2 minutes left. Halaifonua finished off a three-point play for a 61-51 edge with 8:20 left, and the Hoyas opened a 67-53 advantage with 5:36 left when Mulready buried corner treys on consecutive trips.

-By Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

Big East: Rematch of Friars vs. Johnnies

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Providence has at least one more game under Kim English. And that game could not feature a juicier opponent.

The ninth-seeded Friars rode a historic game from freshman Stefan Vaaks to a Big East tournament win over eighth-seeded Butler on Wednesday, setting up a second-round showdown with top-seeded St. John’s on Thursday afternoon in New York.

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Rick Pitino and 13th-ranked St. John’s (25-6) went 18-2 in the league to take a second straight regular-season title. However, the Red Storm’s first league loss came Jan. 3 at Madison Square Garden against Providence, which rallied from a 13-point hole to prevail 77-71 on Feb. 14.

The return game in Rhode Island got ugly. Duncan Powell fouled ex-Providence forward Bryce Hopkins hard when he went up for a layup, causing a fight and six ejections before St. John’s won 79-69. Powell served a three-game suspension.

“I think (the fight) was all, truthfully, blown out of proportion, to tell you the truth,” English said Wednesday. “Again, it was a hard foul, a couple guys got in each other’s face, there was some pushes. I mean, I think it got completely blown out of proportion.”

He repeatedly declared “there’s no beef” between Providence and St. John’s.

“We have a game in the greatest arena in the world,” English said, “and it’s one of the best coaches in the history of college basketball against the Big East Player of the Year (Zuby Ejiofor). It’s a team, a program we have a lot of respect for. That’s all it is. There’s no beef between us and St. John’s.”

That doesn’t even touch on Pitino putting his thumb on the scale of the Friars’ coaching search from afar.

It was reported last week that Providence will part ways with English after this season, and a rogue report last month indicated that Pitino’s son, Richard Pitino, would consider leaving his post at Xavier for the Providence job. The younger Pitino has since denied interest, and Rick Pitino — who coached the Friars from 1985-87 — also stated his son wouldn’t be leaving Xavier.

Providence looked like a lost cause Wednesday when it fell behind 15-2 to start the game, but Vaaks sparked the comeback and finished with career highs of 28 points and eight 3-pointers. He tied the Big East tournament record for threes in a game, while Ryan Mela added 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists and Jaylin Sellers went for 23, seven and four.

Vaaks scored 16 and 20 in the two games against St. John’s, and Sellers had 15 and 13 before he was ejected from the latter matchup.

“No extra motivation,” Sellers said. “They’re on the list, so we got to take care of business to keep our season alive. Me personally, I learned from the situation, and now it’s just time to be a leader and make sure that my guys are ready to play the next 40 (minutes).”

The focus will have to be on stopping Ejiofor, named the conference’s Player of the Year on Wednesday. He posted 33 points and 15 rebounds in the first meeting with Providence but just 14 and four in the rematch. Ejiofor is averaging 16.0 points (54.6 FG%), 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 blocks this season.

Hopkins has added 13.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest in his first season at St. John’s after three injury-ravaged years at Providence. He said at a team autograph signing earlier this week that he had a gut feeling the Red Storm would draw a third matchup with the Friars.

“I don’t know what made me feel like that, but it was just a feeling I had that we were going to match up with them again … so I mean, it is what it is,” Hopkins said.

All this comes amid the backdrop of Madison Square Garden, the Red Storm’s home away from campus that has attracted plenty of Providence supporters as well.

“I got my team together this morning talking about the Big East tournament, how spectacular it is,” Pitino told Hoops HQ on Tuesday. “I said, ‘Guys you’re not going to fully appreciate this until you leave New York, but you guys just played 11 or 12 games as your home court in the World’s Greatest Arena.’”

–Field Level Media

BIG EAST Preview: Can Hall Play-In?

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Seton Hall can see the big picture.

The Pirates are not on the NCAA Tournament bubble, not with a NET of 55 and just one Quad 1 victory. To go dancing, they will need to run the table at the Big East tournament as the fourth seed, starting with Thursday’s quarterfinal game in New York against fifth-seeded Creighton.

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Seton Hall (20-11) rode a bumpy finish after racing out to a 14-2 start to the season. It was still impressive for a team picked last in the coaches’ preseason poll, and the Pirates’ Shaheen Holloway was named Big East Coach of the Year on Wednesday.

Two close losses to Big East champion St. John’s and two more to second-place UConn weren’t enough to put some shine on the Pirates’ resume. Seton Hall lost 72-65 at home to St. John’s in the regular-season finale Friday.

“I thought with this team, it’s shown that we can play with anyone, right? We just gotta finish games out or do the little things,” Holloway said. “But yeah, this team is funny because this team don’t like doing things easy. They like doing things the hard way, so now they gotta go to New York and earn it, and take it.”

Seton Hall and Creighton (15-16) played a pair of thrillers in the regular season.

On Jan. 4, Seton Hall stormed back from a 16-point deficit and won 56-54 at home on Najai Hines’ last-second putback. The Bluejays got their revenge Feb. 7 in Omaha, when the Pirates blew a 63-53 lead in the final four minutes and Nik Graves hit a 30-footer with 3 seconds left for a 69-68 win.

“They try to disrupt you with their physicality and their full-court pressure,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said of Seton Hall, “and we handled all that really well at their place but weren’t able to get the win. We turned it over and gave up some offensive rebounds (at home) and found a way to win that game.

“Both games were really decided in close fashion, so I would expect something very similar.”

Creighton hasn’t played since March 4, a 76-59 win at Butler. The Bluejays, barring a championship run in New York, are destined to miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. There’s also gossip that McDermott could retire at the end of the season.

Creighton was led this year by Josh Dix (12.7 points per game) and Austin Swartz (10.9 ppg, four 20-point games in conference). Adam “Budd” Clark paced Seton Hall with 12.4 points, 4.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

–Field Level Media

Big East: UConn with a Lot to Prove

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After dominating the 2024 NCAA Tournament en route to its sixth national title and second straight, UConn took a slight step back last season.

This season, the Huskies were back to their normal lofty status, staying in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll through the entire regular season and enter the Big East tournament as the sixth-ranked team in the nation.

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Still, UConn showed some inconsistencies, and it cost them a chance at getting the top seed in the Big East tournament. The second-seeded Huskies will face Xavier, the 10th seed, on Thursday night in one quarterfinal.

The winner will oppose the winner of the game between Villanova, the third seed, and 11th-seeded Georgetown in the second semifinal on Friday night.

The Huskies (27-4) finished one game behind top seed St. John’s, and turnovers cost them in two of their three conference losses. UConn is making its return to Madison Square Garden after committing 15 turnovers in an 81-72 loss to the Red Storm on Feb. 6.

The loss to St. John’s was among eight instances where the Huskies tallied at least 15 turnovers. The Huskies went 6-2 in those games, but the second loss was Saturday’s 68-62 setback at Marquette.

UConn’s offense could not overcome 16 turnovers, as it shot 35.6% and a season-worst 12.5% (3-of-24) from 3-point range. Both were their lowest number of the season.

“They’ve been a nightmare for this team,” UConn coach Dan Hurley told reporters after practice Tuesday. “It will potentially be this team’s undoing.”

“It’s tough when you get like four turnovers from one guy, three from another, two from this guy, two from him, sprinkle in some ones and now you’ve got 14, 15, 16 turnovers. And we can’t overcome that,” Hurley said. “The players have got to be more disciplined, they can’t just take the ball and turn it over… We should be past that.”

Silas Demary Jr. committed four turnovers at Marquette while leading the team with 17 points and Tarris Reed Jr. added 16 points.

While UConn is hoping to improve its ball handling, the Huskies are hoping to see better showings from Alex Karaban, Solo Ball and Braylon Mullins after the trio shot a combined 6-of-31 from the floor and misfired on 19 of 22 tries from 3-point range.

Ball’s 13.9 points led the Huskies, but the guard shot 34.1% (15-of-44) over his past five games since scoring 20 against Georgetown on Feb. 14. He shot 40.5% on the regular season.

Karaban’s two-point showing at Marquette followed a 23-point outing in a win against Seton Hall, and Mullins was 7-of-27 shooting from behind the arc in his final four games after hitting six 3s and scoring 25 in a 91-84 loss to Creighton on Feb. 18.

UConn won the two meetings with Xavier by a combined 55 points. The Huskies shot 53.2% and hit 13 3-pointers in a 90-67 win at Xavier on Dec. 31 and 56.7% in a 92-60 rout at home on Feb. 3.

The Musketeers (15-17) will get a third chance at the Huskies after opening the tournament on Wednesday with an 89-87 win over Marquette.

Xavier is 3-6 since the February meeting with the Huskies with three of the losses coming by five points or fewer. Against Marquette, the Musketeers shot 63.3% in the second half and 51.6% overall.

On Wednesday, Jovan Milicevic scored 21 points including the tie-breaking basket with 1:14 left. Tre Carroll added 14 of his 18 in the second half.

“I think we’ve gotten better, I really do,” Xavier coach Richard Pitino said of his team, adding about UConn: “We understand they run a very unique offense. They shoot the basketball extremely well. They’re very, very physical.

  • By Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

Big East: Back to the Future

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Villanova’s return to prominence after three seasons of mediocrity following coach Jay Wright’s retirement will be official when its name gets selected for the NCAA Tournament.

Until the selection show on Sunday, Villanova (24-7) will attempt to improve its seeding for the NCAAs on Thursday night when the third-seeded Wildcats face 11th-seeded Georgetown (15-17) in a quarterfinal game of the Big East tournament.

After Wright retired following a Final Four appearance in 2022, assistant Kyle Neptune was promoted to the top job, and the Wildcats went a pedestrian 54-47. Following a 21-15 finish that included a 17-point loss to UConn in the quarterfinal in last year’s conference tournament, Villanova hired Kevin Willard from Maryland.

In his return to the Big East, former Seton Hall coach Willard and Villanova enter the Big East tournament with a NET rating of 33 through Wednesday. The Wildcats won 12 of their first 14 games and won six straight from Jan. 30 to Feb. 17 before winning three of their final four games and ending the regular season with double-digit wins over DePaul and Xavier.

Villanova is among the more physical teams in the league, with Duke Brennan totaling 20 points and 13 rebounds in the regular-season finale. Brennan had 14 double-doubles after transferring from Grand Canyon and grabbed a combined 23 rebounds in wins over Georgetown on Jan. 21 and Feb. 7.

“I mean, it’s a fun time of the year,” said Brennan, who made the NCAA Tournament in his previous four seasons with Arizona State and Grand Canyon. “March Madness is the best tournament ever put on. It feels good to be back, so I’m really proud of myself. But it’ll be great for those guys, especially our freshmen, younger-class guys that haven’t made it.”

Among those freshmen is guard Acaden Lewis, who averages 12.5 points a game this season and totaled 41 points on 18-of-28 shooting from the field against the Hoyas.

The Hoyas shot 34% in a 15-point loss at Villanova on Jan. 21 and 40% in an 80-73 home loss to the Wildcats on Feb. 7. The second meeting is among 15 games decided by seven points or less for the Hoyas, who improved to 4-11 in those games by earning a 63-56 victory Wednesday over sixth-seeded DePaul in the opening round of the Big East tournament.

“We didn’t have our best showing at Villanova, and we are aware of that,” Georgetown guard Jeremiah Williams said. “They played a great game when they played us, and then they got the sweep. So we’re excited to get another opportunity out of them, and we’re confident in ourselves and our approach.”

Williams scored 17 points against DePaul, but reserve forward Vincent Iwuchukwu willed the Hoyas to the win by recording 17 points and 14 rebounds. He scored 14 in the second half, including nine in the final three-plus minutes after Georgetown let a 10-point lead slip to two.

– By Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

Big East: Georgetown Extends Season

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) –  Georgetown reserve Vince Iwuchukwu collected 17 points and 14 rebounds as 11th-seeded Hoyas earned a 63-56 victory over sixth-seeded DePaul Wednesday night in the opening round of the Big East tournament.

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The Hoyas (15-17) won their second straight following a seven-game losing streak and will face No. 3 seed Villanova in the quarterfinals Thursday night.

Jeremiah Williams also scored 17 for Hoyas before fouling out late in the contest, when Iwuchukwu helped Georgetown pull away in the final minutes.

A reserve on St. John’s Big East title team last season, Iwuchukwu scored 14 points in the second half. The forward scored nine in the final three-plus minutes after DePaul cut the lead to 44-42 on a pair of 3s by Kruz McClure, the second with 6:35 left.

Iwuchukwu hit a 3 for a 51-45 lead with 3:54 left, added a putback dunk for an eight-point lead 52 seconds later and hit two free throws for a 57-49 lead with 68 seconds left — before hitting another pair at the line in the final seconds.

Iwuchukwu shot 4 of 9 and hit 7 of 8 free throws in 23 minutes for his fifth double-double. He also helped the Hoyas attain a 42-30 rebounding edge.

Malik Mack contributed 16 points as the Hoyas shot 52% in the second half and 39.3% overall.

Layden Blocker led DePaul (16-16) with 16 points off the bench but on 5-of-14 shooting. NJ Benson added 12 but CJ Gunn was held to seven on 3-of-13 shooting.

DePaul shot 34.5% and was 9-of-21 from 3-point range. The Blue Demons also struggled at the rim by missing 12 of 16 layups.

The Blue Demons were held under 60 points for the sixth time this season and unable to produce much drama like in 2024 when they took a one-point loss to Villanova or when they took Creighton to double overtime in last season’s tournament.

DePaul missed 9 of 10 shots until Blocker’s 3 snapped a 19-19 tie with 2:07 left in the first half and the Blue Demons held a 24-21 lead by halftime. The Blue Demons then missed eight straight shots early in the second half, and Georgetown took a 35-28 lead on a putback by Iwuchukwu with 13:24 left.

The Hoyas took their first double-digit lead when Caleb Williams sank a layup for a 42-32 edge with 9:01 left. After the teams traded baskets, DePaul scored eight straight points before Georgetown regained control and finished it off.

  • By Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

Xavier Works Magic in Final Minutes

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Xavier’s Jovan Milicevic scored 21 points and hit the tiebreaking layup with 1:14 remaining as 10th-seeded Musketeers outlasted seventh-seeded Marquette for an 89-87 victory in the opening round of the Big East tournament on Wednesday.

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Milicevic made 7 of 11 shots and 4 of 7 3-pointers as he finished two points shy of his career high set last month in a 96-88 win over Marquette. His biggest shot was a clear path to the rim that resulted in a layup to snap an 80-all tie; the clutch drive occurred after the Musketeers (15-17) lost a 10-point lead.

Xavier advanced to a quarterfinal matchup with second-seeded UConn on Thursday night.

After the tiebreaking shot, Tre Carroll did a spin move around Marquette’s Ben Gold for a jumper with 23 seconds left and Filip Boravicanin sank two free throws for an 86-81 lead with 14 seconds left.

The Golden Eagles (12-20) got within two twice in the final 12 seconds on baskets by Nigel James Jr. Marquette had a chance to tie with 1.6 seconds left after Malik Messina-Moore missed the back end of two free throws.

Carroll immediately fouled Royce Parham, who made the first free throw and purposely missed the second. Marquette nearly grabbed the rebound but James’ attempt to keep the ball inbounds occurred after the horn sounded.

Carroll added 14 of his 18 points in the second half after sitting out Xavier’s regular-season finale against Villanova with a right hip injury. Messina-Moore also finished with 18 as Xavier shot 63.3% in the second half and 51.6% overall.

Parham led Marquette with 22 points and nine rebounds. James, named Big East Freshman of the Year earlier in the day, added 18 but struggled to find a rhythm and shot 6-of-17. Chase Ross contributed 16 for the Golden Eagles, who shot 42.5% and made 11 of their season-high-tying 40 3-point attempts.

Xavier opened a 23-14 lead on a 3 by Milicevic with 11:03 left and Messina-Moore’s corner 3 put the Musketeers up 29-19 nearly two minutes later. The Golden Eagles countered with a 15-2 spree and Ross’ consecutive layups gave them a 34-31 lead 4:56 left. The teams were tied at 38 by halftime.

Xavier scored 11 straight and took a 56-48 lead on Carroll’s short jumper with 12:28 left. The Musketeers went up 10 on Carroll’s drive with 11:40 left and held a 68-59 lead when Milicevic hit a corner 3 with 8:07 left.

Marquette answered by outscoring Xavier 11-4 over the next two minutes to cut it to 72-70. After Xavier held a 78-72 lead on a basket by Carroll with 4:33 left, James forged an 80-80 tie by hitting two free throws with 1:56 left.

– by Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

 

Big East: Providence Moves On

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Providence guard Stefan Vaaks scored a career-best 28 points and hit a career-high eight 3-pointers as ninth-seed Friars overcame a 16-point deficit in the first half for a 91-81 victory over eighth-seeded Butler Wednesday in the opening round of the Big East tournament.

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Vaaks kept the Friars afloat before their rally and finished 8-of-13 from behind the arc. He joined Marquette’s Matt Carlino (2015) and Boston College’s Dana Barros (1989) as the only players to sink eight 3s in a Big East tournament game.

Vaaks hit his sixth 3 for a 71-61 lead with 8:27 left, then made his seventh for an 82-75 lead at the 2:50 mark about a minute after Butler’s Jamie Kaiser Jr. hit a triple to make it a two-point game.

The freshman made it eight when he drained a triple from the top of the key to make it 87-78 with 96 seconds left to essentially secure the win.

Ryan Mela added a career-high 23 on 10-of-14 shooting and Jaylin Sellers contributed 19 of his 23 in the second half after shooting 2-of-10 in the opening 20 minutes. Mela added nine rebounds and five assists, both team highs.

The Friars (15-17) will face top-seeded St. John’s in the quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon.

Michael Ajyai led Butler (16-16) with 21 points and 11 rebounds but played the final 10-plus minutes with four fouls. Finley Bizjack struggled most of the game, scoring 17 on 5-of-15 shooting.

Providence shot 52.3% after missing eight of its first nine shots. The Friars made 14 of 27 from 3 and outscored Butler 80-54 in the final 29-plus minutes.

It was the second time this season Providence erased a double-digit deficit at Madison Square Garden. On Jan. 3, the Friars charged back from a 13-point deficit in the second half and recorded a 77-71 victory over St. John’s.

Butler ripped off 15 straight for a 15-2 lead on a jumper in the lane by Ajayi with 15:19 left. Butler took a 25-9 lead when Bizjack sank a 3 with 10:55 left to cap an 8-0 run.

Providence countered Butler’s fast start with a 13-2 spurt and Vaaks sank 3s on consecutive possessions to cut the deficit to 31-27 with 5:13 remaining. Mela’s three-point play forged a 38-38 tie with 99 seconds left, and Butler settled for a 42-40 lead by halftime.

Vaaks hit a 3 for 54-52 lead with 14:26 left, and Sellers hit a 3 40 seconds later to force Butler to use a timeout. Sellers capped Providence’s 12-0 run with a layup for a 61-52 lead with 12:25 left. He connected on a 3 for a 68-58 lead nearly a minute later.

– By Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media