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Big East Tournament

Kalkbrenner Leads Creighton

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NEW YORK  – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner saw his name mentioned in conjunction with another Big East player who enjoyed a storied NBA career at Madison Square Garden.

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Kalkbrenner joined Patrick Ewing as the only second player to be named as a four-time winner of the Big East’s Defensive Player of the Year award. The senior standout shot-blocker will look to record another big performance on Thursday night as second-seeded Creighton (22-9) squares off against 10th-seeded DePaul (14-18) in a Big East tournament quarterfinal matchup.

Kalkbrenner won his latest award earlier this week after leading the conference with 80 blocked shots. Along with Khyri Thomas, the Bluejays have earned at least a share of the award in six of the past nine seasons.

“That’s crazy because I wouldn’t think of myself in the same conversation as (former Georgetown and New York Knicks star) Patrick Ewing, at least not yet,” Kalkbrenner said. “So it’s definitely a huge honor to get that award and tie Ewing in that way. Still a lot of work to do for us.”

Kalkbrenner also led the Big East by shooting 66.3 percent from the field and was second behind Villanova’s Eric Dixon in scoring at an average of 19.4 points a game.

Kalkbrenner scored 12 points against St. John’s on Feb. 16 when he tweaked his ankle in a collision under the rim but ended the regular-season by averaging 22.8 points in his final five games, including a 27-point showing in Saturday’s 87-74 regular-season win over Butler.

The Bluejays are attempting to reach the title game for the fifth time since joining the Big East and the third time with Kalkbrenner after doing so in 2021 and 2022.

“That would be awesome,” he said. “In my time we’ve never won the Big East regular season or tournament, and that’s something I would love to do.”

While Creighton relies on Kalkbrenner’s interior play, it also is potent from outside. Steven Ashworth shot 38 percent from 3-point range in the regular season, fourth in the Big East behind Dixon, UConn’s Solo Ball and Xavier’s Ryan Conwell.

Ashworth hit 7 of 15 shots from beyond the arc against Butler. He made 24 of 59 attempts from 3-point range over his final six games since missing all five attempts against UConn on Feb. 11.

DePaul has improved by 11 games under first-year coach Chris Holtmann, who saw his team advance in the Big East tournament with a 71-67 victory over seventh-seeded Georgetown on Wednesday.

The Blue Demons are on a three-game winning streak and have shot at least 50 percent in each game. The past three games are occurring after a 2-14 skid that included a 73-49 home loss to Creighton on Jan. 21 and a 75-65 setback on Feb. 26, when Kalkbrenner totaled 25 points and 13 rebounds.

“It’s going to be a tough matchup with Kalkbrenner,” Holtmann said. “Bottom line, it’s not just Kalkbrenner. They have a terrific team. For us, we’re grateful for an opportunity to come out and compete, and we can’t wait to get out there and play again and wear the DePaul uniform. We’re super excited about it.”

NJ Benson did not play in the previous meeting with Creighton and guided DePaul to its second opening-round victory in three seasons.

Benson, who averaged 8.5 points during the regular season, returned after missing a month with a hand injury and scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half, including 11 straight for DePaul in the second half to turn a tie game into a seven-point lead.

– Field Level Media

“Anybody But UConn”

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NEW YORK – While UConn experienced some uneven moments during the regular season, the two-time defending national champion seemed to figure things out in the final two weeks of the regular season and could be starting to peak again.

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The Huskies start defense of their Big East tournament title with a quarterfinal matchup against sixth-seeded Villanova on Thursday night. Third-seeded UConn is riding a four-game winning streak, and star Alex Karaban seemingly has emerged from a lengthy shooting slump.

UConn (22-9) is entering the tournament on a winning streak for the third straight season. The Huskies won their final five regular-season games two years ago and their final four games a year ago en route to their first conference tournament title since Kemba Walker led a magical run of five wins in five days in 2011.

Villanova has won five Big East tournaments since then.

UConn is unbeaten since a 14-point loss to St. John’s on Feb. 23, winning three games by double digits along with a six-point home win over Marquette. Before the season-ending streak, the Huskies split their previous 12 games, a stretch that included two losses to St John’s, a two-point loss at Villanova and a late collapse in an overtime loss at Seton Hall.

“It’s probably the best we’ve felt all year,” coach Danny Hurley said after an 81-50 rout of Seton Hall on Saturday. “And it’s March, and UConn’s got a great history in March. That’s part of our confidence.”

Karaban ended the season by hitting 12-of-26 3s in his final five games and shooting 22-of-45 in his final four games. Before the past two weeks, he was 6-for-47 from behind the arc in a nine-game span from Jan. 18-Feb. 18.

Karaban is among three players to make the Big East All-Conference teams. Alex Karaban and Solo Ball were picked for the second team while Liam McNeeley was picked for the third team as well as the all-freshman team.

Ball averaged 16.1 points in conference games and finished with 17 against Seton Hall in 81-50 rout on Saturday.

Villanova (19-13) entered the tournament with a NET rating of 53 and advanced by never trailing in its 67-55 victory over Seton Hall in the opening round Wednesday.

Eric Dixon, the nation’s leading scorer at 23.6 points per game, scored all 19 of his points in the second half, including 11 in a decisive run after Villanova let an 18-point halftime lead drop to eight points.

The Wildcats split their two meetings with UConn, though they could have won both.

Dixon scored 18 of 23 points in the second half in a 68-66 home win on Jan. 8 against the then-No. 9 Huskies. The Wildcats earned the win after squandering a 12-point lead and surviving two missed free throws by Karaban with 3.1 seconds left.

When the Wildcats visited the Huskies in Hartford, Conn., on Feb. 18, they wound up with a 66-59 loss. Villanova held a 14-point lead with about 12 minutes to play but was outscored 27-6 the rest of the way.

“We know UConn is a disciplined team,” Villanova guard Jordan Longino said. “We’ve had two close matches with them during the season. So we know we got to come out and defend for 40 minutes and execute our game plan.”

–Field Level Media

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

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | March 9

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While We’re Young (Ideas) | On Site at the MIT Sloan Sports Conference

TGL’s Mike McCarley (2nd left) at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (Photo by T. Peter Lyons/Digital Sports Desk)

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – The sports world descended upon the Hynes Convention Center in downtown Boston this weekend to probe, ponder and pontificate on nearly every aspect of the major sports – and some others. The annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (#SSAC25), also known as #AnalyticsInMotion, played to a sold out crowd for two full days of seminars, presentations and start-up fund-raising.

Yours truly, representing a combination of Digital Sports Desk, Pivottv Media and Boston VC Sports, was in attendance for the full conference and enjoyed panels on “Sports in 2045,” featuring New England Patriots team president Jonathan Kraft and former head of ESPN and current President and Chief Operating Officer of Endeavor (NYSE: EDR) and TKO Group Holdings Mark Shapiro, along with “Building Sports Empires with an Entrepreneurial Edge, featuring Michele Kang (Washington Spirits – NWSL) and Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital Partners.

Cardinale was particularly interesting because of his wide-ranging and incredibly successful career, not only in the sports world, but at Goldman Sachs prior to his founding of RedBird.

RedBird’s most recent investments include European football’s AC Milan; Everpass Media (the NFL); Skydance Media (Larry and David Ellison); Artists Equity (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon); All3Media (largest content creator in the UK); Fenway Sports Group (Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC, Pittsburgh Penguins, New England Sports Network); the Yankees Entertainment & Sports (“YES”) Network (New York Yankees and Amazon); The Springhill Company (LeBron James and Maverick Carter); the United Football League (UFL) (Disney/ESPN, Fox and Dwayne Johnson); the Indian Premier League’s Rajasthan Royals; and Formula One’s Alpine Racing team.

Carter appeared on another panel with Draft Kings head Jason Robins on Saturday and spoke of “Re-writing the Playbook” and the fact the RedBird-Springhill venture, headed up by Carter and James with their distinguished brands, including UNINTERRUPTED, The Shop, and The Robot Company, recently merged with Fulwell 73 Productions (London) to form a new global entertainment company, Fulwell Entertainment.

The conference – light in the sport of baseball because of the fact nearly all front office and analytics teams are quite busy at Spring Training camps – delved into “The New Age NFL Office,” the “Next Generation of Sports Venues” and the “Globalization of Sports,” a panel that featured NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum.

Tatum spoke of the NBA’s plans to return to China and play a pair of games in Macau this October, the first since the controversial 2019 dust-up caused by (then Houston Rockets GM< now Philadelphia 76ers GM) Daryl Morey’s tweet to “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.” Tatum fully explained that after the NBA put out a statement defending Morey’s rights to express his opinion, that China’s CCTV removed NBA programming from its airwaves but later returned things to normal operating, all the while the league’s primary broadcast outlet – “Tencent” continued to air games and highlights. The Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns were tapped to play October 10 and 12 at the Venetian Arena, which is controlled by the Adelson family — by way of the Las Vegas Sands conglomerate — now the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

Tatum also reiterated the NBA is doubling down on efforts to expand growth in the game on the continent of Africa and in India, where a cool billion people are available to say, “I Love This Game.”

Early on Friday, Mike McCarley of the new (indoor) TGL pro golf league was amongst the panelists on Emerging Sports and he was presented with the MIT Sloan “Alpha” award for excellence as a start-up sport, recognized for the incredible use of data, technology, social media and broadcast excellence.

While the panelists previously mentioned filled the “Bill James Room” and the “Sue Bird Room” – the two largest ballrooms in the convention center, there were dozens of break-out rooms for smaller presentations, research paper workshops and even some player participation displays of golf swings being “closest to the pin” or batting cages and a hitters’ “exit velocity.” There was even a new name for one of the break-out rooms, dubbed the “Shane Battier Room.”

MIT Sloan panel: “Have the Nerds Ruined Basketball?’

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Ready for your first look at the BIG EAST brackets?

BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Tournament, Presented by JEEP

First Round, March 12 (Peacock)

No. 9 Butler vs. No. 8 Providence 4:00

No. 10 DePaul vs. No. 7 Georgetown 6:30

No. 11 Seton Hall vs. No. 6 Villanova 9:00

Quarterfinal, March 13 (Peacock/FS1)

Butler/Providence vs. No. 1 St. John’s 12:00

No. 5 Marquette vs. No. 4 Xavier 2:30

DePaul/Georgetown vs. No. 2 Creighton 7:00

Seton Hall/Villanova vs. No. 3 UConn 9:30

Semifinal, March 14 (FOX)

Quarterfinal Winners 6:30

Quarterfinal Winners 9:00

Championship, March 15 (FOX)

Semifinal Winners 6:30

TIDBITS: Much was said and written about Nikola Jokic’s 31 points, 21 rebounds and a career-high 22 assists stat line as the Denver Nuggets outlasted the Phoenix Suns, 149-141, in overtime Friday night. Jokic became the first NBA player with a triple-double of at least 30 points, 20 rebounds and 20 assists and he tied his team record with his 29th triple-double of the season, stretching his career total to 149. That’s pretty good. … Old school NBA stat geeks had to wonder what some of Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain’s best stat lines were when the “Stilt” played back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. … Here’s one, picked at random, from Wilt’s 1967-68 season – the year he had his highest assist totals of 8.6 per game. On March 4, 1968, Wilt played all 48 minutes, scored 58 points, grabbed 35 rebounds and had four assists. … Of course, on March 2, 1962, Chamberlain scored 100 points, added 25 rebounds but had only two assists. … On February 28, 1962, Chamberlain played all 48 minutes, scored 61 points, added 28 rebounds and six assists. … Obviously, none of those were triple-doubles, but there’s one key statistical anomaly. There’s a distinct possibility Chamberlain might’ve had a triple-double if the NBA charted blocked shots and/or steals at the time. With that in mind, statisticians recreated a March 18, 1968 stat line which clocked Chamberlain’s single game output at 53 points, 32 rebounds, 24 blocks, 14 assists and 11 steals with the blocks and steals “unofficial.” … The great Nate Thurmond once had 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 rebounds, and 12 blocks when he led the Chicago Bulls to a victory against the Atlanta Hawks while San Antonio’s David Robinson clocked 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and 10 blocked shots in a February 2, 1994 Spurs win over Detroit. … There have been other quadruple doubles since that great game but one game, in particular, stands out as one of the all-time greatest performances. In a Game 7 of the 1962 NBA Finals, Boston center Bill Russell scored 30 points and added 40 rebounds with four assists in the Celtics’ 110-107 series clincher over the LA Lakers. Elgin Baylor of the Lakers had 41 points and 22 rebounds in the losing effort.

The Red Sox front office went to work and agreed to terms with 23 players on one-year contracts for the 2025 season. Signing one-season deals were: Wilyer Abreu, Brennan Bernardino, Triston Casas, Cooper Criswell, Hunter Dobbins, Richard Fitts, Jhostynxon Garcia, Romy Gonzalez, Vaughn Grissom, Luis Guerrero, David Hamilton, Zack Kelly, Chris Murphy, Carlos Narváez, Zach Penrod, Luis Perales, Quinn Priester, Blake Sabol, Justin Slaten, Nick Sogard, Greg Weissert, Josh Winckowski, and Connor Wong.

THIS JEST IN: On Saturday, forward Zuby Ejiofor hit a buzzer-beater to send the St. John’s men’s basketball team (27-4, 18-2 BIG EAST) back home from Marquette (Milwaukee) with a men’s basketball program record 27th regular season victory. Ejiofor, a junior forward for the Johnnies, buried a luck-out toss at the buzzer to upend Marquette (22-9, 13-7 BIG EAST), 86-84, in overtime. On the final day of the regular season, St John’s managed a tough road win behind clutch performances from RJ Luis Jr. and Kadary Richmond. Luis led St. John’s with 28 points, shooting 10-for-19 from floor with a trio of 3-pointers, to go with 11 rebounds marking his ninth double-double of the season. Meanwhile, Richmond recorded the first St. John’s triple-double in since Metta Sandiford-Artest (formerly Ron Artest), reached the milestone on Jan. 9, 1999. Richmond’s clutch performance included 10 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and four steals. … Ejiofor, who also sank a game winner at the buzzer in the team’s first BIG EAST road game of this season, at Providence on Dec. 20, finished with 17 points and 12 boards.

St. John’s captured the No. 1 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST tournament to be held at Madison Square Garden this coming Wednesday through Saturday. Digital Sports Desk will be on-site at The Garden for the tournament.

YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP: There’s a whole new meaning to the the word SNOWboard. According to the AP, there’s a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who is wanted for allegedly running a multinational drug trafficking network and orchestrating multiple murders related to his drug ring. The FBI added Ryan Wedding, 43, to its 10 Most Wanted list, while announcing the U.S. State Department’s $10 million offer. … “Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada,” said Akil Davis, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office. “The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man.” … Seems that the drugs were flowing from South America to Mexico to Southern California and then to Canada, calling into question the USA’s claims that drugs were flowing north to south. … Authorities alledge that Wedding’s group killed two members of a family in Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment in what officials there said was a case of mistaken identity, then two other people, associated with the ring.

UConn Earns No. 1 Seed in NCAA

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – UConn’s Donovan Clingan put up 22 points and 16 rebounds, Tristen Newton and Jaylin Stewart each drilled three critical 3-pointers and the BIG EAST’s top team and national No. 2 Connecticut Huskies  pulled away from No. 10 Marquette to win the Big East championship game 73-57 on Saturday night.

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The top-seeded Huskies claimed their first Big East tournament title since 2011, before the university left the conference from 2013-2020. After sweeping third-seeded Marquette during the regular season, UConn avenged a semifinal loss to the Golden Eagles in last year’s tournament.

UConn is likely to receive the No. 1 overall bid in this week’s NCAA tournament.

Newton had 13 points, 10 assists and five rebounds for UConn (31-3), which will be in the mix for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Stewart — a freshman who came in averaging 2.4 points per game — scored all nine of his points in the second half, when the Huskies overcame another slow start to shoot 63 percent from the floor.

UConn came out cold on offense, similar to its starts in the previous rounds against Xavier and St. John’s. A 19-5 second-half run powered by Newton and Stewart broke the game open.

Kam Jones tallied 13 points and eight rebounds and David Joplin added 12 points and six boards for the Golden Eagles (25-9), the defending conference tournament champions, who reached this year’s tournament final despite star guard Tyler Kolek sitting out all week with an oblique injury.

UConn missed its first eight attempts from the floor, including three layups, before Samson Johnson subbed in and dunked at the 13:27 mark. Marquette hardly took advantage at the other end, starting 2-for-11 from the floor.

Neither side led by more than four throughout the first half. The Huskies missed their first eight 3-point tries before going ahead 19-15 when Newton finally connected with 3:41 remaining.

Joplin deflected a pass for a steal and score, then blocked a shot that led to Jones’ 3-pointer at the other end to give Marquette a 22-21 advantage with 1:39 left.

After the teams traded baskets, Newton collected his dribble and knocked down another 3-pointer with three seconds left for a 26-24 UConn lead at the break.

Clingan’s catch and dunk through a foul prompted a brief UConn run that gave the Huskies a four-point lead. It wasn’t until Stewart connected from outside and Newton added a triple on consecutive possessions that the Huskies made it 47-41 with 9:27 to play.

Stewart knocked down his next two triples, Hassan Diarra added one and UConn’s flurry ultimately grew the lead to 60-44 with 5:54 left.

One last push by the Golden Eagles got them within 11 points down the stretch.

–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media

Big East Final: It’s UConn vs Marquette

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – A little over a year ago, Marquette was the last team to defeat UConn before the latter stormed its way to a fifth national title.

The Huskies didn’t lose again that season and dominated their way to the top of the Big East in 2023-24.

On Saturday, 10th-ranked Marquette is the opponent standing in the way of the second-ranked Huskies, who will seek their first Big East title since returning to the league in 2020.

The Huskies (30-3) took their first loss since the Marquette semifinal game when they fell by four points at Kansas on Dec. 1. They also are seeking their first conference tournament title since Kemba Walker’s magical run led them to five wins in five days in 2011.

The top-seeded Huskies are on a six-game winning streak and advanced to Saturday’s final thanks to a prolific offense. After scoring 87 in a 27-point win over ninth-seeded Xavier in Thursday’s quarterfinals, UConn was challenged at times in a 95-90 win over fifth-seeded St. John’s on Friday.

The Huskies are ready to face third-seeded Marquette (25-8), which claimed a 70-68 win over UConn in last season’s conference semifinals.

Tristen Newton scored 20 of his 25 points in UConn’s 52-point opening half Friday and added nine assists. Cam Spencer contributed 20 points and nine assists for the Huskies, who shot 57.4 percent from the floor, sank 11 3-pointerss and collected 23 assists.

“These are the environments that you want to play in,” Spencer said. “It’s a high-level basketball game, working towards something that we’ve worked for all year, and it’s — the Big East championship is something that we want to go get. Probably one of the highest, I guess, more intense games of this year, and rightfully so.”

Marquette is playing without Tyler Kolek due to an oblique injury. The guard could be out again for its second appearance in the title game, although he has begun practicing and is expected to play in the NCAA Tournament.

“We’ve played through a lot of adversity,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “Obviously (Saturday) is going to a heck of a challenge for us.”

The Golden Eagles lost two of their final three regular-season games and opened the tournament with wins over Villanova and Providence. After allowing an average of 69.7 points a game during the regular season, the Golden Eagles allowed 65 and 68 in their tournament games and received clutch showings from Kam Jones and Oso Ighodaro.

Jones scored 23 points in Friday’s 79-68 win over the Friars and helped the Golden Eagles lead for virtually the entire way and fend off a late comeback attempt. Ighodaro added 20 vs. Providence after scoring his lone basket in overtime against Villanova on Thursday.

UConn dominated the first meeting against Marquette this season when the Huskies rolled to an 81-53 victory on Feb. 17 in Hartford, Conn. The Huskies held off a comeback attempt in their 74-67 win on March 6 in Milwaukee.

“Obviously UConn has some good players, has a good team,” Marquette’s Stevie Mitchell said. “So we’re obviously going to watch film, learn from previous games against them, and learn from this game and continue to move forward, but I think being the best version of ourselves is what we’re really focusing on the most.”

–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

Big East: Marquette Clears Way to Final

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Kam Jones scored 23 points as No. 10 Marquette led virtually the entire way and defeated Providence 79-68 Friday night in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.

The third-seeded Golden Eagles (25-8) advanced to their second title game and will attempt to win back-to-back titles when they face UConn, the top seed. UConn, which took a two-point loss to Marquette in last season’s semifinals, advanced earlier Friday with a 95-90 win over St. John’s.

A night after his buzzer-beater was waved off in regulation against Villanova, Jones shot 9-of-17 from the field and made several big plays down the stretch to fend off Providence’s comebacks.

Oso Ighodaro added 20 points after making just one basket against Villanova late in overtime. David Joplin contributed 12 and Stevie Mitchell chipped in 10 as Marquette shot 45.6 percent and withstood the absence of Tyler Kolek due to an oblique injury.

Providence (21-13), the seventh seed, entered with a NET rating of 57 and fell to 6-9 in Quad 1 games. The Friars were unable to consistently find their offense after upending Georgetown and Creighton to start the tournament.

Devin Carter kept the Friars in it by scoring 20 of his 27 points after halftime to lead all scorers. Jayden Pierre added 16 and Josh Oduro contributed nine and 10 rebounds before fouling out. Ticket Gaines had 10 rebounds but was held to two points on 0-of-9 shooting as Providence shot 36.4 percent.

Marquette surged ahead with a 17-2 burst and took its first double-digit lead when Ighodaro’s easy jumper made it 28-18 with just under seven minutes left. The lead grew to 35-18 on his dunk with 4:11 left.

The Friars withstood the run and got the deficit down to 40-31 on Corey Floyd Jr.’s three-point play with 13 seconds left, but Joplin was fouled on a 3-point try with one second left and made two free throws.

Carter’s 3 following an offensive rebound by Gaines moved Providence within 46-39 a little more than two minutes into the second half. The Friars missed six straight shots and Ben Gold’s 3 capped an 8-0 Marquette run with 13:29 remaining.

Providence gradually rallied, and consecutive hoops by Carter cut the lead to 68-65 with 4:35 left.

Jones hit a turnaround jumper with 3:13 left and scored again with 96 seconds to go for a 74-68 lead.

–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

UConn Fends Off St. John’s in Semi

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Connecticut’s Tristen Newton scored 25 points, and added nine assists and six rebounds as BIG EAST No. 1 and nationally ranked No. 2 UConn constantly answered comeback attempts by St. John’s in the second half and advanced to the championship game of the Big East tournament with a 95-90 victory Friday night.

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The top-seeded Huskies (30-3) won their sixth straight and advanced to their first title game since returning to the Big East after losing three straight semifinal games by a combined eight points.

UConn will face the winner of No. 3 seed Marquette and No. 7 seed Providence Saturday and is seeking its first title since Kemba Walker led them to five wins in five days in 2011.

In the semifinals for the first time since 2000, fifth-seeded St. John’s (20-13) is seemingly safe for its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2019. The Red Storm entered the contest with a NET rating of 32 and since the NCAA started using the metric in 2019, the highest-rated team to miss out was NC State in 2019 at 33.

Newton scored 20 points in a blistering first half when the Huskies shot 63 percent. He finished 6-for-11 from the floor and also sank 10 free throws.

Cam Spencer added 20 points as the Huskies shot 57.4 percent overall and led for the final 32:56. Alex Karaban scored 14 as he, Newton and Spencer combined to hit 10 of the defending champions’ 11 3-pointers.

Daniss Jenkins scored 27 points for the Red Storm, who shot 45.1 percent. Jordan Dingle added 19 but Chris Ledlum and Joel Soriano were a combined 5-of-16 from the floor and scored six apiece.

After spotting St. John’s a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes, UConn gradually surged ahead. An uncontested 3 from the top of the key by Newton gave the Huskies the lead for good at 20-18 with 12:56 left. They took their first double-digit lead when Newton’s layup made it 34-24 five minutes later.

Seven points by Dingle in the final three-plus minutes helped St. John’s slice a 44-34 deficit to three points. The Red Storm trailed 52-47 by halftime after Jenkins’ reverse layup was ruled to be after the horn.

St. John’s moved within 56-54 on a jumper by Jenkins with 17:19 left. UConn had another answer, scoring the next eight and going on a 13-2 run to extend the lead 69-56 on a putback by Samson Johnson with 13:48 remaining.

UConn held an 89-78 lead on a basket by Donovan Clingan with 3:27 left. St. John’s inched back, getting within 91-85 on a layup by Glenn Taylor Jr. with 35 seconds left, but UConn sank four free throws the rest of the way.

– Field Level Media

Old Foes Re-Unite at BIG EAST Semis

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) While UConn is dominating most opponents during its five-game winning streak, no other Big East team may be hotter than St. John’s.

In the semifinals of the conference tournament for the first time since 2000, fifth-seeded St. John’s will put its six-game winning streak on the line and will attempt to improve its standing for an NCAA Tournament berth on tonight when it faces the top-seeded Huskies.

UConn, in turn, is seeking its first trip to the Big East tournament championship game since Kemba Walker’s magical run in 2011.

The second-ranked Huskies (29-3) probably are a lock to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but they have been foiled in the conference semifinals in the three seasons since returning to the Big East. UConn’s three semifinal losses were by a combined eight points, including last year’s 70-68 setback to Marquette.

Since absorbing an 85-66 setback at Creighton on Feb. 20, the Huskies are winning their games by an average of 20.4 points. The closest margins were a 74-67 victory at Marquette on March 6 and a 14-point win at Providence three days later.

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UConn heads into Friday’s game after dominating the second half of its 87-60 win over ninth-seeded Xavier in the tournament quarterfinals on Thursday. The Huskies gave up the first 10 points and held a one-point lead at halftime before outscoring Xavier 53-27 in the final 20 minutes.

“A little bit of it was like raise your intensity level,” UConn coach Danny Hurley said. “This is a playoff game. When you’re trying to end the other team’s — either like their Big East career or their Big East season or you’re trying to end a team’s season, period, you’ve got to be absolutely on point.

Donovan Clingan scored 11 of his 13 points after halftime. Tristen Newton also scored 13 points as six players reached double figures for UConn, which shot 58.3 percent from the field.

St. John’s (20-12) is unbeaten since squandering a 12-point halftime lead against Seton Hall on Feb. 18. After the loss, Red Storm coach Rick Pitino singled out his players by name and bemoaned the school’s facilities while saying: “This is the most unenjoyable experience of my lifetime.”

Pitino apologized to his players a few days later.

St. John’s is averaging 88.8 points during its best run of the season.

“We told the guys, you gotta play your best basketball going into March,” Pitino said after a 91-72 win over Seton Hall on Thursday. “And we knew we had seven now, I think, six or seven, elimination games. And these guys rose to the occasion.”

St. John’s only win over a ranked team this season was 80-66 vs. Creighton on Feb. 25. The Red Storm hope to produce another strong showing after six players scored in double figures on Thursday.

RJ Luis Jr. scored 18 points, Jordan Dingle added 14 and Joel Soriano collected 14 points and 12 rebounds for St. John’s. The Red Storm shot 51.6 percent from the field, marking the fourth time they have shot at least 50 percent in the winning streak.

“It’s unbelievable feeling, man,” Soriano said. “We play on Friday night.”

The last time St. John’s played a conference tournament semifinal game was 2000. The Red Storm slipped past now-ACC school Miami 58-57 and then recorded an 80-70 victory over UConn for the title.

–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media

Providence Needs a “W” or Two

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NEW YORK  – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Providence is two wins from assuring itself of an NCAA Tournament bid.

But in case they don’t win the Big East Conference tournament and the automatic NCAA entry that comes with it, the seventh-seeded Friars (21-12) are making a strong case for the selection committee. And they’ll get another chance at enhancing an already solid resume Friday night when they play third-seeded Marquette (24-8) — the nation’s 10th-ranked team — in the conference semifinals.

The winner will meet either top-seeded and No. 2-ranked UConn or streaking St. John’s, the fifth seed, in Saturday’s championship game.

Providence won the tournament title in 1994 and 2014, and Marquette is the defending champion.

Two years ago, Providence was the top seed and took a 27-point loss to Creighton in the semis. This time, the Friars are in the semifinals after earning a 78-73 victory over Creighton in Thursday’s quarterfinals that marked their sixth Quad 1 victory.

“This time of the season some teams are playing for their lives,” Providence coach Kim English said after the win over Creighton. “(We had) ups and downs all season, adversity, less-than-ideal mindset and moments, bad shots, bad plays, bad turnovers, bad responses, (but) we got 40 minutes to be our most locked-in selves. That was one of our best efforts of the season.”

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Devin Carter has fueled Providence’s two tournament wins after claiming Big East Player of the Year honors. He followed a 19-point showing in Wednesday’s win over Georgetown by collecting 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals while playing the entire 40 minutes against Creighton.

“I think it was a must-win game,” said Carter, who played at least 40 minutes for the fifth time this season and averages 35.4 minutes per game. “We want to keep our tournament dreams alive, and we also want to get a Big East championship.”

Providence is in the semifinals after ending the regular season with three losses in four games, including a 91-69 setback at then-No. 5 Marquette on Feb. 28.

On Thursday, Marquette advanced to the semifinals via an overtime win for the second straight season. Last year the Golden Eagles moved on by beating St. John’s in the quarterfinals and later defeated Xavier to win the conference title, and this time they outlasted Villanova 71-65.

Marquette nearly won it in regulation, but officials ruled Kam Jones’ basket did not beat the buzzer. Jones scored 18 points and David Joplin added six of his 14 in overtime to help the Golden Eagles withstand the absence of All-Big East guard Tyler Kolek due to an oblique injury.

Kolek is expected to remain out Friday, though he has been practicing. On Friday, the Golden Eagles hope to get clutch performances again from Jones and Joplin while getting help from Oso Ighodaro, whose lone basket occurred late in overtime.

“Obviously we’d love to win the Big East tournament,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “We’d love to win tomorrow night. I think what our guys are showing these last couple of games and even the two games we lost without Tyler is that we can compete with anyone, even while he’s recovering.”

– Field Level Media