JAMAICA ESTATES, NY – (Staff report from Official News Release) – Villanova turned the tables on Creighton and gave coach Jay Wright a milestone victory, while St. John’s celebrated Lou Carnesecca’s 97th birthday with a win over DePaul.
Wright notched his 500th victory at Villanova when his team rolled past Creighton 75-41 in Finneran Paviliion. The Wildcats (10-4, 3-1 BIG EAST) had lost to the Bluejays (10-4, 2-1 BE) 79-59 on December 17. This time, Villanova held Creighton to 35.6 percent shooting from the field and allowed only 21 points in the final 27 minutes of the game. Justin Moore led the Wildcats with 22 points. Alex O’Connell had 13 points for Creighton.
On the night when legendary coach Lou Carnesecca turned 97, Julian Champagnie put on a sparkling performance to lead St. John’s (9-3, 1-0 BE) past DePaul 89-84. Champagnie scored a career-high 34 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked three shots. Dylan Addae-Wusu added a career-high 17 points, including a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute. Javon Freeman-Liberty had 24 points and seven boards for DePaul (9-4, 0-3 BE).
BIG EAST play resumes on Friday with two games between teams that met in the first round of last year’s BIG EAST Tournament. Marquette (9-6, 1-3 BE) plays at Georgetown (6-5, 0-0 BE) at 6:30 p.m. ET followed by No. 22 Xavier (11-2, 1-1 BE) at Butler (8-5, 1-1 BE) at 8:30 p.m. FS1 will carry both contests.
Last year, Marquette took the lone regular-season matchup against Georgetown before the Hoyas won 68-49 at the Big East tournament. Xavier won both regular-regular season games against Butler before the Bulldogs won 70-69 in overtime at Madison Square Garden.