The second day of the Big East Tournament left plenty to unpack from the four quarterfinals games.
One of the longest days of any conference tournament, the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament are complete as Madison Square Garden played host to four high-octane games. Starting at 12:00 p.m. and wrapping up at 12:24 a.m. this was truly a marathon for any fans that braved both sessions.
St. John’s started the day off with a dominating 21-point win over Butler and Marquette capped of the afternoon session pulling off a come-from-behind win over Xavier. The evening session kicked off with DePaul giving Creighton a scare and finished UConn going on a massive second half surge to end Villanova’s season.
Takeaway #1: The Red Storm are storming along
St. John’s advanced to the Big East Tournament semifinals in extremely convincing fashion as they beat Butler 78-57. The Red Storm’s defense smothered Butler allowing them to shoot just 34.5% from the field. On the other end, the St. John’s offense was smooth and efficient as they capitalized on second chances and ended up taking 17 more field goal attempts than Butler.
Head Coach Rick Pitino still thinks there’s a higher level his team can play at as he said, “We did a lot of things we need to get better at, but overall, it was a four-star performance, and we’ll take it.”
The Red Storm couldn’t be hotter as they are currently on a 7-game winning streak with wins over UConn, Creighton, and Marquette during that stretch. If Pitino is able to get his team to a five-star level then the Red Storm may roll through this Big East Tournament bracket.
Takeaway #2: Marquette-Xavier was an electric factory
Under the brightest of lights, these two teams traded explosive blows back and forth and what became an instant classic. Marquette’s Kam Jones finished with 28 points as the Golden Eagles take down the red-hot Musketeers 89-87.
Dialed in Jop! #MUBB | #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/JAWAFY3ASN
— Marquette Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) March 13, 2025
Xavier’s Ryan Conwell lit the Garden on fire with 38 points including a buzzer-beater half-court heave after Marquette had secured the victory. Between Jones and Conwell’s incredible shot-making, Big East fans in attendance were treated to a real show.
The Marquette victory sets them up for a rematch against St. John’s who just beat them during their Senior Day festivities in Milwaukee last weekend. This loss leaves Xavier firmly on the bubble and now all they can do is wait to see if they’ll hear their name called on Selection Sunday.
Takeaway #3: Creighton survives a 2OT scare
The evening session took things up a notch right away as DePaul jumped out to a 15-point first half lead over Creighton. The Blue Demons played incredibly well. Creighton coach Greg McDermott said about DePaul, “They outplayed us for virtually all of the game… we weren’t our best and DePaul certainly had a lot to do with that.”
Fortunately for the Bluejays they have Steven Ashworth and Ryan Kalkbrenner. The duo combined for just 6 points in the first half and then 28 points in the second half. Ashworth had a quiet night overall, but hit a clutch three to send the game to its first overtime. Ryan Kalkbrenner was the team’s rock as he finished with 32 points and played some phenomenal defense down the stretch.
SPLASHWORTHHHHHH ☔️☔️☔️☔️pic.twitter.com/nFXbIfoyPu
— BIG EAST MBB (@BIGEASTMBB) March 14, 2025
DePaul has never played on Friday of the Big East Tournament and unfortunately for them that drought will continue another year despite the relative success the program had this season. Creighton advances to their fourth Big East Tournament semifinal in the last five seasons as they look for the perfect end to Ryan Kalkbrenner’s college career.
Takeaway #4: Huskies turn battle into a rout
Usually when Villanova and UConn faceoff it becomes a rock fight and this matchup was no different. From trading body blows to baskets, the first half was a tough game that saw Villanova take a 5-point lead into the break. The second half was all UConn though as they outscored the Wildcats 42-20 in explosive fashion.
There are two great takeaways for the Huskies in this one. The first is that Alex Karaban is all the way back as the star Junior made multiple contested threes and went 4 for 6 from deep on the night. The other is that they clearly focused their defensive efforts on slowing Eric Dixon and they ended up holding the nation’s leading scorer to just 8 points on the night.
This loss likely ends Villanova’s NCAA Tournament hopes as they were on the wrong side of the bubble heading into the game. The win sends UConn to the Big East Tournament semifinals where they will faceoff with Creighton.
[…] the games may not have started as early in the day as the quarterfinals did, the semifinals similarly finished late into the night. Fortunately, NYC is the city that never […]