The six seeded Villanova Wildcats and the seven-seeded Providence Friars both had to win on Wednesday to reach the Thursday evening games of the Big East Tournament. They carried with them not only the hopes of conference glory, but their own need to survive and reach March Madness.
Both teams are firmly placed on the bubble – with this tournament at Madison Square Garden the final chance they had to rack up some wins and prove to the selection committee they belong in the field of 68.
Early in the night, Providence was able to get the job done – upsetting the third-seed Creighton Bluejays and possibly bursting the rest of the NCAA Tournament bubble with a 78-73 victory to make the Big East Tournament semifinals.
The same could not be said for the Villanova Wildcats – who forced overtime on an underpowered Marquette team, but couldn’t deliver in the extra period.
It sets up Friday’s semifinal slate: UConn takes on rivals St. John’s while Providence battles Marquette.
Devin Carter (22) led Providence to a shocking upset victory over Creighton
Marquette thought they beat Villanova in regulation, but needed overtime to reach the semis
Creighton Blue Jays 73, Providence Friars 78
Providence and Creighton split their season series – with the home teams winning each time. On a neutral court like Madison Square Garden, there wasn’t the same advantage they had before.
The Friars were hot having just beaten down rivals Georgetown the night prior and winning in convincing fashion. On the opposite foot, the Bluejays hadn’t played in five days. They were fresher, yes, but Providence was clicking the night before and carried that fire with them into Thursday.
Providence fans that filled the Garden felt that same fire and willed the team on early in the game. After all, it’s an easier trip from Rhode Island to New York City than it is from Omaha, a city somewhere in middle America.
Devin Carter, Providence’s star man and the Big East Player of the Year, was dominant on both ends – putting up 11 points and seven rebounds in just the first half alone. That play was initially coupled with Creighton’s struggles to effectively shoot the ball. But sloppy possessions down the stretch of the first half by Providence meant the Friars were up only 33-30 at the half.
Out of the halftime break, Providence went on a 10-4 run. The black-and-silver half of the arena (more like 3/4ths of the arena) was rapturous with each bucket. By the midway point of the second half, the Bluejays were shooting an appalling 31 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3PT range. But somehow, they remained close with only an eight point deficit.
Carter was beaten down and exhausted through the game – but stayed in it throughout
Just before the under-7 mark, Creighton’s best player started showing up. After going 1-for-5 in the first half, 7-footer Ryan Kalkbrenner came in clutch for the Bluejays. He grabbed a clutch steal and then turned that into a layup before getting a block at the other end and kicking it out to Steven Ashworth – who hit a triple to make it 61-58.
Kalkbrenner had another clutch putback and Ashworth sank two from the line to make it a one-point game. The Garden started to come alive as the frantic nature of the event kicked in. The royal blue-clad fans of Creighton erupted when they took a 64-63 lead.
Back-and-forth the game went with the lead swapping an astonishing five times between the under-8 and under-4 media timeouts. Each shot led to pandemonium. The building wasn’t breathing, more than it was gasping for air as it tried to recover from the offensive onslaught on the court.
Steven Ashworth (1) of Creighton drives against Rich Barron (10) and Rafael Castro (30)
Ryan Kalkbrenner (11) slowly got in gear, but was not able to pull out a victory
Sensing the urgency left in their season, the Providence majority let their voices be known – screaming as Carter’s layup gave them a 72-68 lead. A physically injured and exhausted Carter struggled up the court as last night’s leading scorer Josh Oduro put back a miss to take a 74-68 lead.
With less than a minute left, Ashworth drove the lane and drew the and-one. He hit it to make it a three-point game. Kalkbrenner fouled Carter with 44 ticks remaining. He sank both while being showered in chants of ‘MVP’. The next trip to the line, he achieved a status few mortals gain: having Madison Square Garden chanting your name.
What Devin Carter has done in the leadup to this moment is extraordinary. Providence was considered dead in the water when star Bryce Hopkins got injured. Carter rallied the team around him and took them to the promised land: a Big East semifinal and what must surely be a bid in the NCAA Tournament.
Providence coach Kim English called Carter’s night a ‘Michael Jordan-esque performance’. When asked what kept him going through it, Carter was very matter-of-fact: ‘I looked over at Baylor (Scheierman), and Kalkbrenner and I knew they haven’t came out the game. So I was like I could do the same thing as well. So it was motivation, seeing them pushing through it and trying to outlast the opponent.’
The Friars now move to the semifinals of the Big East Tournament – with the game on Friday
Villanova Wildcats 65, Marquette Golden Eagles 71 (OT)
Marquette’s biggest question mark going into this week in Manhattan was the status of star guard Tyler Kolek. He had been battling an oblique injury for a few weeks and his availability for Thursday night was up in the air.
By the time of tip-off at the Garden, Kolek was seen on Marquette’s bench – sitting in a full tracksuit – decidedly out for the night.
Before them lay a Villanova team they had beaten twice already and had gone down to the wire against a historically terrible DePaul team the night before. They were on their back feet and it should have been an easy victory for the Golden Eagles.
But this was also a Villanova team that needed a win to keep their frail hopes at an NCAA Tournament bid alive. Wildcats coach Kyle Neptune experimented with his rotation to compensate for the lack of Kolek and they stayed in it throughout the first half – admittedly as both teams put up awful shooting performances.
The Wildcats and Golden Eagles combined for 34 shots from beyond the arc in the first half, only draining ten of them in total. Villanova shot 40 percent from the field and was led by forward Eric Dixon and his 13 first-half points. Meanwhile Marquette was having more of a group effort – with six players scoring baskets – but knocking down a mere 36 percent of their baskets.
Kam Jones (1) led Marquette with 18 points in an overtime victory over Villanova
Villanova guard TJ Bamba drives against Marquette’s Chase Ross in the first half
With less than ten minutes remaining, neither squad had been able to snap out of their first-half shooting slumps. Both were shooting less than 40 percent from the field and only Marquette was on the right side of 30 percent from beyond the arc. While players like Stevie Mitchell and Kam Jones served as positives for Marquette, and Eric Dixon was the strongest performer for Villanova, for the most part their teammates were mired in mediocrity.
Because neither team had a unit or an individual player able to rise to the occasion and truly take over, the score stayed close through to the end. Justin Moore, who had hit the game-winning shot over DePaul the night before, finally got his first make at the 7:07 mark to give Villanova the lead at 51-50.
Marquette re-took the lead at the 6:18 mark and held that until the Golden Eagles’ David Joplin fouled Bamba from behind the arc. Bamba hit all three free throws to tie the game at 58-58 with under 1:45 to go.
Both teams traded misses as the clock ticked under 20 seconds. Moore’s shot at heroics missed and the ball went off a teammate – giving the Golden Eagles the ball with 2.8 seconds to go.
A beautifully drawn up inbound play found a pass into Ighodaro, who laid it off for Jones. Driving into the paint, he put it up just before the buzzer. Pandemonium. For now.
Then came the review. Baited breath. Wondering. Hesitation. Then the call: no basket. A giant united shriek goes up in the Villanova end. Overtime.
Eric Dixon (43) led the scoring for Villanova with 19 points and eleven rebounds
David Joplin’s overtime scoring set the tone and carried Marquette across the finish line
David Joplin scored on Marquette’s first two possessions while Moore hit two free throws to make it 63-60. Nova’s Mark Armstrong got fouled behind the arc but only sank two from the charity stripe to make it a one-point game. Hakim Hart tied it with a single free-throw for the Wildcats.
The next big blow came from Marquette’s Chase Ross, who drilled a three to go up 66-63. Villanova was the first team to have a player foul out as Tyler Burton took a seat for the rest of the game. Joplin missed his first free throw, but nailed the second to go up four with 55 seconds to go.
At the other end, Armstrong hit his layup to cut the deficit to two points. An irate Neptune ran half the baseline to scream at referee James Breeding – but he was not given a technical foul.
Ighodaro put up a turnaround jumper to go back up four with under 15 to go. Down the court ran the Wildcats, leading to a missed triple from Dixon and a foul by Bamba. Kam Jones stepped to the charity stripe and sank both to go up to an insurmountable six point lead.
An exuberant and exhausted Marquette team looked forward to their matchup with the Friars after the game – but their spirits weren’t broken by the extra period.
‘Man, I was gonna tell my nephew I got the game winner in the Garden. Sorry neph,’ a disappointed Jones said as he exited the press conference.
With Marquette head coach Shaka Smart following him out the door, he uttered a phrase that may be an omen: ‘There’s still tomorrow.’