Big East What To Watch: Week 13

I have to be honest here: This is not the greatest schedule of basketball in Big East history.

There’s a lot of “top of the standings vs bottom of the standings” going on here, or at least relative to how the standings look heading into the week. That’s not really what you want, but for now, it’s what we’ll have to deal with. It’s not like the hoops will be bad, it’s just that there aren’t ultra-compelling storylines to talk about.

Wednesday, January 29: Marquette Golden Eagles at Xavier Musketeers (7:30pm Central, FS1) - I’m kind of forcing this one in here, but my awareness of the game for Marquette purposes makes this seem like a big deal. It’s a middle of the pack team right now — Marquette, tied for 5th at 4-4 — against a trailing towards the back team right now — Xavier, tied for 7th at 2-5 — and it’s a road game for the Golden Eagles. MU will be looking to shake off their collapse against Butler last Friday, while the Musketeers have lost four of their last five and are in need of a win of any kind to keep their NCAA hopes alive. One of those four losses was at Marquette two weeks ago, and it was a 20 point margin.

Saturday, February 1: Creighton Bluejays at #8 Villanova Wildcats (11am Central, FS1) - This is the outlier on the schedule this week, a game against two teams in the top end of the current standings. Villanova trails first place Seton Hall by a game at 6-1, while Creighton sits in third place at 5-3. The Bluejays have won four of their last five after starting 1-2 in league play, and will be looking to avenge a five point home loss to the Wildcats back on January 7th. Villanova appears to be rounding into form this year, with only a loss to Marquette marring their record since falling to now-#1 Baylor in the title game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational. This would be a pretty big win for both sides of the equation.

Saturday, February 1: Providence Friars at #16 Butler Bulldogs (1pm Central, FS1) - Based on current conference records, this one might not jump off the page that quickly at you. However, Butler just snapped a three game losing streak by beating Marquette, and they still have to get through a probably tougher than they want it to be road game against Georgetown before they get to this game. Providence, on the other hand, has lost four of five since beating Marquette in overtime to move to 3-0 in Big East play. The season is rapidly eroding for the Friars, and this is their only game of the week. They’ll have the advantage on the Bulldogs in terms of rest for this one, but it’s still a road game to Hinkle Fieldhouse and that’s really not what you want to see on the schedule when you’re suddenly needing to salvage your season.

Here’s the full men’s basketball schedule for the week, with all times Central as always.