Big East What To Watch: Week Thirteen

Hello! It’s a big week in Big East basketball for both the men and the women, so let’s get right into running down the biggest games of the next seven days, shall we?

Tuesday, February 1: #15 Providence Friars at St. John’s Red Storm (8pm Central, CBS Sports Network) — So, yeah, the Friars are more tightly ensconced in first place in the Big East after beating Marquette on Sunday. 8-1 in the league, winners of their last five... but analytics still don’t like them, and they’re just every so barely favored against a 3-5 Red Storm team here. It’s a road game, and the Posh Alexander/Julian Champagnie combination gave the Friars fits for 30 minutes back on January 8th. Can the Johnnies finish the deal now that they get PC at Carnesecca Arena?

Wednesday, February 2: #10 Connecticut Huskies at RV Creighton Bluejays (6:30pm Central, SNY) — UConn is unbeaten in the league at 8-0 because of course they are, but the Bluejays are 10-2 and tied for second place right now. Back on January 9th, they lost by just eight points in Storrs. Can shifting the locale to D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha provide the differential to hand the Huskies their first league loss before they went on sabbatical to the AAC?

Wednesday, February 2: #12 Villanova Wildcats at #24 Marquette Golden Eagles (9pm Central, FS1) — The Golden Eagles have just this one game this week. All of their attention gets to be focused on pulling off their first season sweep of the Wildcats since The Reformation and just the second multi-game series season sweep of Nova in program history. Meanwhile, Villanova is looking for revenge for their first loss at The Finn since 2018 and they’ll be trying to stay within shouting distance of Providence for the Big East regular season lead.

Friday, February 4 & Sunday, February 6: RV Creighton Bluejays at RV DePaul Blue Demons & Marquette Golden Eagles (7pm Central on FloHoops & 2pm Central on FS1) — Well, if you thought Wednesday was a big deal for the Bluejays in Omaha, their week just keeps on going. No matter what happens with UConn on Wednesday, they still have to contend with the toughest road test in the Big East: At DePaul on Friday and at Marquette less than 48 hours later. It will be CU’s first crack at DePaul this season, but Marquette will be hunting for revenge for a 62-45 loss in Omaha earlier this season. Both the Blue Demons and the Golden Eagles will want the win to impact the top five standings in the Big East.

Saturday, February 5: #17 Connecticut Huskies at #12 Villanova Wildcats (11am Central, Fox) — This is the aforementioned other big game for Villanova. How will playing at Wells Fargo for the second time this season change things for the Wildcats? What impact will Wednesday’s result in Milwaukee end up having on VU? On the other side, the Huskies are climbing the charts on a five game winning streak as the week starts, but they have to get past Creighton on Tuesday night before they get here. Will they still be on that winning streak or will they be heading into WFC after a home loss? With both of these teams starting the week at two losses, what impact will this have on the Big East standings?

Sunday, February 6: #7 Tennessee Volunteers at #10 Connecticut Huskies (11am Central, Fox) — Come on, I don’t have to explain two top 10 teams going at it on national broadcast television here for why we’re highlighting this, right? Heck, at this point, the fact that it’s the Vols and the Huskies hooking it up is secondary.

Here’s the full men’s basketball schedule for the week! All times Central as always.