Big East What To Watch: Week 10

It occurs to me that we have to talk about Connecticut an awful lot in these What To Watch schedule rundowns since both Huskies teams are top 10 teams. By default, all of their games are very important!

Such is life, I guess.

Ready for a brand new week of action in the Big East? Let’s get into the highlights of what you need to be keeping an eye on over the next six days.

Wednesday, January 11: RV Creighton Bluejays at #12 Xavier Musketeers (6pm Central, FS1) — The common thought in the preseason was that this was going to be a big time showdown in the league this season, and so it is.... just not the one that was expected. Jack Nunge and the Musketeers are 5-0 in league play, while Ryan Kalkbrenner and the Bluejays are 4-2 after falling to Connecticut on Saturday. CU went through a scuffle after leaving the Maui Invitational and could really use a big win here, while Xavier’s just trying to stay even with Providence atop the standings.

Wednesday, January 11: #6 Connecticut Huskies at #25 Marquette Golden Eagles (6pm Central, CBS Sports Network) — Meanwhile, at the exact same time, we’ve got another big time showdown in the league, just one that no one expected to exist, and definitely not in the current standings state. Marquette is 5-1 with only a double overtime loss to still undefeated Providence while UConn dropped regulation losses to the Friars and Xavier recently to stand at 4-2. This would be a pretty important statement win in either direction.

Wednesday, January 11: #4 Connecticut Huskies at RV St. John’s Red Storm (7pm Central, SNY) — UConn is back on the board after having to declare themselves unable to play against DePaul on Sunday afternoon because they didn’t have enough players to safely compete. Their first game back being healthy enough — and we’ll see exactly what that means — is a visit to Carnesecca Arena to face off with a St. John’s team that’s probably not in a good mood about suffering their first loss of the season last week. Can Joe Tartamella guide the Johnnies to a season changing victory over the still short handed Huskies?

Wednesday, January 11: RV Seton Hall Pirates at RV Creighton Bluejays (8pm Central, FS1) — Hey, look, weeknight national television for Big East women’s hoops! That rules. Creighton could use the win after dropping out from the AP poll a week ago while Seton Hall is trying to play their way into the rankings after decimating St. John’s last Wednesday, and they haven’t lost to anyone except UConn since Thanksgiving.

Saturday, January 14: #19 Providence Friars at RV Creighton Bluejays (1pm Central, FS1) — It’s the only game of the week for Ed Cooley’s team so no matter what they’ll be looking to move to 7-0. They’ll either get Creighton coming off that previously mentioned win at Xavier, or an increasingly desperate Bluejays team that hasn’t recorded a top 50 KenPom win since the Maui Invitational semifinals. Either way, it feels like an important contest for both teams.

Saturday, January 14: RV St. John’s Red Storm at #25 Villanova Wildcats (1pm Central, FloSports) — The Red Storm will be coming off that game against Connecticut, so this might be their next game after losses in two of the last three. Villanova will be coming off a mid-week visit to DePaul, and while you figure that the Wildcats might be favored anyway in that one, it’s no guarantee that Maddy Siegrist and company will figure out a way to win at Wintrust. Not quite a critical game for either team, but both sides would definitely want the win to show what they’re made of at the very least.

Sunday, January 15: #25 Marquette Golden Eagles at #12 Xavier Musketeers (11am Central, Fox) — This one looks important before the week starts, and it probably will retain that importance as the week goes on no matter what just because it will be two ranked teams going at it. However, we have to acknowledge the variability involved with the games earlier in the week for both teams. Both win, both lose, they split in either direction..... it shifts what’s going on with what’s possible in this game. Worst case scenario is it’s a quality win for whichever team comes out ahead.

Here’s the full men’s basketball schedule for the week!

Here’s the full women’s basketball schedule for the week!