Big East What To Watch: Week 15

Are you prepared?

We continue to inch closer and closer to the end of the regular season, and the universe has seen fit to grant us multiple games in Big East basketball this week, both for the men and for the women, that will determine not just the regular season championships for both leagues, but have major impacts on the seeding for the conference tournaments as well. It’s an embarrassment of riches if we’re being honest, so make your plans now to try to fit all the viewing into your week.

A programming note: You’re seeing this on Monday morning because there is a Monday evening women’s basketball game in the league thanks to a rescheduling from January due to lack of player availability. As such, if you’re reading this, the poll numbers you’re seeing below reflect the Associated Press rankings from February 6th, not February 13th. We’ll update this article as the AP polls update on Monday.

Tuesday, February 14: #23 Creighton Bluejays at #20 Providence Friars (6pm Central, FS1) — Is Providence still going to be ranked when the polls update after losing on the road against St. John’s on Saturday? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean that this won’t be a major challenge for Ryan Kalkbrenner and the Bluejays on their quest to a Big East regular season title. They’re just a half-game back of Marquette as the week starts, and they have to keep winning to keep pace. Ed Cooley’s Friars aren’t completely out of the race either, but this one is a must win if they want to even think about sharing a regular season championship.

Wednesday, February 15: Creighton Bluejays at #4 Connecticut Huskies (6pm Central, SNY) — Connecticut does not control their destiny for the Big East regular season title this week. They can not clinch the outright title, and they would need help to clinch a share of it.... but also their schedule this week is not a picnic. This is their first of two games against the #2 and #3 teams in the standings at the moment this week. They get the benefit of hosting Lauren Jensen and the Bluejays for this one, but we’re also going to get to see how UConn reacts to losing back-to-back games for the first time in nearly 30 years. Could be interesting if Jim Flanery can mimic what Marquette did back on Wednesday.

Wednesday, February 15: #13 Xavier Musketeers at #10 Marquette Golden Eagles (6pm Central, CBS Sports Network) — Xavier is currently tied with Creighton in second place on the men’s side of the conference at 11-3 in the league. Tuesday’s CU/PC game will have something to say about that before we get to this one, but XU’s attention is 100% on the Golden Eagles a half game in front of them at 12-3. This game will not determine the Big East’s top spot in and of itself by the time 40 minutes are over, but it’s absolutely going to go a long way towards deciding what happens with the regular season title. It’s also Marquette’s only game of the week, so don’t be surprised if Shaka Smart has his team full of vim and vigor by the time tipoff hits.

Wednesday, February 15: Marquette Golden Eagles at Providence Friars (6pm Central, FloSports) — I’m only putting this in here because it’s MU’s first game since knocking off #4 UConn last week. One of those “gotta make the big time win count” contests for Chloe Marotta and her teammates, y’know?

Saturday, February 18: Seton Hall Pirates at #21 Connecticut Huskies (11am Central, Fox) — Seton Hall may have just seen their chances at an at-large bid go down in flames on Saturday as a result of their 58-54 loss at Villanova. But the only reason that we could seriously talk about Shaheen Holloway’s team as an NCAA tournament participant is because they have a 67-66 home win over the Huskies in their back pocket. What if they figure out a way to go up to the Nutmeg State and pull off the season sweep? It’ll be UConn’s first game since losing at Creighton on Saturday because Jordan Hawkins’ shoes are too big, so we’ll have to see how they respond to that.

Saturday, February 18: #4 Connecticut Huskies at #15 Villanova Wildcats (1:30pm Central, Fox) — This is UConn’s other big game of the week, and yep, they’re playing the Nova team that’s just one game back of them in the standings as of Monday morning. The Maddy Siegrist Show goes to St. John’s on Wednesday evening, and that’s not a gimme for the Wildcats after only beating the Red Storm by three at The Finn earlier this season. It’s definitely possible they take a loss there, and then what does that do to their entire deal heading into this home game showdown with Nika Muhl and the Huskies?

Saturday, February 18: St. John’s Red Storm at Marquette Golden Eagles (2pm Central, FloSports) — This game is almost an NCAA tournament play-in game given what ESPN’s most recent bracket projection looks like. Marquette is just barely in the field, while the Johnnies are just barely outside of it. On top of that, there is conference tournament seeding stakes here, as MU starts the week one game behind the 4th place Red Storm in the Big East standings. Both squads are definitely interested in avoiding finishing sixth as well, as that means having to play in the opening day tripleheader.

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

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