The Big East tournament will end with Connecticut and St. John’s showdown for the third time this season.
UConn is back in the conference championship game following a 67-51 win over Georgetown in Friday’s semifinal. The Huskies are once again national championship contenders under Dan Hurley, thanks to their Big Four of Alex Karaban, Braylon Mullins, Silas Demary Jr. and Tarris Reed Jr.
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St. John’s is looking for back-to-back Big East tournament titles. Led by Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor, the Johnnies took down Seton Hall in Friday’s semifinal. The Red Storm are currently seeded between the 4- and 6-seed lines in NCAA Tournament projections, so a second Quad 1 win on the season against the Huskies would be a nice boost for Rick Pitino’s squad.
Big East tournament schedule, bracket, scores
First round, Wednesday, March 11
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Game 1: No. 9 Providence 91, No. 8 Butler 81
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Game 2: No. 10 Xavier 89, No. 7 Marquette 87
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Game 3: No. 11 Georgetown 63, No. 6 DePaul 56
Quarterfinals, Thursday, March 12
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Game 4: No. 1 St. John’s 85, No. 9 Providence 72
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Game 5: No. 4 Seton Hall 72, No. 5 Creighton 61
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Game 6: No. 2 UConn 93, No. 10 Xavier 68
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Game 7: No. 11 Georgetown 78, No. 3 Villanova 64
Semifinals, Friday, March 13
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Game 8: No. 1 St. John’s 78, No. 4 Seton Hall 68
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Game 9: No. 2 UConn 67, No. 11 Georgetown 51
Championship
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Game 10: No. 1 St. John’s vs. No. 2 UConn | 6:30 p.m. | FOX (Fubo)
How to watch Big East tournament
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TV: NBCSN, Fox Sports 1 and Fox
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Streaming: Peacock and Fubo
The entire first round will air on NBCSN and simultaneously stream on Peacock. Likewise for the first two games of the quarterfinals, before the second pair of quarterfinal games shifts to Fox Sports 1 and streams on Fubo.
Fubo will also stream the semifinals and final, which will have a traditional broadcast on FOX.
Big East tournament favorite
The favorite is still UConn despite the late slide into second place behind the Red Storm.
St. John’s took the first meeting this season, topping the Huskies 81-72 at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 6. UConn avenged that loss with a dominant 72-40 win on Feb. 25.
The Red Storm are a difficult group to pin down because of the average mark against top-level competition. But St. John’s has often looked the part of a potential Final Four team.
Overall, UConn is the Big East’s most complete team and most dangerous NCAA tournament team after losing in the second round last March.
Big East tournament top players
Zuby Ejiofor, F, St. John’s — Ejiofor will deserve All-America consideration for his impact as a scorer (16.0 ppg), interior presence (2 bpg) and impactful post passer (career-best 3.5 apg).
Duke Brennan, F, Villanova — Brennan is hard to stop near the basket, making 66% of his attempts, and his 4 offensive rebounds per game leads the Big East and ranks eighth nationally.
Alex Karaban, F, UConn — The Huskies’ veteran forward has made 47.9% of his attempts from the field and an even 40% from deep to score in double figures (12.9 ppg) for the third year in a row.
Adam Clark, G, Seton Hall — A former Merrimack transfer, Clark is a pesky defender (2 spg) and capable distributor (4.7 apg) but has to limit his turnovers to help Seton Hall land the wins it needs to book a tournament bid.
Solomon Ball, G, UConn — Ball (13.9 ppg) hit a cold spell down the stretch of Big East play and was held below double figures in five of his past nine games. How far UConn goes this month might depend on whether he can flip the switch.
March Madness bubble storylines for Big East
The Big East has just three NCAA tournament locks in UConn, St. John’s and Villanova. The Huskies could rally back into position to secure a No. 1 seed by winning the conference tournament, depending on how things unfold with Florida in the SEC and Houston in the Big 12.
The Red Storm are currently hovering around the No. 5 line in large part. Villanova is solidly in the No. 7 range.
Seton Hall stormed out of the gate with a 10-1 mark in non-conference play but has dropped all six matchups against the Big East’s top three. That’s left the Pirates out of the NCAA mix and needing to win the conference tournament to punch their ticket to March Madness.
After placing five teams in last year’s bracket, the odds are the Big East has just three tournament teams unless an underdog wins the conference and steals a bid, which would complicate the at-large picture.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Big East basketball tournament bracket, scores, schedule, TV channel
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