Around the Big East: Week of Feb. 6

Another Saturday, another plethora of games to kick back and relax to as we edge closer and closer to the glorious month of March.

This is the point of the season where wins and losses are magnified exponentially because of the magnitude of the bracket placements on the horizon, and the Big East Conference will certainly play a role in the beauty that is March Madness.

The No. 1 UConn Huskies remain atop the college basketball world after dismantling the Georgetown Hoyas by an 89-64 score.

The Huskies’ victory is their 12th in a row, as they were never posed with the risk of losing this contest because of the pure dominance to earn UConn its largest beating of Georgetown in the 74 matchups between the programs.

The Huskies shot brilliantly from the field at 61.1% and thrived from their leading scorers Alex Karaban and Stephon Castle, who posted 25 and 17 points, respectively.

Dontrez Styles was a bright spot for the Hoyas with his team-leading three 3-pointers on 8-16 shooting for a total of 23 points on the afternoon.

With the defeat, Georgetown has dropped eight consecutive games with one win in its last 12 outings.

The Hoyas’ last notch in the win column stemmed from DePaul on Jan. 6.

The St. John’s Red Storm traveled for a duel with the No. 7 Marquette Golden Eagles that saw the Red Storm hold a 47-38 advantage over the Golden Eagles at the first half’s conclusion.

Then, Tyler Kolek became St. John’s worst nightmare with 22 of his 27 points tickling the twine in the second half.

Kolek additionally spread the wealth with his 13 assists to help propel Marquette out of a 15-point deficit for the squad’s seventh-straight triumph.

The Golden Eagles shot 14-27 from deep compared to the Red Storm’s 12-32, as Daniss Jenkins and Nahiem Alleyne accounted for eight of St. John’s 3-pointers.

Jenkins finished the day as the Red Storm’s leading scorer with 22 points.

St. John’s has surrendered three of its last five games and has gone 4-6 in the last 10 appearances.

After struggling as of late, the No. 19 Creighton Blue Jays picked up a much-needed win in Xavier Musketeers’ territory.

Despite the Blue Jays being abysmal from beyond the arc with a 25% on 28 attempts, Ryan Kalkbrenner helped Creighton move on from the three-point woes by amassing 28 points and seven rebounds on a marvelous conversion of 12-14 on field goals.

Baylor Scheierman followed with a double-double by producing 16 points and 12 boards.

Desmond Claude, Dayvion McKnight and Quincy Olivari each contributed for the Musketeers with 22, 21 and 18 points, respectively.

The victory for Creighton comes after suffering back-to-back defeats from Butler and Providence.

Xavier rode into the contest on a three-game winning streak but now has to continue questioning its chances for a March Madness bid.

The final Saturday showdown featured a close one between the Providence Friars and Butler Bulldogs.

With just 19 seconds remaining in regulation, Pierre Brooks drained a jumper to put the Bulldogs ahead 73-72.

From there, the Friars would fail to knock down any more buckets, as Brooks would splash some shots from the charity stripe with a second remaining to bag the home victory of 75-72.

Butler’s DJ Davis looked solid with 20 points and eight rebounds on 6-9 conversions.

Corey Floyd Jr. was a spark off the bench for Providence with his 20 points and team-leading three 3-pointers.

The Friars suffered the loss after pulling off a big upset over Creighton on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs have been pretty efficient lately with five wins in their last six duals.

On Sunday at noon, 15-8 Seton Hall is slated to play 12-11 Villanova to wrap up the weekend round of Big East basketball.

Jake Irwin is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jpi5089@psu.edu.