Community Picks: Villanova 0% vs ST John's 0%

Don't crown Villanova champions of the Big East just yet.  In an action-packed, back-and-forth game pitting a pair of top 20 teams, Providence emerged with an 82-76 overtime victory and loosened the Wildcats' stranglehold on first place in the process. Providence forward Ben Bentil scored 10 of his game-high 31 points in overtime including four foul shots in the final 15 seconds to seal the victory. Point guard Kris Dunn was equally brilliant, scoring 13 points and dishing out 14 assists to help the 16th-ranked Friars improve to 17-3 overall and 5-2 in Big East play. Villanova only managed to force overtime thanks to a game-tying 3-pointer from Ryan Arcidiacono with seven seconds left in regulation. Arcidiacono scored 19 points and Josh Hart had 18, but the Wildcats shot just 9 of 31 from behind the arc, committed 16 turnovers and suffered far too many defensive breakdowns. In a season in which Providence has been one of the nation's most pleasant surprises, this is probably the Friars' most impressive victory. Villanova had won 22 straight Big East games prior to Sunday's loss and had not dropped a home game since Doug McDermott's Creighton team won in Philadelphia two years ago.  Villanova entered Sunday's game with at least a two-game lead over every other Big East foe, but now that margin has been cut in half. The Friars, Xavier, Creighton and Georgetown are all each within a game of the Wildcats in the loss column in the race for the Big East title. Can Providence be a serious threat to Villanova in the league title race? It's possible if the Friars get enough contributions from players besides Bentil and Dunn, but their upcoming schedule is daunting. In the next four weeks, they'll face Xavier and Georgetown twice and also host the revenge-hungry Wildcats. - - - - - - - Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @JeffEisenberg Continue to Article

January 24, 2016 5:01:pm EST

Xavier continues to cement its status as Villanova's chief competition in the Big East, a title Georgetown had been expected to hold. The Hoyas can still stake a claim to that mantle, however, when they visit the fifth-ranked Musketeers Tuesday night in a key conference matchup for both programs. Georgetown was picked second in the Big East preseason poll, but it's been Xavier (16-1, 4-1) that's loomed as the primary threat to Villanova's quest for a third consecutive conference regular-season title by orchestrating the best 17-game start in school history. Continue to Article

January 18, 2016 9:56:pm EST

West Virginia senior Jonathan Holton blocked a layup attempt from Kansas State forward Wesley Iwundu with 4.5 seconds remaining in double overtime on Saturday to preserve a valuable road win for the 19th-ranked Mountaineers. Continue to Article

January 02, 2016 3:45:pm EST

It's tempting to suggest two-time reigning Big East champ Villanova made a statement that it's still the team to beat in the league.  It's also tempting to devalue the outcome entirely considering Xavier's most indispensable player was taken off the court on a stretcher two minutes into the game. So what's the truth about 16th-ranked Villanova's 95-64 New Year's Eve rout over No. 6 Xavier? It's probably somewhere in between. A game expected to provide clarity regarding the pecking order at the top of the Big East changed dramatically two minutes after tip-off when Xavier point guard Edmond Sumner endured heavy contact going up for a driving layup and crumpled to the floor. The freshman was alert and had full movement in his extremities, but he was transported directly to a nearby hospital for precautionary reasons. Overcoming the absence of Sumner would have been challenging under any circumstances for Xavier considering he's a gifted playmaker and capable defender who averages 11.7 points and 3.3 assists per game. But having him go down in such scary fashion early in the game seemed to suck the energy right out of the previously unbeaten Musketeers. Villanova trailed 5-4 after forward Jalen Reynolds sank a pair of free throws in place of Sumner. The Wildcats scored the next 13 points of the game, built an 18-point halftime lead and were never seriously challenged again. "I guess the first thing that I would say is Edmond Sumner’s a huge part of our team," Xavier coach Chris Mack told reporters after the game. "It was very, very difficult to overcome his loss for the game, to have him weighing on our minds if he was going to be OK. He still weighs on our minds." Since 49.5 percent of Villanova's shots this season have come from behind the arc, the Wildcats are more reliant on their 3-point shooting than any other elite team in the nation. That boom-or-bust strategy hasn't always paid off this season, but Villanova caught fire on Thursday against Xavier's 1-3-1 zone, sinking 13 of 25 threes and shooting 68.3 percent from the field. Senior point guard Ryan Arcidiacono was the catalyst against the Musketeers, scoring 27 points, dishing out eight assists and knocking down seven 3-pointers. Josh Hart scored all 15 of his points in the second half on only six shots and Villanova's other three starters each tallied double figures as well. The absence of Sumner was glaring for Xavier both in its inability to contain Arcidiacono and its struggles to take care of the basketball. The Musketeers had 11 turnovers in the game's first 12 minutes against Villanova's three-quarters-court pressure and finished with 19 for the game. Trevon Bluiett was the only Xavier starter in double figures, and even he shot only 2-for-9 from the field. Forward James Farr and guard J.P. Macura were effective off the bench, but it was far too little too late. The one-sided loss was a setback for a Xavier team that had performed brilliantly during non-conference play. The Musketeers (12-1) have a sterling collection of wins over the likes of Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Dayton, USC, Alabama and Michigan. As Xavier piled up quality wins and Butler and Providence performed like top 20 teams, the consensus was that Villanova may have a tougher time than expected maintaining its white-knuckle grip on first place in the conference. The Wildcats (11-2) haven't been bad the first two months of the season, but they had lost to the two best teams they had faced, Oklahoma and Virginia. Thursday's result is neither proof that Villanova is still the Big East's top team nor that Xavier isn't as good as advertised. All the outcome really does is serve as a reminder that at their best, the Wildcats can be really, really good. - - - - - - - Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @JeffEisenberg Continue to Article

December 31, 2015 2:34:pm EST

Villanova has been the class of the Big East in the past two seasons, while Xavier has merely been trying to make its presence felt in a new conference. Now the Musketeers hope to prove their historic start hasn't been a fluke as they face their toughest test in the league opener against the Wildcats. In their first meeting since the 2015 Big East tournament title game, sixth-ranked Xavier looks to remain one of the nation's four unbeatens Thursday night when they try to end No. 16 Villanova's 33-game winning streak at The Pavilion. Continue to Article

December 30, 2015 7:38:pm EST