The Big East Tournament this year contained a lot of near-upsets; awe-dropping plays; and electric atmospheres with the tournament hosted at Madison Square Garden.
Marquette would end up becoming the champions of this years’ Big East Tournament winning it for the first time in program history; but how did we get there?
First Round Recap
St Johns vs Butler
In the first match of the Big East Tournament, the eighth-seeded St. John’s faced off against the ninth-seeded Butler Bulldogs, where the winner would face the Big East regular season champion, the Marquette Golden Eagles in the quarterfinals. In a game where the rebounds decided the outcome, the Red Storm came out on top by outrebounding the Bulldogs 53-28, including 20 – 8 on the offensive glass in the 76-63 win.
St. John`s forward Joel Soriano led the charge with a 19-point 15 rebound (6 OREB) performance, followed by a 10-point 10 rebound double-double from Dylan Addae-Wusu. David Jones (12), AJ Storr (15), and Posh Alexander (13) each poured in double-figure points in the win. For the Bulldogs, Simas Lukosius led all scorers with 23 points, while their big man Jalen Thomas had 20 points.
Seton Hall vs DePaul
The seventh-seeded Seton Hall Pirates would follow up with their matchup against the tenth-seed DePaul Blue Demons in a game that went all the way to the wire. DePaul had a four-point lead at halftime with a score of 32-28 and ended up winning the game 66-65 to book their place in the next round.
DePaul’s Javan Jackson played forty minutes and did not leave a single minute down to waste, scoring a game-high nineteen points and hitting five threes with an efficient 7-12 from the field. The threes didn't stop there though, as Jalen Terry made all his four three-pointers in his twenty minutes of game action. Nick Ongenda had fifteen points to go along with game-high four blocks.
In the final moment of the game, Gibson Umoja knocked down all three free throws after getting fouled beyond the arc with 3.9 Seconds left down by two (63-65). Depaul earned the one-point lead they needed to seal their place in the next round to face the two-seeded Xavier Musketeers.
Seton Hall`s Tyrese Samuel led the way for the Pirates with a sixteen-point twelve-rebound double-double, while KC Ndefo had fourteen of his own missing only one of his seven shots from the field.
Villanova vs Georgetown
The final game of the first round saw the six-seed Villanova Wildcats steamroll their way past the eleven-seed Georgetown Hoyas 80-48.
The Wildcats started strong and never looked back as they garnered a 21-point lead at halftime. Five Nova players scored in double digits, led by Cam Whitmore with a nineteen-point ten-rebound double-double. Justin Moore had thirteen points of the night hitting four triples in the process, while Brandon Slater, Mark Armstrong, and Brendan Hausen all scored ten points.
The Hoyas' Primo Spears was their only bright spot with seventeen points and seven assists in thirty-six minutes of action.
Villanova advanced to face three-seed Creighton Blue Jays in the quarterfinals.
Quarterfinal Recap
St. Johns vs Marquette
Eight-seed Saint Johns faced off against one-seed Marquette to start the quarterfinals. The game itself was nothing short of electric, as it saw the height and size of Saint Johns battle the perimeter pace-pushing offense of the Marquette Golden Eagles. Marquette wound hang on to win the game 72-70 in overtime.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper (16pts) and Tyler Kolek (19pts) led the charge for the Golden Eagles, with Kolek having a more all-around performance, gathering nine rebounds and dishing out a team-high six assists. Prosper was efficient shooting 7-11 from the field in the win. Kam Jones poured in eleven points while Oso Ighodaro netted ten points in the evening.
St. Johns` Joel Soriano had a twelve-point twelve-rebound double with eight points coming from the charity stripe out of ten attempts, and four blocks. David Jones and Dylan Addae-Wusu each had sixteen points, with Jones adding eleven rebounds in the process.
Providence vs UConn
The second quarterfinal game saw the five-seed Providence Friars square off against the four-seed UConn Huskies. The Huskies started off the game hot hitting 57% of their shots, while Providence did not. Providence shot thirty percent from the field and only knocked down one three in the process compared to UConn`s five. Despite trailing by as much as twenty-six with twelve minutes left in regulation, the Friars went on a huge run to cut the lead to five with 3:33 left. However, the Huskies prevailed 73-66.
For the Huskies, Jordan Hawkins led the charge with nineteen points making seven out of his thirteen field goal attempts. Tristen Newton had a stellar night with sixteen points going 4-6 from three, while Adama Sanogo was a force down low while making all five shot attempts.
For the Friars, Noah Locke scored fourteen points and hit four shots from beyond the arc, and Bryce Hopkins had sixteen points in his forty-minute performance.
DePaul vs Xavier
Ten-seed DePaul faced off against the number two seed Xavier Musketeers in their quarterfinal matchup in a game that in its entirety seemed like an odd one out. DePaul in the first half shot seventy percent from deep and sixty-nine percent from the field overall, with their largest lead of the game being thirteen points. DePaul led the game for thirty-six minutes and thirteen seconds, but it was Xavier who came away with the win in the dying seconds, to advance to the semifinals after a hard-fought 89-84 win.
Xavier’s Jack Nunge dominated with a twenty-three-point, ten-rebound double-double with three triples to lead all scorers. Colby Jones dropped twenty-two points while Adam Kunkel and Soley Boum scored sixteen points.
DePaul was very efficient from the field, but could not close out the Musketeers and has been bounced out of the Big East Tournament; Umoja Gibson scored twenty-two points shooting 9-15 from the field and Nick Ongenda had sixteen points hitting eight out of his eleven shots.
Villanova vs Creighton
The final game of the quarterfinals saw the No. 3 seed Creighton face off against the No. 6 seed Villanova, the winner of this matchup will face the No. 2 seed Creighton in the semifinals. The Bluejays took control of the game early on and never looked back beating the Wildcats 87-74. The Bluejays moved the ball a lot among the perimeter, accumulating 22 total assists.
Ryan Kalkbrenner hit nine of his twelve shots en route to a game-high 21 points. He got plenty of support from Arthur Kaluma (18pts), Ryan Nembhard (17pts, 5reb, 5ast), Trey Alexander (13pts) and Baylor Scheierman (12pts, 12reb, 9ast)
For the Wildcats, Eric Dixon led the way with 20 points, hitting three triples. Caleb Daniels and Brandon Slater (4-4 3pt) each had 17 points, and lastly Justin Moore with 13 points and 7 assists.
Semifinal Recap
Marquette vs UConn
The first game of the semifinals started with one-seed Marquette facing off against fourth-seeded Connecticut, as both teams were coming off wins in the single digits in the quarterfinals. To start the semis, Madison Square Garden got introduced to an electric, back-and-forth game between two of the best teams in this tournament. Marquette and UConn were both neck and neck in the counting stats, but the percentages eventually told the story; Marquette hit 38 percent of their threes compared to the Huskies’ 28 percent. Marquette also was more efficient from the line hitting 11/14 as a team, while UConn went 9/15. However, the Huskies controlled the boards, grabbing ten more rebounds than Marquette with thirty-seven in total. Ultimately, the Marquette Golden Knights would narrowly defeat the UConn Huskies 70-68 to book a trip to the Big East Tournament Final.
Tyler Kolek dropped seventeen points and dished out six assists in the win, and David Joplin also had seventeen in eighteen minutes off the bench. Kameron Jones scored fourteen points with a team-leading six rebounds, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper had eleven points.
For the Huskies, Adama Sanogo had a field day under the basket; a nineteen-point, eleven-rebound double-double. Alex Karaban and Nahiem Alleyne had 10 points. The Huskies saw a well-balanced team effort from Tristen Newton, Joey Calcaterra, and Donovan Clingan who combined for twenty-two points.
Xavier vs Creighton
The three-seed Creighton Blue Jays faced off against the two-seed Xavier Musketeers for a shot at the Big East final against Marquette. Creighton, who took care of business against Villanova in the quarterfinals, could not repeat their same magic, as they lost 82-60.
Xavier took the reins early on and controlled the match leading 40-26 at halftime. Xavier was more efficient from the field going 33-70 from the field (47%), compared to the Bluejays, who shot thirty-eight percent for the entire game. The Musketeers also heavily controlled the glass, outrebounding Creighton 45 to 28. With this performance in the books, Xavier would then face Marquette in the Big East Tournament finals.
Souley Boum had an incredible night, twenty-five points with six assists, and five rebounds. Jack Nunge had seventeen points and seven boards, while Colby Jones had a fourteen-point ten-rebound double-double, and Desmond Claude added eleven points off the bench. The starting five for Xavier combined for twenty-four rebounds.
Ryan Kalkbrenner led the Bluejays in scoring with eighteen points, followed by Bryan Scheierman with fifteen and Trey Alexander with twelve points. Ryan Nembhard had an all-around performance with five points, six rebounds, and six assists.
Finals Recap
Marquette vs Xavier
For all the marbles, the winners of the Big East Tournament; The No.1 seed Marquette faced off versus the No.1 Seed Xavier. It was a game dictated by capitalizing on the opponents' mistakes as perfectly as possible, which is what the Golden Knights did. Xavier struggled to control the ball, with their thirteen turnovers being the story of the final, while Marquette had four. Foul shots were also a telling story throughout this game, as the Musketeers shot only 4/11 from the charity stripe (36.4%), while the Golden Eagles went 14/16.
Marquette slammed on the gas and took off as the winners of the Big East Tournament convincingly, winning the game 65-51, winning their first Big East Tournament in program history.
Big East Player of The Year Tyler Kolek led the way in the finals for Marquette, dropping 20 points and eight rebounds. David Joplin had twelve points and four rebounds, and Kameron Jones scored eleven points with six rebounds and four assists.
For Xavier, Adam Kunkel scored fourteen points, Jerome Hunter had a ten-point eight-rebound performance, and Desmond Claude had eleven points with five rebounds and three assists.
Unsurprisingly, Tyler Kolek was named The Big East Most Outstanding Player, totaling fifty-six points, twenty-one rebounds, and thirteen assists in the tournament.
Marquette’s Big East 6th man of the year winner David Joplin notably came in clutch with his seventeen-point performance against UConn in the semifinals, while scoring a dozen in the final.
All in all, the 2023 Big East Tournament was an incredible event, with captivating teams going head-to-head at the biggest stage in Basketball Madison Square Garden. Marquette proved this tournament that they were the No. 1 seed for a reason, putting in spectacular performance after spectacular performance.
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