This Week in the Big East: 12/21-27

Check back throughout the week for updated links!

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Christmas is finally here, and with it comes a lighter week in the Big East. Let’s take a look!

The Schedule

All times Eastern

Monday, December 21

Southern Illinois at Butler, 7:30 PM, FS1 Recap

Wednesday, December 23

#22 Xavier at #13 Creighton, 3:00 PM, FS1

Georgetown at Seton Hall, 5:00 PM, FS1

Providence at Butler, 6:00 PM, CBS Sports

#5 Villanova at Marquette, 7:00 PM, FS1

Western Illinois at DePaul, 9:00 PM, FS1

Sunday, December 27

DePaul at Providence, 4:30 PM, FS1

Only nine schools in the conference have games scheduled this week, and just two of those schools play more than once. Butler and Providence each play two games, while St. John’s and UConn get the week off.

DePaul’s program is active and healthy, and the Blue Demons will return to practice on Monday. This marks the first time all season that all eleven Big East teams will be active at the same time.

Wednesday will be a busy day in the conference. Four Big East games are scheduled throughout the afternoon and into the evening, and DePaul will cap the night by opening their season against Western Illinois. The conference will have December 24-26 off, and Providence will host DePaul in the league’s lone game this Sunday.

#22 Xavier at #13 Creighton is sure to be the premiere matchup of the week in this meeting of the Big East’s top two offenses. The undefeated Musketeers, fresh off a buzzer beater victory over Marquette. travel to Omaha to take on the Creighton Bluejays. Big East Player of the Week Paul Scruggs has been one of the league’s best players this season, scoring 16.4 points per game and leading the conference with 7.0 assists per game as well. He’ll go against the Preseason Big East Player of the Year, Marcus Zegarowski in what is sure to be a can’t-miss affair.

Creighton and Xavier have scored at a torrid pace to start this season, averaging 85.0 and 84.1 points per game respectively. The conference record of 88.0 points per game, set by Villanova in 2017-18, may be out of reach for these two squads, but both teams are currently on pace to jump second place 1989-90 Providence at 83.6 points per game.

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In the Polls

Risers

Villanova Wildcats (#7 to #5)

Xavier Musketeers (RV to #22)

Fallers

Creighton Bluejays (#9 to #13)

UConn Huskies (RV to No Votes)

Xavier returns to the Top 25 for the first time in over a year. The Musketeers were ranked 23rd last December, but they slid out after a loss at Wake Forest. Two wins last week put Villanova back into the top 5, while Creighton gets pushed outside the top ten with last Monday’s home loss to Marquette.

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Stat of the Week

St. John’s currently leads all Division I schools with 826 points scored this season. That’s 54 points better than second place North Carolina A&T and 137 better than Seton Hall, the next best Big East team.