Villanova looked like anything but a championship-caliber group on a defeat at Butler Sunday, but the No. 10 wildcats bounced back with a 72-60 victory over No. 14 Creighton on Wednesday to beat the Big East’s regular season- to achieve title. This is the seventh time in the last eight years that Villanova has won at least part of the league, although this title has a prize. Star guard Collin Gillespie was lost in the first half due to a knee injury that coach Jay Wright described as “serious” after the game.
Some bodies may carry the league title with a little asterisk. The caveat is that the Wildcats (16-4, 11-3 Big East) are on track to play just 15 league games this season. In contrast, Creighton (17-7, 13-6) will complete a full list of 20 Big East games if the final game is played against Butler on Saturday according to the regular season. But the league decided to use the winning percentage as the determining factor to award a champion.
Even if Villanova loses in Providence’s finals on Saturday and defeats Creighton Butler, the Wildcats will still end the regular season with a better winning percentage. However, the Wildcats and Bluejays were still able to meet again in the Big East title game, which would give them the opportunity to break the tie after splitting their games into the regular season.
Although it was a banner night for the Wildcats, it was also a worrying night for the program because of what happened to Gillespie. Here’s more about it as we hit the winners and losers of an important Wednesday night in basketball
Loser: Collin Gillespie’s senior night
Gillespie was among the four elderly people honored in Finneran Pavilion before the match, but the match was anything but a festive broadcast for the decorated floor general. Gillespie left the game with a knee injury at 6:38 of the first half after jumping to contest a shot from Damien Jefferson of Creighton. Without him on the floor, Villanova sometimes looked lost in the second half while Creighton roared back from a 22-point deficit to challenge the Wildcats. Eventually, the Wildcats survived. But it was sad to see Gillespie sit on the bench on a senior night with a league title, and Villanova’s performance without him was a reminder of how critical he is of the team.
The Wildcats are not a deep team, and as the post-season approaches, the seriousness of Gillespie’s injury is a critical issue for a team that night on the projected No. 3 seed line for the NCAA Tournament came in.
Winner: Missouri slams out of a funk
Missouri has been leaning hard in the wrong direction for the past few weeks, starting Wednesday night’s battle with the projected 6-seed with Florida. The Tigers broke out of their funk in an exciting way when Dru Smith beat a game in the last second to lift Mizzou to a 72-70 victory.
Missouri needed that one and could enter the post-season after regaining some momentum if it can straighten LSU this weekend.
Loser: Minnesota collapses
When Minnesota handed over its first loss of the season to Michigan on January 16 and improved to 11-4, the AP voters rewarded the Gophers by pushing them to number 17 in the next poll. It’s been downhill ever since. With their big hopes for the NCAA tournament already in the tubes, the Gophers’ misery continued Wednesday in an 84-65 defeat against Penn State. It’s now nine losses in 11 games for Minnesota since the win in Michigan and six in a row. Injuries, including the great Liam Robbins, have hampered coach Richard Pitino’s squad so far, but do not completely excuse a collapse of this magnitude.
Winner: Syracuse gets a bubble win
Syracuse again claimed a big win on Wednesday amid life on the bubble, as the Orange defeated Clemson 64-54 in a match that will only count as a Quad 2 victory for the time being. This is because the Tigers (15-5, 9-6) entered at number 33 in the NET. But if Clemson can make it into the NET’s top 30 before Selection Sunday, the win on Wednesday night will be Syracuse’s first Quad 1 win of the season. The Orange entered the game as one of the “last four out” of Jerry Palm’s projected NCAA tournament field, and the win over a hot Clemson team will be a good boost as the Orange now want to prepare for the ACC -tournament.
On a side note, winning an important match did not stop Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim from reminding everyone that he is a crutch.
Winner: Wichita State Takes Care of Business
Wichita State entered the night as a projected No. 10 series in the NCAA Tournament, with bracket expert Jerry Palm noting that their place in the bracket “will disappear with a loss to Tulane.” Well, the Shockers avoided a disaster, and there is something to be said for it at this time of year. The night was especially enjoyable for Trey Wade, who scored just 5.8 points for the Shockers but scored a career-high 23 on 9-of-12 shooting. Wichita State struck out 13-of-31 shots from three points in the game, and will be a serious threat in the post-season if he can continue to shoot the ball that way.
Seton Hall competed in one of Palm’s ‘last four out’ and did no favors by losing 69-58 to UConn. The Pirates play Saturday at St. John’s, and from now on it will count as a Quad 1 game. But make no mistake: Seton Hall is fading. Wednesday night’s loss was the team’s third consecutive time, and none of them are defensible losses. Georgetown and Butler are teams to beat the Pirates, and getting UConn home should not have been so challenging after Seton Hall beat the Huskies on February 6 on the road.
Winner: Oregon is learning
After an 82-74 victory over UCLA on Wednesday night, Oregon has won nine of its last ten games. The Ducks (18-5, 13-4 Pac-12) are still running for the Pac-12 title and it looks like they are clicking at the right time after another repeat under coach Dana Altman. Oregon shot an absurd 60.8% of the floor. Although the figure is partly an accusation of UCLA’s shaky defense, it’s also an indication of how the ducks find their rhythm. Chris Duarte has scored 20 points in three of Oregon’s last four games, and transfers Eugene Omoruyi (Rutgers) and LJ Figueroa (St. John’s) also remain brilliant. The victory, according to Duck, would also have to make the Ducks breathe a little after they still got in the bubble that night.
Loser: Maryland loses an ugly loss
Maryland’s momentum came to a halt on Wednesday night when the Terrapins dropped a 60-55 spectacle at Northwest. The Wildcats (8-14, 5-13 Big Ten) have now won two in a row after beating Minnesota last Thursday, but the Wildcats previously lost 13 in a row. In contrast, Maryland (15-11, 9-10) entered after winning five consecutive games, but it must now win Sunday against Nebraska if it is to avoid ending up with a losing record in the Big Ten game. It was the fifth time this season that the Terrapins could not score 60 points. Fortunately, because the loss came on the road, it would only be a Quad 2 defeat for Maryland. It would have been their first Quad 3 loss if it had happened at home.