Player of the Week
Aminu Mohammed (Georgetown)
The Georgetown freshman is really beginning to hit his stride. Georgetown opened up Big East play with a huge win against Syracuse and Muhammed went for 23 points, and also added 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Muhammed is averaging 15 ppg and 8.7 boards and also knocking down 40% from three, having hit 8-of-20 on the year, or roughly one per game. If Mohammed keeps up this tear, he may start to generate some draft buzz for the 2022 NBA draft.
Who’s Hot?
Kaiden Rice (Georgetown)
Rice’s shooting display against UMBC was sensational. He made 10 three pointers, demolishing the previous school record for most three-pointers made in a game. It also was Rice’s career high scoring 34 points. He also scored 15 points in the Hoyas big win over Syracuse. Rice made a strong push for player of the week, but with the magnitude of the Syracuse opener, Mohammed gets the nod ever slightly over Rice.
The Big East
This start from the conference as a collective group has been electric. It was so hard to choose who to put into the who’s hot category since the entire conference is winning at an elite level right now. All together the Big East has a record of 88-23. Every team has a winning record with four teams having only one loss. Guess who is tied for the second worst record in the conference? The Villanova Wildcats. Their tough nonconference schedule is a big reason for this, but it is crazy to believe considering Jay Wright and company were selected to win the Big East this year.
Alongside Villanova, there are three other teams ranked in the top 25. Seton Hall comes in ranked No. 16 after their huge win over No. 7 Texas. Make that two top 10 wins for the Pirates as they were able to beat Michigan on the road in the Gavitt Games. They were able to beat Texas even without starting center Ike Obiagu who got sidelined early with an ankle injury. Seton Hall’s size and athleticism is causing many problems for teams across the nation. Their most recent win came in the battle for New Jersey against Rutgers. They won with ease by 14 points. Five players scored in double figures, with Bryce Aiken scoring 22 points off the bench.
UConn drops to No. 20 in the nation after their loss to West Virginia but a big win over Saint Bonaventure kept the inside the top 25. The loss to the Mountaineers was tough considering it was on the road and they were without starters Adama Sanogo and Tyrese Martin. Thankfully for Dan Hurley, his team has a lot of depth and experience. R.J. Cole has really developed into being a leader for team. Be on the lookout for the Huskies come March.
The final team inside the top 25 from the Big East are the Xavier Musketeers. Zach Freemantle is back in the rotation recovering from his injury. This is another Big East team with a lot of depth and experience. Iowa Transfer Jack Nunge earned career high 31 points and career high 15 rebounds off the bench for Xavier in their 20 point win over Cincinnati.
Other notable teams in the Big East that are hot now include: Saint John’s, Providence, Creighton, DePaul and Georgetown. Creighton and Georgetown are coming off big wins over BYU and Syracuse respectively. Providence received 57 AP Poll votes after having a great start and now being on a five-game winning streak. Butler is also bouncing back win a big win over Oklahoma.
Who’s Not
Villanova
The Wildcat’s offense looked poor in their Big East/Big 12 Battle against defending national champions Baylor. Give credit to Baylor’s defense. Their physicality and athleticism disrupted Villanova’s offense forcing them to take poor shots. The Wildcats shot 22.2% from the field and scored 36 points, the lowest mark in the 21-year Jay Wright Era. Give credit to them for their defense against Baylor, but you aren’t going to win any basketball game with that poor offensive performance.
Marquette
UCLA came in and embarrassed the Golden Eagles on their own court. Three players contributed to 45 of Marquette’s 56 points. They need to find some other scoring options off the bench. Greg Elliott has been a veteran presence off the bench, but other than that the scoring has come from mainly Justin Lewis and Darryl Morsell. George Mason transfer Tyler Kolek has not scored in his past two games. Shaka Smart’s team has finished nonconference play and will enter the Big East Gauntlet Saturday Dec. 18 vs Xavier.
Top five Big East/Big 12 Battle Games:
#5 Marquette vs Kansas State
The Golden Eagles were able to travel on the road and come away after a clutch block from Oso Ighodaro that gave them the victory 64-63. Freshman [Kam Jones] scored his third double figure performance with team high 15 points.
#4 Xavier vs Oklahoma State
Even though Oklahoma State is without Cade Cunningham, they returned a lot of key players from the last year. Xavier trailed this game early on being down 6 points into the start of the second half. The Musketeers went on a big 11-0 run with 10 minutes to go in the game that gave them the convincing lead to win the game 77-71 on the road.
#3 Providence vs Texas Tech
After a cold shooting performance to start the game, the Friars were able to turn things around at home and end the first half on a 15-3 scoring run that brought them within two. Providence shot 50% from the three in the second half, which was a huge factor that pushed them to win this matchup 72-68.
#2 UConn vs West Virginia
Despite UConn losing this game, it deserves to make this list since it was a highly entertaining game. West Virginia would have easily won this game if it wasn’t for their poor performance from the free throw line making 12 of 27 (44%), their worst all season. UConn had the ball down two points with under a minute to play and they missed four shots on the same possession. West Virginia came down and hit their free throws this time and the game ended with a final score of 56-53.
#1 Butler vs Oklahoma
What a win for the Bulldogs. After being down 13 points with seven minutes to go, they were able to claw back into the game and force overtime. Chuck Harris was the man for Butler scoring season high 26 points. Credit goes to Elijah Harkless who buried the game-tying three to force overtime. Bulldogs win 62-58.