Player of the Week
Adama Sanogo (UConn)
After dealing with an abdominal injury in early December, Sanogo (pictured) is back making a huge impact for the Huskies. He is coming off a monster game in the team’s win over Saint Johns, in overtime. The big man played a career high 40 minutes leading to a double-double. He led the Huskies in scoring with 26 points and brought in 18 rebounds, the most boards by any player in the Big East this season. Sanogo is a huge reason for UConn’s success. In all the games he has played in this year the team has averaged 85 points a game. And the Huskies have clearly struggled, averaging 67, without him.
Who’s Hot
Villanova Wildcats
The Wildcats are on fire. Since dropping their game to Creighton, they have won six straight giving them a convincing 6-1 early record in the Big East. They have since risen to No. 11 in the nation, 12 positions better than their ranking from the Dec. 20 AP poll. As a collective group they torched the nets in their 82-42 win over Butler. Collin Gillespie and Justin Moore combined for seven threes on 75% shooting. Villanova’s previous game featured a close battle on the road against ranked Xavier. They’ll be tested in their next game at home against Marquette.
Marquette Golden Eagles
Just like last week, the Golden Eagles continue to grind out wins. This week they hosted two games against DePaul and Seton Hall. The win over Seton Hall came down to the wire. Greg Elliott hit a free throw with 1.8 seconds left that gave them the 73-72 edge to win the game. Maryland transfer Darryl Morsell scored career high 26 points, making it his fifth 20-point game this season. Another key contributor to Marquette’s success comes from another transfer out of George Mason. Tyler Kolek dished out seven assists in the win over Seton Hall and leads the Big East in assists per game. Shaka Smart will need to prepare his team for a tough upcoming 6 game stretch featuring opponents who are either ranked or have been ranked at a point this season.
Who’s Not
Georgetown Hoyas
Moving from teams who are on a large win streak, the Hoyas have lost their past four games. A big reason for their struggles can be attributed to a two-week COVID pause. This forced them to be thrown into the thick of Big East play while other teams are rolling. They are 0-3 in Big East play being outscored by a combined 61 points in those three games. Not only are they losing, but they haven’t been able to be competitive. A big issue that resulted in their loss to Saint John’s came from their difficulty to break the Red Storm full court press. They committed 21 turnovers, which is now their second game this season with 20+ turnovers.
Seton Hall Pirates
The Pirates dropped two games this week against Marquette and DePaul. Both were close games losing to DePaul by 4 on the road and by just a free throw to Marquette. Against DePaul they allowed 96 points, the most all season. In the first half they trailed by 17 points, their largest deficit of any half this season. Coach Kevin Willard forced some energy into his team that sparked a comeback to cut the deficit to two points late in the game. Thankfully for Seton Hall, Ike Obiagu is back into the lineup grabbing career high 13 rebounds in the loss over Marquette. He also has been a wall in the paint with 12 blocks in the past two games.
Top 5 Most Improved Players
#5 Posh Alexander (Saint John’s)
Coming into Saint John’s, Alexander was already a talented freshman. Last season he led the Big East in steals and is currently doing the same this year averaging 2.6 per game. There’s no question he was a great defender, but he has really improved offensively from last season. He’s averaging 15.5 points per game and 5.1 assists this season compared to 10.9 and 4.3. Finally, he is shooting 50% from the field.
#4 David Jones (DePaul)
DePaul has been playing better than expected this season and a lot of that comes from the improvement of Jones. This is a guy who went from averaging 5 points a game his freshman year to now 15.5 a game, one of the best in the Big East. The first game of the year he dropped 23 points and it was noticeable that he became a better player during the offseason.
#3 Justin Lewis (Marquette)
New head coach and many new faces gave Lewis the opportunity to step up and become a leader for the Golden Eagles. He had spurts last year where he showed his scoring talents but could not build a consistency. This year he’s averaging 15.3 points and 7.7 rebounds. Against Providence he scored career high 23 points. The only area he needs to improve to increase his draft stock is his outside shooting.
#2 Bryce Aiken (Seton Hall)
Aiken has been dealing with injuries on and off for the past two years which impacted his ability to get valuable game experience. Last year he averaged only 5.7 points a game. He has been dominating in the Big East averaging just under 20 points a game in the conference. In the recent loss to Marquette, he scored 28 points, his highest in a Seton Hall uniform.
#1 Javon Freeman-Liberty (DePaul)
It takes significant offseason work to become one of the best scorers in the Big East. Freeman-Liberty has been battling Julian Champagnie all season for the top scoring spot. He sits at second, just 0.3 points shy of the lead. He recently scored career high 34 points in DePaul’s loss to Villanova. His 34 points compiled more than 50% of DePaul’s total points. If he can keep this production going, he can potentially attract some NBA looks.