Big East Tournament 2016: Round 1 Scores, Quarterfinals Bracket and Schedule

The Villanova Wildcats and Xavier Musketeers—ranked No. 3 and No. 5 in the Associated Press Top 25, respectively—dominated the Big East regular season. However, part of the beauty of March is the fact teams like DePaul and St. John’s have the opportunity to create some madness of their own in the conference tournament. 

An automatic berth in the NCAA tournament awaits the winner of the Big East tournament that started Wednesday in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

While the league’s top six seeds all received first-round byes into Thursday’s quarterfinals, on Wednesday, No. 8 Georgetown faced off with No. 9 DePaul, and No. 7 Marquette squared off with No. 10 St. John’s. 

Here is a look at the first-round scores, as well as the bracket and schedule for Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Bracket and Thursday’s Quarterfinals Schedule

A full bracket can be found here, courtesy of BigEast.com.

Matchup	Time (ET)	TV
No. 1 Villanova vs. No. 8 Georgetown	12 p.m.	FS1
No. 4 Providence vs. No. 5 Butler	2:30 p.m.	FS1
No. 2 Xavier vs. No. 7 Marquette	7 p.m.	FS1
No. 3 Seton Hall vs. No. 6 Creighton	9 p.m.	FS1

Wednesday Scores

No. 8 Georgetown 70, No. 9 DePaul 53

Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

Georgetown disappointed this season and sported a 14-17 record coming into the Big East tournament. Despite its status as one of the most proven college basketball programs in the country, the Hoyas will be on the outside looking in during the Big Dance unless they win the entire thing in Madison Square Garden.

They got off to the perfect start Wednesday with a 70-53 victory over DePaul. It was Georgetown's third victory in as many tries this season against the Blue Demons. 

The Hoyas' D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera led the way with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. He drilled four three-pointers and played with a clear urgency Wednesday as a senior who didn't want his career to come to a close just yet. Georgetown also received 10 points and seven rebounds from Bradley Hayes.

Eli Cain paced the DePaul effort with 14 points and five rebounds.  

The Hoyas wasted little time establishing themselves as the better team Wednesday and jumped out to a 35-24 lead by halftime. Ben Standig of CSN Mid-Atlantic wondered where the uptempo play was throughout the season:

While it appeared Georgetown would cruise to victory, DePaul made a quick run out of the locker rooms and closed the gap to 35-31 less than two minutes into the second half when Aaron Simpson drilled a three-pointer. DePaul hung around and found itself behind 39-35 with less than 15 minutes left in the game, but Smith-Rivera took things into his own hands.

The guard scored the next eight points of the game and essentially put it out of reach at 47-35. 

From there, the Blue Demons never closed the gap to within single digits for the rest of the contest and saw their dismal season that included only three conference wins come to an end. 

What's Next?

Georgetown will square off with top-seeded Villanova in its next contest as an old-school Big East rivalry in a conference that has recently undergone a face-lift with conference expansions and changes.

However, the Wildcats were clearly the more dominant team in 2015-16 and beat Georgetown in both head-to-head matchups. While the first one was only a five-point deficit on Jan. 16, Villanova has the opportunity to be a No. 1 seed if it wins this tournament and will likely be plenty motivated when it takes the court.

Five different Wildcats players averaged more than 10 points a night this season, and the team was ranked No. 7 in the country in Ken Pomeroy's pace-adjusted defensive-efficiency ratings as of Wednesday. The Big East's regular-season champion is strong on both sides of the ball, and Georgetown will be tested even more because it is playing such a quality opponent in a quick turnaround matchup following Wednesday's game.

Villanova is the class of the Big East and will look to prove as much Thursday.

Postgame Reaction

Georgetown coach John Thompson III seemed almost relieved after the victory, per ESPN.com: 

"

Oh, man, it feels a lot better than losing… You go through the stretch that we've been through. It's hell. It's really, really hard. You go through a stretch where we're not winning, but they fought. Every single game we fought. I keep saying, `OK, it's going to turn around, it's going to turn around, it's going to turn around.' 

"

DePaul coach Dave Leitao credited the Hoyas for the win, per ESPN.com: “When you play in a tournament situation both teams are playing for their lives. You pay a price for it and Georgetown did a really good job of making us pay a price for it.”

Hayes was already looking ahead to the next matchup for Georgetown, per ESPN.com: “We're excited. This time we're going to show them we're not going to lay down. We want it bad. Everybody on our team wants it really bad. I'm pretty sure they want it just as bad, too. I think we're going to push it a little bit harder and hopefully we come out successful.”

---

No. 7 Marquette 101, No. 10 St. John’s 93

Elsa/Getty Images

St. John’s only won one game in conference play throughout the season and likely wasn’t seen as much of a threat to Marquette coming into Wednesday’s contest. However, the Red Storm hung around until the end and even made a late charge before ultimately falling short, 101-93.

It was a defense-optional contest in Madison Square Garden, and a trio of stars paced the effort for the Golden Eagles. Henry Ellenson led the way with 27 points and 14 rebounds, while Haanif Cheatham scored 19 points and Jajuan Johnson added 23 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists off the bench.

Kim Adams of the Big East Digital Network noted it was business as usual for the young Ellenson:

The Golden Eagles also finished 38-of-43 from the free-throw line, which was critical down the stretch as they iced the contest away.

St. John’s received 29 points and seven rebounds from Christian Jones in the losing effort. Jones also shot 13-of-21 from the field.

Marquette looked to be in full control with a 50-38 lead over St. John’s at the half that it extended to 57-42 when Ellenson drilled a three-pointer with less than 18 minutes remaining in the game. It maintained a double-digit lead for most of the second half, but the Red Storm gradually cut into the deficit.

St. John's trimmed the lead to 86-84 with less than four minutes left when Jones hit two free throws and then took an 89-88 lead with just more than three minutes remaining after Ron Mvouika hit a three-pointer. However, Ellenson answered with a three-pointer of his own on the ensuing possession to put Marquette up for good.

It was a tense final few minutes for the Golden Eagles, but they clinched the victory with timely free throws after Ellenson's momentum-altering shot.

What’s Next?

Marquette faces No. 2 Xavier in Thursday's quarterfinals. 

The Musketeers could still play themselves into the discussion for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament with a strong showing in New York and have to be considered the favorites over a Golden Eagles squad they already beat twice this season.

It should be noted both matchups between Marquette and Xavier ended in eight-point victories for the nation’s No. 5 team, so Thursday's game won’t be a pushover. The Golden Eagles will be playing on tired legs, but it is difficult to beat a squad three times in one campaign. Marquette will also have offensive momentum on its side after cracking the century mark Wednesday.

Unfortunately for Marquette, Xavier plays better defense than St. John’s.

Postgame Reaction

Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski commented on his team’s victory and approach to the game, per Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"

Any time you win a Big East tournament game it means a great deal. This was an unusual situation for us because 70 [percent] of our team had never set foot in this building and we weren't able to have a shoot around today so when they walked in they were wide eyed. Then we got the New York Knicks locker room and guys are out taking pictures and I was like, 'Fellas, we've got a game to play here.'

"

Wojciechowski also talked about his team’s ability to withstand St. John’s late charge, per Velazquez:

"

I thought we started off the second half just OK and then we let up on the defensive end. You know they're going to make a run. The only pressure they're feeling at that point when they're down 16 is the pressure you apply to them, and that's why they came back. Our guys had amazing game pressure on them and our team responded, especially these two young guys ([Ellenson] and [Cheatham]).

"

Marquette will need to continue responding to pressure if it plans on advancing deep into the Big East tournament.