Player of the Week
Tyrese Martin (UConn)
Tyrese Martin (pictured) is the first Husky to become the player of the week here on the Big East blog since James Bouknight dropped 40 points in their overtime loss last season against Creighton. It was up in the air at the beginning season who would become the go-to player for UConn with the departure of Bouknight. Both Martin and R.J. Cole have been valuable pieces to fill this scoring void. Martin dropped 15 points and 25 points in back-to-back games against Providence and Marquette respectively. He missed the previous three games due to a wrist injury, but that didn’t seem to matter displaying some big-time scoring plays against Marquette. Martin has been a rock of consistency for UConn, posting double digit games in all but one (7 versus VCU on November 26th) this season.
Who’s Hot?
It is hard to categorize what other teams and players are hot in the Big East with only two games being played. This week there were five games that have been either cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19 related problems within different programs. It hasn’t just been one team; several teams are being plagued by the virus.
Previously the Big East policy forced teams who were unable to play to forfeit their games. This rule has been removed and efforts are being made to reschedule these games later. If a school can’t reschedule a game, it will then result in a no-contest rather than a forfeit. The modified policy also states that the game will be cancelled if fewer than seven scholarship players and one countable coach are available for a game.
Villanova Wildcats
The Wildcats won a huge bounce back game in their matchup against No. 18 Xavier earlier this week. It was good to see Jay Wright’s crew show some resilience after being embarrassed losing to games in a row to Baylor and Creighton. The Wildcats had one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the entire nation playing against No. 2 UCLA, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 6 Purdue, and No. 2 Baylor. They will play in one more nonconference game against Temple on Dec. 29th.
Who’s Not?
Marquette
After a strong 8-2 start, the Golden Eagles have fallen to last in the Big East losing their first two conference matchups against Xavier and UConn. To be fair, both teams are at the top of the conference, but they are going to have to knock off a top team at some point if they want to compete for a regular season title. They did give the Huskies a tough game even without Darryl Morsell who was out due to COVID protocols. This was a huge loss on the defensive side of the ball since Morsell would have been the guy to guard Martin, who scored 15 first half points.
Brandon Slater (Villanova)
Player #1 averages 14 points a game and player #2 averages three points per game. Both these players are Brandon Slater. In his first 8 games of the season, he was playing at a high level being a top scorer for the Villanova offense. In his last four games, he is averaging only three points a game with a combined three points in matchups against Baylor and Xavier. He is also shooting 16% from the field in these last four games. Villanova looked like one of the best teams in the nation early on, but with Slater struggling it could hurt their potential.
Top five 3-point shooters:
#5 Collin Gillespie (Villanova)
Villanova’s star point guard is shooting the best of his career as a starter. He has made 38 three pointers so far this season, just shy of the 41 he made last year in 20 games before getting injured. He is on pace to make more three pointers this season than any before. He has been struggling in the last three games shooting just 20% from the three, but this has been a collective struggle for the Wildcats as a unit.
#4 Julian Champagnie (Saint John’s)
Being a great three-point shooter will also contribute to being one of the top scorers in the nation. Champagnie sits at second in the Big East in scoring shooting 43% from deep. His elite shooting is just a small facet of his game, which opens up driving lanes and allows him to get defenders off balance when utilizing the shot fake. His biggest game this year came in Saint John’s loss against Indiana. He dropped 32 points draining six threes.
#3 Nate Johnson (Xavier)
Last year Johnson finished 2nd overall in the conference shooting 45% from the three. This year he sits at the same spot while shooting 46% from deep in 13 games. Johnson earned player of the week earlier this year with career high 30 points where he buried seven three pointers to push the Musketeers to victory. He’s been slightly cold in his last four games compared to normal shooting 37% from three, which would still have him in the top 15 in the Big East. Knowing Johnson, he will bounce back because shooters will continue to shoot.
#2 Donald Carey (Georgetown)
Carey currently leads the Big East in 3-point percentage at 47% but gets the two spot behind his teammate because of specific accomplishments this season. He’s had three games this year with four made three pointers, all of which were accomplished when shooting 50% or better from deep. The Hoyas have some great shooters around the perimeter and may have the best shooting duo in the Big East. Last year he was ranked 4th in the Big East in 3-point percentage and he is continuing that over into this season.
#1 Kaiden Rice (Georgetown)
Rice transfers in from The Citadel where he started all 25 games and shot a career 40.1 percent from the three-point line before coming to Georgetown. There was no question that he would continue to be a threat from deep entering into the Big East. This year he leads the big East with 43 total made three pointers. In Georgetown’s matchup against UMBC he scored career high 34 points making 10 treys’, breaking the previous school record for most three’s in a game.