Redemption, and dominance

Good morning! That was a nice Tuesday of college hoops. Well, except for most of the ACC. But we’ll get to that.

1. The Big East gets right. At least for a night.

Perhaps reports of the Big East’s demise were premature. At least for one day.

It feels odd to earn a “must-win” game in December, but that’s exactly what Villanova did in Tuesday with a 68-60 victory over No. 14 Cincinnati in the Big 12-Big East Battle.

The Wildcats (5-4) needed it. They hadn’t beaten a team ranked higher than 255 in KenPom all season. And Cincy (6-1) qualifies as a marquee win. Nova needed it for its profile, for its fan, and for its overall psyche. They were overdue for a a good win.

Villanova once again got an outstanding effort from Eric Dixon, scoring 31 points (11-of-23 shooting, including, 3-of-7 from 3). But he scored 30+ in losses to Columbia and Maryland.

So, what changed Tuesday? Defense.

Villanova held Cincinnati — which ranks in the top 30 in both 3-point (39.9%) and 2-point (58.7%) shooting to just 38% overall. Sure, the Bearcats missed a few clean looks, but those were few and far between. Villanova held down the Bearcats offense.

“I think that was our best performance throughout 40 minutes. I think there were times where we played good in spurts, but this was the first time we put together a full 40 minutes,” coach Kyle Neptune said.

If Nova was due for a good win, Providence was in the same boat.

The Friars dropped three straight at the Battle 4 Atlantis last week. But re-adding Bryce Hopkins to a lineup tends to change a team. Just ask BYU, which left Providence a little humbled after an 83-64 loss.

BYU (6-2) attempted 27 more shots than Providence (69 to 42), but hit on just 33% of them, and were just 7-of-25 ×25% from deep). The Friars (6-3) shot 59% overall and went 12-of-22 from beyond the arc.

Hopkins was good in his first game in nearly a year, scoring 16 points with five rebounds and four assists. But the go-to guy was Jabri Abdur-Rahim. The well-traveled wing scored 21 points and seemed to create a shot whenever he needed it. Having Hopkins in the lineup certainly helped.

“'He was great. I mean, we built the team around him. Our team kind of makes more sense with him out there,” Providence coach Kim English said. “We can get a really good four or five-shooter lineup out there.”

We’ll see if the Big East has more magic in store for tonight. It’ll only be favored in one of its four games vs. the Big 12 (Baylor at UConn).

2. SEC was this close to a Tuesday sweep of the ACC

SEC schools dominated the SEC/ACC Men’s Challenge on Tuesday night, going 9-1. Maybe the other ACC schools should send Clemson a Thank You note.

Subscribe to Premium to read the rest.