UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Day 1 of the 2026 BIG EAST Tournament is in the books, with Georgetown, Providence and St. John’s advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinals. The quarterfinals are now set with the following matchups:
- No. 8 Georgetown vs. No. 1 UConn (12 p.m. ET)
- No. 5 Creighton vs. No. 4 Marquette (2:30 p.m. ET)
- No. 7 Providence vs. No. 2 Villanova (7 p.m. ET)
- No. 6 St. John’s vs. No. 3 Seton Hall (9:30 p.m. ET)
Before the quarterfinals get started, catch up on what happened during Day 1.
The ‘Hoya effect’
Georgetown 62, Butler 58
No. 8 seed Georgetown didn’t get off to the start it wanted to tip off Game 1 of the BIG EAST Tournament’s first round. The Hoyas came out of the gates a bit sluggish on the offensive end against No. 9 Butler, missing chippy layups while going just 27.8% from the field. After 20 minutes of play, coach Darnell Haney’s squad trailed Butler 30-23.
In the second half, the Hoyas let their defensive identity take over and ultimately eked out a 62-58 win to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal match against No. 1 seed UConn. In the game, Georgetown also out-rebounded Butler 37-31, including a plus-12 advantage on the offensive glass – a key differentiator in a tight game.
“We made some adjustments, right? We talked about how we were going to guard some of their actions. … And then we call it the Hoya effect,” Haney told reporters postgame.
“What we want to do is, every quarter, we want to tighten the jar. And they know first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, we continue to tighten the jar. That’s the Hoya effect. And we talk about it. You’ll see them in the game, tightening the jar. So that’s what we want to do. We want to make sure we wear these people out, right?”
It was an especially important win for Georgetown starting big Brianna Scott, who played in her first postseason game since suffering a devastating ACL injury on the very same court in the 2024 conference tournament.
“Laying in that bed after tearing my ACL and all the other things that I did, like, I just knew that I was going to come back and I was going to come back stronger,” Scott told reporters postgame. “Just having a team and a program that still believes in me, still believed in me after I could have just put the jersey away and said, ‘I’m done with basketball.’
“They wanted me to come back, I wanted to come back, and I feel like I have that support system here that I built. My teammates trust me, they love on me. The coaches, same thing, they trust me and love on me.”
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Acting head coach leads Friars to quarters
Providence 69, DePaul 55
Mere hours before No. 7 Providence’s match against No. 10 DePaul, assistant coach Valerie Nainima was officially informed that she’d step in for head coach Erin Batth, who was unable to coach due to illness.
“We had prepped last night. … We had a meeting yesterday when we were seeing that it might be a possibility,” Nainima told reporters about her assignment as acting head coach. “But we were prepared ahead of time, and then today, when it became a reality, just took some deep breaths, a lot of prayer, and just pushed through.”
Nainima had been in this position before. In December 2020, as an assistant with Fordham, she led the Rams to a 72-58 win over Hofstra. This time, in a do-or-die tournament setting, she again stepped up to the plate – keeping the Friars composed in the absence of their head coach.
“What we tried to do was just keep everything routine,” Nainima said. “And my hat’s off to the players. We tried to tell them early, and they handled it with such poise today.”
One player, Friars graduate guard Sabou Gueye, showed up particularly poised in her first-ever BIG EAST Tournament game. Gueye, who earlier this week became just the second Friar in the last 32 seasons to earn All-BIG EAST first team honors, dominated with a 31-point, seven-rebound performance that caught the attention of DePaul head coach Jill Pizzotti.
“She’s very gifted,” Pizzotti told reporters postgame. “She does a great job of getting past people and finishing at the rim. And she’s got a great pull-up jumper. Even though you know all those things, and you know what you need to do to get her stopped, she can still get it done, and that’s certainly the mark of a great player.”
Friars sophomore guard Orlagh Gormley (13 points) and graduate forward Teneisia Brown (14 points, 14 rebounds) joined Gueye in double figures. Providence will face No. 2 Villanova in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
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St. John’s outlasts upset bid
St. John’s 53, Xavier 48
Trailing No. 11 Xavier to start the fourth quarter, No. 6 St. John’s looked like it might be headed back to Queens with an upset loss.
“When you get in this tournament, seeds really don’t matter in a way, but you’re playing a team for the third time, everybody knows what you’re doing, you know what they’re doing, for the most part, and you’re going to have games like this that you’ve got to be able to gut out,” St. John’s head coach Joe Tartamella told reporters following the game.
The teams were largely gridlocked through the game’s first two quarters, with Xavier taking a 1-point lead to the locker room. Following a frustrating third quarter and facing a 6-point deficit, St. John’s quickly re-gained the lead, and never looked back – finishing the game on an 18-7 run to narrowly beat the Musketeers 53-48.
Sophomore forward Sa’Mya Wyatt secured seven of her 12 rebounds in the fourth quarter, while junior guard Brooke Moore added 10 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting day from the field.
“We understood that Xavier’s a great team, so we had to turn the momentum some way,” Moore told reporters. “So I feel like we just did a good job of being more aggressive on defense, moving the ball, and attacking the paint and just finding the open person. That’s what led to all those good looks in big moments.”
Next up for St. John’s is Seton Hall, a team they’ll face for the third time in 28 days. St. John’s seeks its third win against Pirates this season; they won 67-61 in Queens on Feb. 7 and 59-56 in South Orange on Feb. 22.
“Our two matchups were grind-it-out games, as they always usually are,” Tartamella said. “… (The Pirates) provide different challenges in how they play, and they do a great job of putting their players in positions to be successful. So certainly we got to get our rest tonight, regardless of who we’re going to play tomorrow, to make sure we put our plan in place and get out here and play and have the energy level you’re going to need.
“But at the end of the day, this time of year, no one’s tired. You’re not allowed to be tired.”
