Where: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
When: 12:00pm ET
How: FS1 (Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery & Lisa Byington)/Fox Sports GO app (where available)/WPRO 99.7 FM & 630AM, TuneIn and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV
Game Notes
- Providence and Villanova will meet for the 105th time ever on Thursday. The Wildcats hold the advantage in the all-time series, 65-39, including wins in both regular season meetings in 2018-19.
- Villanova finished the regular season 22-9 overall and 13-5 in Big East play to capture the regular season crown and top seed in the Big East Tournament. The Wildcats started Big East play 10-0 before finishing 3-5 over the final 8 games, including losing the regular season finale at Seton Hall. Jay Wright is in his 18th season at the helm of the Villanova program.
- Ed Cooley passed Al McClellan on the all-time wins list for Providence head coaches with the Friars’ win over Iona on November 24th. Cooley then moved ahead of Tim Welsh for 3rd most wins as the Providence head coach on March 9th vs Butler. Cooley currently has 162 wins and trails Dave Gavitt (209 wins) and Joe Mullaney (319 wins).
- Providence announced the signing of 2019 commit Greg Gantt on November 16th. Gantt, a native of North Carolina, is currently the only committed player for Providence next season. The Friars will also add preferred walk-on Tommy Dempsey next season, the son of the Binghamton head coach announced via his Twitter on December 19th.
- The Big East, USA Basketball and Providence announced on December 18th that the 2019 USA Pan American men’s basketball team will be represented solely by Big East players and coached by Ed Cooley.
- Providence junior Alpha Diallo became the 50th Providence player to score at least 1,000 points in his career when he hit a 3-pointer with 999 points against Georgetown on February 6th.
- Providence redshirt senior Isaiah Jackson became the 51st Providence player to score at least 1,000 points in his career on Senior Day at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on March 9th against Butler.
- The Friars advanced to the Big East Tournament quarterfinals by defeating Butler, 80-57, on Wednesday night behind a career-high 19 points from Maliek White.
- Providence inducted 11 new members to the Providence College Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, February 22nd. Jamel Thomas was one of the new inductees, and he and the other 10 members of the new hall of fame class were honored at halftime Providence’s February 23rd game against Marquette.
- Big East Tournament 2019 Opening Line: (8) Providence +6 vs (1) Villanova 3/14/19
Game Preview
Providence and Villanova will meet for the 105th time ever on Thursday when the teams meet in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. The Friars have played the Wildcats in the Big East Tournament in 4 of the 5 last seasons with Villanova winning the previous 3 meetings heading into Thursday’s game.
The probable starters according to the game notes are:
Providence
- David Duke – #3 – Freshman
- Maliek White – #4 – Junior
- A.J. Reeves – #10 – Freshman
- Alpha Diallo – #11 – Junior
- Nate Watson – #0 – Sophomore
Villanova
- Collin Gillespie – #2 – Sophomore
- Phil Booth – #5 – Redshirt Senior
- Jermaine Samuels – #23 – Sophomore
- Eric Paschall – #4 – Redshirt Senior
- Saddiq Bey – #15 – Freshman
The keys to victory for Providence are to contain Phil Booth and make outside shots. If the Friars can shoot even close to how they did in their last two games against Butler they’ll be able to hang around with the Wildcats. If they can make shots and slow down Booth, who has been a Friar killer this season, the Friars should have a chance at advancing to the semifinals.
Prediction: Providence 66 Villanova 65
Follow me on Twitter & Instagram @pcbb1917
About Author
