After a poor start to the 2025-26 season, the Big East is starting to pick up some wins. Although preseason darlings UConn and St. John’s both suffered ranked losses, Butler and Seton Hall sprinted up the preseason cellar stairs with wins over South Carolina, Virginia, and NC State to help Georgetown (and aforementioned UConn) add high-major wins for the league; Providence and Xavier also picked up victories over Penn State and West Virginia.

Feast Week represents a massive opportunity for the Big East to make up for some early struggles, and Butler set the tone by “winning” the Greenbrier Tip-Off. Looking around the rest of the league, Xavier already went 1-1 at the Charleston Classic; St. John’s and Creighton are competing for the Players Era Championship; Providence (Rady Children’s), Georgetown (ESPN Events), and Seton Hall (Maui) are all at Invitationals; and DePaul is in the Emerald Coast Classic — along with some other games sprinkled in. 

Before diving into games to watch, though, let’s look at takeaways from the past week for the Big East Round-Up.

Butler, Villanova, and Georgetown are making early impacts.

UConn and St. John’s were projected to be the Big East's top teams this season, and they have largely lived up to those expectations. The Huskies are 5-1 with a win over BYU and a four-point loss without Tarris Reed to Arizona. St. John’s is just 3-2 but its losses have both come by single-digits to highly-rated teams in Alabama and Iowa State; the Red Storm need a signature win to perhaps solidify elite status but Bart Torvik’s efficiency rankings with preseason expectations excluded still rates them second-best in the league.

Behind the two preseason frontrunners, though, are not the expected suspects. Creighton, Providence, and Marquette have all seen their efficiency ratings dip since the preseason, making room for others to climb the power rankings ladder. 

Most notably, Butler is posting the 29th-best efficiency rating in the country with preseason removed on Bart Torvik after being picked just 10th in the Big East’s preseason poll. The Bulldogs are fresh off back-to-back high-major wins over South Carolina and Virginia at the Greenbrier Tip-Off in which they trailed for a combined total of 23 seconds. The Bulldogs are playing with pace, Finley Bizjack and Michael Ajayi are performing like stars, and Jalen Jackson and Jamie Kaiser have been high-impact supporting pieces.

Villanova showed potential in a five-point loss to BYU in their opener, and has since handled business against four straight teams ranked between No. 120-280. Bryce Lindsay is still scoring at a high clip, Duke Brennan is a beast on the glass (1st nationally in OR%, 2nd in DR%), and freshmen Acaden Lewis and Matt Hodge are starting to find their footing. 

Perhaps the most dangerous of the bunch, though, is still Georgetown. The Hoyas are only a few spots up from their preseason KenPom ranking, but mainly due to letting some extremely large margins shrink in garbage time. They are 5-0 and tied with Butler for the league’s most top 100 wins (2). With Vince Iwuchukwu sidelined for 6-8 weeks, the Hoyas will need Julius Halaifonua to stay out of foul trouble; he is committing an astounding 11.3 fouls per 40 minutes this season, and fouled out in both high-major wins.

Seton Hall suffocates NC State in first high-major test.

Seton Hall was picked to finish last in the Big East, but showed flashes of potential during a 5-0 start to the season. However, none of the Pirates’ wins were over a KenPom top-200 opponent, and their margins were not impressive enough to move more than only from No. 93 to No. 87 on KenPom. However, not to be outdone by the three discussed above, Seton Hall turned heads on Nov. 24 with an upset win over NC State at the Maui Invitational. 

Staying in line with how the Pirates thrived against lesser competition, they were the more physical team and defensively stout. The Pirates held a block party in the Lahaina Civic Center, with six different players recording a swat for Seton Hall; Elijah Fisher, AJ Staton-McCray, and Najai Hines blocked a pair of shots each.

NC State posted season-lows in eFG% offense (.492) and defense (.580), as well as offensive rebounding rate (.231) against the Pirates.

Between Butler and Seton Hall, the projected cellar of the Big East is propping up the league. The Bulldogs and Pirates are a combined 3-1 against KenPom top 100 opponents, while the rest of the league is just 5-15; take out Georgetown and the record dips to 3-15. With how much of the conference has struggled early, there’s no reason (yet) to believe that Seton Hall’s aggression and athleticism cannot lead to continued success.

The Pirates lead the country in block rate while also slotting in at third in 2-point percentage allowed and seventh in steal rate. A low strength of schedule contributes some to those rankings, but a second-round Maui matchup against USC could feed the optimistic flames.

Providence is due for a 3-point boon.

Providence picked up a much-needed high-major win over Penn State at Mohegan Sun Arena this past week behind its best defensive output of the season. The Friars needed the defense against Penn State, too, as they continued to struggle with their own 3-point shots, making just 6-of-33 (18.2%) for a new season-low. Through six games, Providence ranks 124th nationally in 3-point attempt rate but is connecting on just 30.6% of those shots. 

The lack of efficiency beyond the arc is the lone statistic currently holding back what could be a very explosive offense. The Friars rank in the top 100 for each of eFG%, TO%, 2P%, and FT%, while being 166th in OR% and 187th in FTA/FGA.

Additionally, the perimeter shots should start falling. Of the eight Friars with prior collegiate shooting numbers, only one is shooting better than his career percentage from beyond the arc this season. Taking into account the volume of attempts from each player and their respective career marksmanship, Providence’s expected 3-point percentage this season is 34.68% (equivalent to ~133rd nationally) as opposed to its actual 30.6% rate:

Of course, shot quality could play a significant factor in some players’ struggles, but one would still expect water to find its level for proven shooters with high-major experience like Jason Edwards and Jaylin Sellers. If (when?) that starts happening, Providence can still reach its preseason goals. The Friars’ early-season losses to Virginia Tech and Colorado have put them behind the eight ball, but starting to heat up from distance at the Rady Children’s Invitational isn’t out of the question — and would be well-timed. 

Creighton loses Jackson McAndrew for the season.

Creighton announced on Nov. 21 that sophomore stretch forward Jackson McAndrew would miss the rest of the season with a foot injury. Although McAndrew was off to a slow start while playing through the injury, shooting just 31% from the field, he had started all four games after earning preseason third team All-Big East recognition.

Looking back at his freshman season, McAndrew was a Big East All-Freshman honoree for posting 7.8 points and 4.4 rebounds on 69-for-195 (35.4%) from three; he was the first freshmen to shoot >35% from three on over 150 attempts while standing at 6-10 or taller since No. 3 overall NBA Draft pick Jabari Smith in 2022.

Creighton has already played once without McAndrew, inserting Jasen Green into his starting spot in a seven-point loss to Baylor. Green performed well with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a block but he is not nearly the floor-spacer of McAndrew; he shot just 12-for-45 (26.7%) from 3-point range last season.

Combining losing McAndrew to injury with starting big Owen Freeman already playing through an injury, Creighton might be forced to lean into small-ball. Thankfully, Josh Dix is playing well and Hudson Greer’s redshirt is already paying dividends. Greer scored 16 points in 23 minutes against Baylor in just his second college game.

Marquette’s upcoming schedule isn’t forgiving.

Marquette jumped 13 spots on KenPom after a 40-point win over Little Rock on Nov. 12. Even with that, though, the Golden Eagles are down 29 spots from their initial placement amid just a 4-3 start with losses against all three of their top 100 opponents. The schedule does not afford many chances to regroup, either.

Marquette closes its nonconference schedule with just one more home game against Valparaiso sandwiched around facing Oklahoma in Chicago and travelling to play Wisconsin (okay, not a long trip but still) and Purdue on the road.

Not only does Marquette need a win or two against those three high-major opponents to keep its hopes alive, but the league could desperately need them as well. The Big East cannot afford the Golden Eagles to go 0-6 against its tough nonconference foes.

Games to watch: 

St. John’s and Creighton at the Players Era Festival: The Red Storm (to Iowa State) and Bluejays (to Baylor) both suffered losses on the opening day of the Players Era Championship but the event is full of opportunities. The two Big East representatives swap opponents on Nov. 25th, then will have another opportunity later in the week as well. 

UConn vs. Illinois (Madison Square Garden): UConn’s Dan Hurley has already promised that his team will be celebrating Thanksgiving early to avoid suffering from any lingering tryptophan effects come this elite nonconference matchup on Black Friday. More importantly, Tarris Reed and Braylon Mullins could be available in the meeting with Illinois. 

Providence at the Rady Children’s Invitational: After a slow start, Providence picked up a solid win over Penn State in its last outing. Now, it hopes to carry that momentum into facing a very strong field at the Rady Children’s Invitational. The Friars open against Wisconsin on Thanksgiving, and then will face either Florida or TCU the next day.