Ben Bentil Named BIG EAST Player of the Week

The 16th-ranked Friars earned the right to celebrate and flash some winning smiles. TV: 1 p.m. ET, FoxABOUT PROVIDENCE (16-3, 4-2 Big East): While Wright was thrilled with his seniors after the last game, Providence coach Ed Cooley praised his underclassmen following the win over Butler.

“This Big East Conference is a bear”, Cooley said. The Musketeers defeated Seton Hall over the weekend after an upset loss to Georgetown last week. It was their first win over the Wildcats since February 3, 2013.

Providence would love to kick back for a few days and relish a week that saw it take down two ranked opponents, including a top-five team on the road.

The game originally was scheduled for Saturday, but was moved due to Winter Storm Jonas. “Lock us in a hotel until whenever”. The Friars, Xavier, Creighton and Georgetown are all each within a game of the Wildcats in the loss column in the race for the Big East title. Villanova struggled in its last two games. “That’s how we played early in the year, and we’ve been getting better at that but we fell back into that tonight”. “I think this will help us get better”.

Providence center Ben Bentil led the way with a game-high 31 points and 13 rebounds.

“Coach always says that leaders have to step up and we stepped up today”, Bentil said. He finished with 13 points, 14 assists and four steals before fouling out with 15.9 seconds to go in overtime.

“I thought we were really well prepared coming into this game”, said Wright. “He’s a great player and he’s going to beat you one way or another”.

For the second time this season, Ben Bentil of the Providence Friars is the Big East Coast Bias Player of the Week.

Villanova never got closer than one point after that. He made clutch play after clutch play, as he did it on both offense and defense.

Villanova had contributions from many individuals, too, none bigger than Arcidiacono down the stretch.

After two free throws from Kyron Cartwright and a three point lead in Providence’s favor, Villanova needed a big shot to keep their homes and lengthening their win streak alive and who other to get the ball than senior captain Ryan Arcidiacono.

“It’s a play we run every day in practice”, Arcidiacono said of his game-tying triple. The Musketeers average 7.4 three-pointers per game and have an assist/turnover ratio of 1.26. “Ryan makes the big shot and Daniel makes the big block”. “I mean, wow, he’s been here longer than Robert Parish was with the Celtics”.

Arcidiacono finished with 19 points. Josh Hart had 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats. Farr scored a career high 24 points in the win over the Pirates. Jalen Brunson chipped in with 10 points and four assists.