The Latest Breaking News from Big East

The Xavier Musketeers and the Connecticut Huskies will face off in a Big East college basketball battle on Thursday night.

NEW YORK — Brandon Slater’s birth name is James, and when he’s playing well, Villanova coach Kyle Neptune calls him “Jimmy.”

The 20th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles will host the 22nd-ranked Providence Friars in a Big East college basketball matchup.

INDIANAPOLIS — Dan Hurley had a feeling entering conference play that his UConn men’s basketball team coasting to double-digit victories would come to an end against Big East opponents. Despite the 68-46 final score against Butler in the conference opener on Saturday, he was right.

The UConn men’s basketball team jumped 12 spots in the latest AP Top 25 rankings released Monday after an impressive run to the Phil Knight Invitational title. The Huskies defeated Oregon, new-No. 11 Alabama and Iowa State, now ranked No. 23, to win the tournament.

NEW YORK — Maddy Siegrist, reigning Big East player of the year, answers most questions with a kind of wry half-smile, game for most any query, strange or straightforward.

On the other end of the phone, Mike Tranghese sighed quietly. It was a sound that conveyed a sense of empathy, if not resignation. The emotions returned, almost 20 years later. Back then, as the commissioner of the original Big East Conference, Tranghese watched with a sense of helplessness while…

An early Villanova defensive lockdown decided things Saturday as the Wildcats closed out their regular season with a 78-59 takedown of Butler inside historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, traditionally a tough Big East stop for Villanova.

CINCINNATI — The UConn men’s basketball, looking for a second straight win over a ranked conference opponent, ran into a desperate Xavier team and dropped a 74-68 Big East decision at the Cintas Center on Friday night.