# 2020–21 Big East Conference men's basketball season

The 2020–21 Big East Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play began in January 2021.

## Head coaches
### Coaches

| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | Big East record | Big East titles | NCAA Tournaments | NCAA Final Fours | NCAA Championships |
| Butler | LaVall Jordan | Milwaukee | 4 | 50–32 | 17–20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| UConn | Dan Hurley | Rhode Island | 3 | 42–30 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Creighton | Greg McDermott | Iowa State | 10 | 217–111 | 56–52 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| DePaul | Dave Leitao | Tulsa (asst.) | 8 | 118–117 | 46–74 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Georgetown | Patrick Ewing | Charlotte Hornets (asst.) | 3 | 49–46 | 19–35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marquette | Steve Wojciechowski | Duke (asst.) | 6 | 107–72 | 43–48 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Providence | Ed Cooley | Fairfield | 9 | 170–116 | 72–73 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Seton Hall | Kevin Willard | Iona | 10 | 179–131 | 70–90 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| St. John's | Mike Anderson | Arkansas | 1 | 11–3 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Villanova | Jay Wright | Hofstra | 19 | 457–177 | 203–105 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 2 |
| Xavier | Travis Steele | Xavier (asst.) | 2 | 29–18 | 9–9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Notes:
* Years at school includes 2020–21 season.
* Overall and Big East records are from time at current school and are through week nine of the 2019–20 season.
* McDermott's MVC conference records and Hurley's AAC records not included since team began play in the Big East.

## Preseason
### Preseason poll

Prior to the season, the Big East conducted a poll of Big East coaches. Coaches do not place their own team on their ballots.
| Rank | Team |
| 1. | Villanova (9) |
| 2. | Creighton (2) |
| 3. | Providence |
| 4. | UConn |
| 5. | Seton Hall |
| 6. | Marquette |
| 7. | Xavier |
| 8. | Butler |
| 9. | St. John's |
| 10. | DePaul |
| 11. | Georgetown |
| (first place votes) ||

### Preseason All-Big East teams

| Honor | Recipient |
| Preseason Player of the Year | Marcus Zegarowski, Creighton |
| Preseason Freshman of the Year | Dawson Garcia, Marquette |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | Charlie Moore, DePaul |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | David Duke, Providence |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | Sandro Mamukelashvili, Seton Hall |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | Collin Gillespie, Villanova |
| Preseason All-Big East First Team | Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Villanova |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | Bryce Nze, Butler |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | James Bouknight, UConn |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | Mitch Ballock, Creighton |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | Nate Watson, Providence |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | Justin Moore, Villanova |
| Preseason All-Big East Second Team | Paul Scruggs, Xavier |
| Preseason All-Big East Honorable Mention | D. J. Carton, Marquette |
| Preseason All-Big East Honorable Mention | Bryce Aiken, Seton Hall |
*Schedule Source:

## Regular season
### Rankings

Legend :
* Increase in ranking
* Decrease in ranking
* Not ranked previous week
* First place votes
| Butler | AP |
| Butler | C |
| Creighton | AP |
| Creighton | C |
| DePaul | AP |
| DePaul | C |
| Georgetown | AP |
| Georgetown | C |
| Marquette | AP |
| Marquette | C |
| Providence | AP |
| Providence | C |
| Seton Hall | AP |
| Seton Hall | C |
| St. John's | AP |
| St. John's | C |
| Villanova | AP |
| Villanova | C |
| Xavier | AP |
| Xavier | C |

### Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.
| | Butler | UConn | Creighton | DePaul | Georgetown | Marquette | Providence | Seton Hall | St. John's | Villanova | Xavier |
| vs. Butler | – | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| vs. UConn | 0–2 | – | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| vs. Creighton | 1–1 | 0–2 | – | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. DePaul | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | – | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| vs. Georgetown | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | – | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| vs. Marquette | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | – | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| vs. Providence | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | – | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. Seton Hall | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | – | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| vs. St. John's | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | – | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. Villanova | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | – | 0–0 |
| vs. Xavier | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | – |
| Total | 8–12 | 11–6 | 14–6 | 2–13 | 7–9 | 8–11 | 9–10 | 10–9 | 10–9 | 11–4 | 6–7 |

### Player of the week

Throughout the season, the Big East Conference named a player of the week and a freshman of the week each Monday.
| Week | Player of the week | Freshman of the week |
| November 30, 2020 | Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Villanova | Dawson Garcia, Marquette |
| December 7, 2020 | Zach Freemantle, Xavier | Justin Lewis, Marquette |
| December 14, 2020 | David Duke, Providence | Dante Harris, Georgetown |
| December 21, 2020 | Paul Scruggs, Xavier | Posh Alexander, St. John's |
| December 28, 2020 | Myles Cale, Seton Hall | Chuck Harris, Butler |
| January 4, 2021 | Sandro Mamukelashvili, Seton Hall | Dawson Garcia (2), Marquette |
| January 11, 2021 | Tyler Polley, Connecticut | Colby Jones, Xavier |
| January 18, 2021 | Julian Champagnie, St. John's | Dawson Garcia (3), Marquette |
| January 25, 2021 | Jermaine Samuels, Villanova | Posh Alexander (2), St. John's |
| February 1, 2021 | Marcus Zegarowski, Creighton | Posh Alexander (3), St. John's |
| February 8, 2021 | Sandro Mamukelashvili (2), Seton Hall | Posh Alexander (4), St. John's |
| February 15, 2021 | David Duke (2), Providence | Adama Sanogo, Connecticut |
| February 22, 2021 | Charlie Moore | Colby Jones (2), Xavier |
| March 1, 2021 | R. J. Cole, Connecticut | Chuck Harris (2), Butler |
| March 7, 2021 | Julian Champagnie (2), St. John's | Adama Sanogo (2), Connecticut |

## Honors and awards
### Big East Awards

2021 Big East Men's Basketball Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| Player of the Year | Sandro Mamukelashvili, F., Seton Hall Collin Gillespie, G., Villanova Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, F., Villanova |
| Coach of the Year | Mike Anderson, St. John's |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Isaiah Whaley, F., Connecticut Posh Alexander, G., St. John's |
| Freshman of the Year | Posh Alexander, G., St. John's |
| Most Improved Player of the Year | Julian Champagnie, G./F., St. John's Zach Freemantle, F., Xavier |
| Scholar-Athlete of the Year | Ike Obiagu, C., Seton Hall |
| Sixth Man Award | Tyler Polley, F., Connecticut |
| Sportsmanship Award | Mitch Ballock, G., Creighton |
2021 Big East Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Honorable Mention | All-Freshman Team |
| Marcus Zegarowski – Creighton James Bouknight – Connecticut Julian Champagnie – St. John's Sandro Mamukelashvili* – Seton Hall Jeremiah Robinson-Earl* – Villanova Collin Gillespie – Villanova | Damien Jefferson – Creighton David Duke – Providence Nate Watson – Providence Zach Freemantle – Xavier Paul Scruggs – Xavier | Denzel Mahoney - Creighton Jahvon Blair - Georgetown Jermaine Samuels - Villanova | Chuck Harris* – Butler Adama Sanogo – Connecticut Dawson Garcia* – Marquette Posh Alexander* – St. John's Colby Jones – Xavier |
| * - denotes unanimous selection † - Due to a tie in the voting, an additional position was added |||||