2016 Big East men's basketball tournament

The 2016 Big East men's basketball tournament, officially known as the 2016 Big East tournament, was a tournament held from March 9–12, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Big East Championship game returned to broadcast television for the first time in over twenty years and was televised on FOX. Seton Hall won their first Big East tournament since 1993 and received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.^[1]

2016 Big East men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2015–16
Teams	10
Site	Madison Square Garden New York City
Champions	Seton Hall (3rd title)
Winning coach	Kevin Willard (1st title)
MVP	Isaiah Whitehead (Seton Hall)
Attendance	78,222
Television	FS1, FOX
Big East men's basketball tournaments ← 2015 2017 →

2015–16 Big East men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 6 Villanova	16	–	2		.889			35	–	5		.875
No. 9 Xavier	14	–	4		.778			28	–	5		.848
No. 20 Seton Hall †	12	–	6		.667			25	–	9		.735
Providence	10	–	8		.556			24	–	11		.686
Butler	10	–	8		.556			22	–	11		.667
Creighton	9	–	9		.500			20	–	15		.571
Marquette	8	–	10		.444			20	–	13		.606
Georgetown	7	–	11		.389			15	–	18		.455
DePaul	3	–	15		.167			9	–	22		.290
St. John's	1	–	17		.056			8	–	24		.250
† 2016 Big East tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Seeds

All 10 Big East schools participate in the tournament. Teams were seeded by the 2015–16 Big East Conference season record. The top 6 teams received a first round bye.

Seeding for the tournament was determined at the close of the regular conference season.

Seed	School	Conference	Tiebreaker
1	Villanova	16–2
2	Xavier	14–4
3	Seton Hall	12–6
4	Providence	10–8	2–0 vs. Butler
5	Butler	10–8	0–2 vs. Providence
6	Creighton	9–9
7	Marquette	8–10
8	Georgetown	7–11
9	DePaul	3–15
10	St. John's	1–17

Schedule

Game	Time*	Matchup#	Television	Attendance
First round – Wednesday, March 9
1	7:00 pm	#9 DePaul 53 vs. #8 Georgetown 70	FS1	12,604
2	9:30 pm	#10 St. John's 93 vs. #7 Marquette 101
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 10
3	12:00 pm	#8 Georgetown 67 vs. #1 Villanova 81	FS1	14,863
4	2:30 pm	#5 Butler 60 vs. #4 Providence 74
5	7:00 pm	#7 Marquette 72 vs. #2 Xavier 90		13,813
6	9:30 pm	#6 Creighton 73 vs. #3 Seton Hall 81
Semifinals – Friday, March 11
7	6:30 pm	#4 Providence 68 vs. #1 Villanova 76	FS1	17,130
8	9:30 pm	#3 Seton Hall 87 vs. #2 Xavier 83
Championship – Saturday, March 12
9	5:30 pm	#3 Seton Hall 69 vs. #1 Villanova 67	FOX	19,812
*Game times in Eastern Time. Tournament seed in parentheses. #-Rankings denote Associated Press Poll ranking.

Bracket

	First round March 9					Quarterfinals March 10					Semifinals March 11					Championship March 12
						1	#3 Villanova	81
						8	Georgetown	67
	8	Georgetown	70
	9	DePaul	53
											1	#3 Villanova	76
											4	Providence	68
						4	Providence	74
						5	Butler	60
																1	#3 Villanova	67
																3	Seton Hall	69
						2	#5 Xavier	90
						7	Marquette	72
	7	Marquette	101
	10	St. John's	93
											2	#5 Xavier	83
											3	Seton Hall	87
						3	Seton Hall	81
						6	Creighton	73

Quarterfinals

FS1

Thursday, March 10 12:00 pm EST

Box Score

#8 Georgetown Hoyas 67, #1 Villanova Wildcats 81
Scoring by half: 27–28, 40–53
		Pts: J. Hart – 25 Rebs: D. Reynolds – 9 Asts: R. Arcidiacono – 6

Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York Attendance: 14,863 Referees: Mike Roberts, Tony Chiazza, Tim Clougherty

Semifinals

FS1

Friday, March 11 6:30 pm EST

Box Score

#4 Providence Friars 68, #1 Villanova Wildcats 76
Scoring by half: 27–32, 41–44
		Pts: K. Jenkins – 21 Rebs: D. Reynolds – 8 Asts: R. Arcidiacono, K. Jenkins – 4

Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York Attendance: 17,130 Referees: Jeff Anderson, Ed Corbett, Pat Driscoll

Championship

Fox

Saturday, March 12 5:30 pm EST

Box Score

#3 Seton Hall Pirates 69, #1 Villanova Wildcats 67
Scoring by half: 40–29, 29–38
		Pts: K. Jenkins – 23 Rebs: D. Ochefu – 7 Asts: R. Arcidiacono – 3

Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York Attendance: 19,812 Referees: Mike Roberts, Brian O'Connell, John Gaffney

All-Tournament team

• Khadeen Carrington, Seton Hall
• Ismael Sanogo, Seton Hall
• Kris Jenkins, Villanova
• Josh Hart, Villanova
• Trevon Bluiett, Xavier

Dave Gavitt Trophy (Most Outstanding Player)

• Isaiah Whitehead, Seton Hall

See also

• 2016 Big East women's basketball tournament

Notes