Red Storm Is Next
Brooks and Butler Face the Red Storm
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Andrew Rosario
The 2025 Big East Tournament kicked off Wednesday afternoon at the Worlds’s Most Famous Arena Madison Square Garden. Game 1 featured Butler University (13-18, 6-14 in conference play) vs Providence College (12-19, 6-14 in conference play). The teams split their regular season meetings with both teams winning on their home court. Providence came into the tournament struggling big time losing 9 of their last 10 games. Butler went 4-5 in their last 9 games. The winner would have the unenviable task of facing the Big East Champion St. John’s Red Storm Thursday at noon.
Providence continued their regular season struggles as Butler jumped out to an early 17-9 lead after a Kolby King 3-pointer. The Friars Bensley Joseph answered with a 3-pointer of his own cutting the lead to 17-12. The Bull Dogs would extend their lead to as many as 10 (30-20) when Providence woke up. A 3-pointer by Jayden Pierre closed the gap to 30-25. Butler slowed down Providence taking a 39-31 halftime lead. The Bulldogs were led by both Jahmyl Telford and Pierre Brooks who both scored 13 points. The Friars were led by Ryan Mela who scored 12. Providence missed 9 of 13, 3-pointers while Butler was worse missing on 12 of 16 attempts.
In the end, Butler was just too much for Providence. Another Brooks 3-pointer put the Bull Dogs up by14 (63-49) and they never looked back in the 75-69 win. This was Butler’s first Big East win since 2022 when they beat Xavier 89-82 in overtime. For Providence, it was their second 20 loss season in the school’s history.
Bull Dogs Brooks finished 25 points leading all scorers while Friars Joseph led his team with 20.
The win earns Butler a shot at upsetting St. John’s. Red Storm’s head coach Rick Pitino has the New York college fan base in a frenzy. His team is a perfect 9-0 at Madison Square Garden this year. Said Brooks of meeting St. John’s in less than 24 hours, “so basically it’s a home game for St. John’s. It’s gonna be pretty packed in here. We got to come in calm and collective. We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds today. We know St. John’s crashes the glass. Tomorrow, we need a big effort. Pride ourselves on boxing out. If we do that, we have a great chance of winning.”
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