2002 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

2002 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
Classification Division I
Season 200102
Teams 12
Site Madison Square Garden
New York City
Champions Connecticut (5th title)
Winning coach Jim Calhoun (5th title)
MVP Caron Butler (Connecticut)
Big East Men's Basketball Tournaments
«2001  2003»
2001–02 Big East men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
East
#10 Connecticut 13 3   .813     27 7   .794
#21 Miami 10 6   .625     24 8   .750
St. John's 9 7   .563     20 12   .625
Boston College 8 8   .500     20 12   .625
Villanova 7 9   .438     19 13   .594
Providence 6 10   .375     15 16   .484
Virginia Tech* 4 12   .250     10 18   .357
West
#9 Pittsburgh 13 3   .813     29 6   .829
Notre Dame 10 6   .625     22 11   .667
Georgetown 9 7   .563     19 11   .633
Syracuse 9 7   .563     23 13   .639
Rutgers 8 8   .500     18 13   .581
Seton Hall 5 11   .313     12 18   .400
West Virginia* 1 15   .063     8 20   .286
† 2002 Big East Tournament winner
As of April 1, 2002[1]; Rankings from AP Poll
*Did not qualify for 2002 Big East Tournament

The 2002 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Its winner received the Big East Conference's automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Tournament. It is a single-elimination tournament with four rounds and the two highest seeds in each division received byes in the first round. The six teams with the best conference records in each division were invited to participate for a total of 12 teams. Teams were seeded by division. Connecticut and Pittsburgh had the best regular season conference records and received the East #1 seed and West #1 seed, respectively.

Connecticut defeated Pittsburgh in the championship game 74–65 in double overtime to win their fifth Big East Tournament championship.

Bracket

  First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship Game
                                     
        
  W1  Pittsburgh 76  
    E4  Boston College 62  
W5  Rutgers 55
E4  Boston College 60  
  W1  Pittsburgh 76  
  E2  Miami 71  
        
        
  E2  Miami 84OT
    W3  Georgetown 76  
E6  Providence 67
W3  Georgetown 68  
  W1  Pittsburgh 65
  E1  Connecticut 742OT
        
        
  E1  Connecticut 72
    E5  Villanova 70  
E5  Villanova 78
W4  Syracuse 64  
  E1  Connecticut 82
  W2  Notre Dame 77  
        
        
  W2  Notre Dame 82
    E3  St John's 63  
W6  Seton Hall 58
E3  St. John's 64  

Note: By finishing in last place during the regular season in their respective divisions, Virginia Tech and West Virginia did not qualify for the tournament.

Championship Game

ESPN
Saturday, March 9
8:00 pm
E1 Connecticut Huskies 74, W1 Pittsburgh Panthers 65 (2OT)
Pts: C. Butler 23
Rebs: E. Okafor 10
Asts: T. Brown 5
Pts: O. Lett 17
Rebs: O. Lett 10
Asts: B. Knight 8
Halftime Score: Pittsburgh, 28-27
After Regulation: 52-52
Madison Square Garden - New York, NY
Attendance: 19,528
Referees: Jim Burr, Tim Higgins, Mike Kitts

Caron Butler, the tournament MVP, gave Connecticut the lead for good at 66–64 on a turnaround jumper with 1:59 left in the second overtime, and Pittsburgh fell to the Huskies in two overtimes, 74–65. After Ben Gordon was tied up with two seconds left on the shot clock, Taliek Brown put up a desperation heave from about thirty feet away with the shot clock running down to put the Huskies up 69–64, and they never looked back.

Brandin Knight had a chance to win it for Pittsburgh at the end of the first overtime. After slipping and injuring his right knee, just as they tied the game at 52, Knight was clearly in pain. However, with 1.7 seconds left in OT, he checked in to the game and put up a 40-foot 3-point attempt that would have won the game. It bounced off the rim and the game went to double OT.

Knight's eight assists tied him at 229 for the school record in a season. He had fifteen points in the loss. Ontario Lett, who tied the game with 23 seconds left in overtime, had 17 in the loss.

Butler finished with 23 points for Uconn in the win, while Brown added 13. It was the fifth Big East Tournament championship for the Huskies, their last coming in 1999, when they went on to win the national championship. It was their sixth title game appearance in the last eight years. The game was the second-longest title game in league history. Syracuse beat Villanova 83–80 in three overtimes in 1981.[2]

Awards

Dave Gavitt Trophy (Most Valuable Player): Caron Butler, Connecticut

All Tournament Team

External links

References

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