NEW YORK, N.Y. –
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl was selected Wednesday as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, it was announced at a Wednesday afternoon news conference here. The native of Overland Park, Kansas became the fourth Wildcat to earn this honor, joining previous winners Tim Thomas (1997), Scottie Reynolds (2007), and
Omari Spellman (2018).
Robinson-Earl was a six-time winner of the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week award in 2019-20. The 6-9 forward recorded nine double-doubles while averaging 10.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per outing for a Villanova unit that earned a share of the BIG EAST regular season title, its sixth such crown in the past seven seasons.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats continued preparations for the 2020 BIG EAST Tournament Wednesday with a midday practice here. The Wildcats are scheduled to open play Thursday at 7 p.m. against No. 10 seed DePaul, which knocked out No. 7 seed Xavier 71-67 in an opening round matchup on Wednesday evening at Madison Square Garden. Nova swept both meetings with the Blue Demons in 2019-20, edging DePaul 79-75 in overtime on Jan. 14 at Finneran Pavilion and then posting a 91-71 February victory in Chicago.
Thursday night's game will air on FS1 with Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery and Lisa Byington on the call. The Villanova radio broadcast can be found in the Delaware Valley on 610 ESPN Radio and everywhere via the TuneIn app.
The BIG EAST also announced Wednesday night that it would implement a restricted attendance policy for the remainder of the Tournament, beginning with Thursday's quarterfinals. Only student-athletes, event and essential team and conference staff, credentialed media and immediate family members of student-athletes will be permitted in Madison Square Garden as part of the national response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The BIG EAST will implement a change in its locker room access for credentialed media on Tuesday as professional sports leagues have done in recent days.
Also honored Wednesday were Seton Hall guard Myles Powell as BIG EAST Player of the Year; Butler guard Kamar Baldwin as BIG EAST Scholar Athlete of the Year and Creighton head coach Greg McDermott as the league's Coach of the Year.
The 2019-20 season – Villanova's 100
th college basketball campaign – is presented by Hartford Funds and Coca-Cola.
