NEW YORK, N.Y. – For the 11^th straight season, the Villanova Wildcats find themselves with a BIG EAST quarterfinal matchup on tap on a Thursday at Madison Square Garden. This time, the Wildcats will meet No. 3 seed Creighton (20-11 overall, 14-6 BIG EAST) at approximately 9:30 p.m.
 
Villanova eliminated No. 11 seed Georgetown, 80-48, in Wednesday's opening round. The Bluejays earned a bye to the quarterfinals.
 
Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery and Kristina Pink will provide the national television broadcast coverage on FS1. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will be at the microphone on the radio side (Villanova IHeart Radio Network).
 
The Bluejays and Wildcats split two regular season meetings between the teams. Creighton scored the final six points of the game after an Eric Dixon 3-pointer with 34.1 seconds left had given Nova a 61-60 lead in the Feb. 4 matchup in Omaha. The Bluejays prevailed 66-61, dropping VU to 10-13 overall on the season.
 
Since that point, the 'Cats have won seven of nine with a roster buoyed by the return from injuries of Justin Moore and Jordan Longino.
 
In the second matchup, on Feb. 25 at the Wells Fargo Center, Villanova picked up a 79-67 victory as Dixon recorded a career-high 31 points while Justin Moore contributed eight points, eight assists and did not commit a turnover.
 
Creighton is ranked No. 24 in this week's Associated Press poll.
 
On Wednesday, Cam Whitmore was selected as BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. He then followed that with a superb night, dropping in 8-of-11 from the field as part of a 19-point, 10 rebound effort to help spark the win over the Hoyas.
 
"Not really," said Whitmore when asked in the postgame news conference if he was hoping to put an exclamation point on that honor. "It was just being out there, playing for my teammates and coaches. Awards and accolades don't mean (much) to me. I'd just rather be out there with my brothers."
 
Whitmore wasn't the only first year Wildcat to make an impact in his debut at the BIG EAST Tournament. Mark Armstrong, who grew up across the Hudson River in South Orange, N.J., and Brendan Hausen, a native of Amarillo, Tex., played important roles as reserves.
 
Armstrong scored 10 points and added a pair of assists and rebounds in 27:32. Most noticeably, the Wildcats were a +31 in scoring during his time on the court.
 
Hausen, meanwhile, logged 16:12 on the floor and also contributed 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field.
 
In all, the Villanova bench outscored Georgetown's 25-6.
 
Now, the task turns to a Creighton unit that has been a Top 25 staple since rebounding from their own series of injuries endured in November and December. Neptune doesn't put much stock in what happened in the prior meetings.
 
"This time of the year you just throw out what happened before," said Neptune. "We're in a tournament setting now. We're just thinking about this game against an outstanding Creighton team."
 
Thursday night's victor advances to meet the winner of the evening's first game, featuring No. 2 seed Xavier and No. 10 seed DePaul.