College basketball rankings: Providence joins Top 25 And 1 after double-overtime win over Creighton

Creighton at Providence was Tuesday night’s only matchup between two schools ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. On paper, it figured to be great. On the court, it was indeed.

Final score: Providence 94, Creighton 86 in double overtime.

With the win, the Friars improved to 14-0 at home, 9-1 in their past 10 overtime games and remained in realistic contention to possibly repeat as regular-season champions of the Big East. The star of the game was Devin Carter, a 6-foot-3 transfer from South Carolina who finished with a game-high 25 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 45 minutes on the court.

“Devin affects the game in a number of different ways,” said Providence coach Ed Cooley. “You hear about all these different players around the country defensively; I wouldn’t take one player in America defensively [over Carter]. Not one. We put him on everyone. We may put him on Julius Erving if he comes out of retirement. This man here is a stud defensively.”

Providence’s fourth Quadrant 1 victory pushed the Friars to No. 24 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings — and also set up a high-stakes game between Xavier and Marquette. Those two schools are now first and second, and only separated by a half-game, in the Big East standings, which means the winner of Wednesday night’s showdown will be alone atop the Big East standings with just 18 days left in the regular season.

Tip is scheduled for 7 ET.

You can watch it on CBS Sports Network.