Welcome back, Big East basketball. The stress, thrilling finishes, wild sequences and entertaining post-match press conferences were sorely missed and the opening night had it all.

Eight teams from the league were in action and only two – St. John’s and Marquette – won by convincing margins after the Johnnies defeated Fordham by 32 points and the Golden Eagles defeated Stony Brook by 40 points.

The most exciting game of the night took place in Rhode Island, where Providence, despite playing without Bryce Hopkins, could not shake off Central Connecticut State on its home floor. The Friars trailed by four, 53-49, with 3:01 left and were tied with 1:10 left before closing the game at the free throw line to win 59-55.

There’s no excuse for Kim English’s team not to go undefeated as it heads south for the Battle 4 Atlantis, but it will take time to get everyone to believe as Hopkins is worked back into the rotation and Providence stars Devin Carter and Josh Oduro tries to replace .

Seton Hall, Xavier, Butler, Villanova and DePaul also trailed at one point in the second half but managed to pull out victories. The Blue Demons needed a three-pointer with one second left on the clock to force overtime against Southern Indiana before emerging with an 80-78 victory.

However, Shaheen Holloway shocked the post-match press conference after telling reporters that he believes he broke his left wrist at half-time of the Pirates match against Saint Peter’s and would go to hospital for examination on Monday evening.

When asked how the injury occurred, Holloway said “coaching stuff.”

Seton Hall led by five at halftime, 32-27, before facing a 50-46 deficit with 7:39 to go, but held Saint Peter’s scoreless for the next five minutes in the 57-53 victory.

Connecticut, Georgetown and Creighton open their seasons on Wednesday night.