Marquette closed 2024 with a 78-50 road rout of Providence on Dec. 31 as part of its climb to a 6-0 start in the Big East.
The No. 21 Golden Eagles have split their past 10 conference games since that tear, however, and hope to regain their grit when Providence visits Milwaukee on Tuesday night.
An 81-66 road loss to Villanova on Friday sent the Golden Eagles to their fourth loss in six games while reinforcing that nothing is guaranteed.
Marquette (20-7, 11-5) handled the visiting Wildcats by 13 points just a month earlier.
“We need for everyone on our team to understand there’s only one way for us, and that’s to truly come together and multiply each other,” Golden Eagles coach Shaka Smart said. “Let go of ourselves enough that we’re focusing on uplifting the guys around us and connected with the guys around us to get one stop.”
Smart stresses that for Marquette “to play the way we want to play, it requires violence and focus.”
To keep pace with first-place St. John’s and second-place Creighton in the conference standings, the Golden Eagles must get accelerated production from their starting five. Chase Ross (11 points) and Kam Jones (10) led Marquette’s starters against Villanova on Friday, but the rest of the unit combined for just nine points.
Reserve Zaide Lowery swished each of his five 3-pointers en route to a team-best 25 points.
“We have a lot to figure out with our starting lineup in terms of coming into the game with a level of hunger and passion that we have to have,” Smart said.
Providence, meanwhile, has lost five of its past six games and is coming off what coach Kim English called “our most disappointing loss of the season” — Wednesday’s 93-72 defeat at Georgetown.
The Friars (12-15, 6-10) struggled with their effort and consistency, prompting English to acknowledge he was “embarrassed” after Providence couldn’t build off a 13-point home win against Villanova on Feb. 15.
Bensley Joseph started the game with a driving layup to jump-start a 25-point effort. Still, English bemoaned the Friars’ overall “flimsy” finishes of drives and overall play around the rim. It’s a trend he feels has plagued the team throughout the season.
“We haven’t posted the ball all year. … The game favors the hungry,” English said. “The game favors the prideful.”
Complementing Joseph — who added six rebounds, four assists, and three steals against Georgetown — will be key.
English said he wants players to be more urgent and aggressive. Season-ending knee injuries to Bryce Hopkins and Jabri Abdur-Rahim as well as Corey Floyd’s bout with whiplash suffered in a motor-vehicle accident earlier this month have created openings for players to seize more minutes as the Friars aim to transition.
“For us, our wing size is pretty much gone with no Corey, no Jabri, obviously no Bryce,” English said.
Marquette leads the all-time series against Providence 25-15 after snapping a five-game road losing streak vs. the Friars on Dec. 31.
The Golden Eagles took two of three games from the Friars last season, with their lone loss coming in Providence.
The Friars are winless in four games against Top 25 opponents this season.
–Field Level Media
