Where: BMO Bradley Center – Milwaukee, WI
When: 2:30pm EST
How: FS1 (Jeff Levering & Doug Gottlieb)/Fox Sports GO (Where Available)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV
Current Spread, Total, ML: Odds Central
Tickets: SeatGeek
Game Notes
- Providence and Marquette will meet for the 26th time ever on Saturday. Marquette leads the all-time series, 17-8. The Friars are 1-10 against the Golden Eagles on the road with the lone win coming last season.
- Marquette is 13-9 this season, including a 4-6 Big East record. The Golden Eagles are currently on a 3-game losing streak falling at Xavier and at home to Villanova and Butler. Marquette is coached by Steve Wojciechowski who is in his 4th season at the helm of the program. The Golden Eagles are led in scoring by sophomore Markus Howard who is averaging 21.9 points/game. Sophomore Sam Hauser leads the team in rebounding at 5.8 rebounds/game.
- The Friars were defeated at Seton Hall, 73-57, last time out at the Prudential Center in Newark.
- Providence senior forward Rodney Bullock went over 1,000 points in his career against Boston College on November 25th. He became the 48th player in school history to score at least 1,000 points. Bullock is the 17th-fastest Providence player, tied with Eric Murdock, to score his 1,000th point (73 games). Bullock’s current place on the list is 27th with 1,249 points. He is 2 points behind Robert Moran.
- Providence senior guard Kyron Cartwright continues his drive up the all-time assist record list at Providence. He began the season tied for 12th with John Linehan (450). Cartwright has 130 assists through 21 games. He has 580 assists in his career, which places him 3rd all-time at Providence. Next on the list in front of Cartwright is Ernie DiGregorio (662). Cartwright recorded his 500th career assist against URI on December 2nd. He is the 7th Providence player to record at least 500 career assists. Cartwright notched a career-high 15 assists in Providence’s win at St. John’s on December 28th.
- Providence officially announced on November 29th that Emmitt Holt would miss the entire 2017-18 season as a redshirt while he continues to recover from abdominal surgery. Holt has been off campus recovering, but is expected to return to school in January. Holt did return to school over the MLK weekend and is back with the team, though he remains out of competition this season.
- Providence announced on January 11th that former Friar Ernie “Pop” Lewis passed away. Lewis was a key member of Providence’s 1987 Final Four team. You can read the official release and watch a tribute video here.
- Opening Line: Providence +5 at Marquette 2/3/18
Game Preview
Providence and Marquette will meet for the 26th time ever on Saturday afternoon at the BMO Bradley Center. The game will tip at 2:30pm and be televised on FS1. Providence floundered at Seton Hall in their second game of the current 3-game road swing. Marquette is also in a bad stretch with 3-straight loses, albeit against the top 2 teams in the league (Villanova, Xavier) and a solid Butler squad.
Marquette’s strength is their offense and their ability to be explosive at that end of the floor. Providence saw that all too keenly last time these teams met when Markus Howard went off for a career-high 52 points in Marquette’s overtime win at the Dunk when the Friars were without the services of Rodney Bullock (flu). In addition to Howard the Golden Eagles also rely heavily on guard Andrew Rowsey and wing Sam Hauser. All three of Howard, Rowsey and Hauser are most dangerous from beyond the arc.
Where Steve Wojciechowski’s team struggles is on the defensive end. The Golden Eagles were torched for 92 points at home in their most recent game against Butler and they are averaging 91.8 points against in their 6 Big East losses. This game falls on the annual National Marquette Day which includes a Friday night pep rally, fireworks and a nationwide game watch gathering by Marquette alumni.
The probable starters are:
Providence
- Kyron Cartwright – #24 – Senior
- Alpha Diallo – #11 – Sophomore
- Jalen Lindsey – #21 – Senior
- Rodney Bullock – #5 – Senior
- Kalif Young – #13 – Sophomore
Marquette
- Markus Howard– #0 – Sophomore
- Andrew Rowsey – #30 – Redshirt Senior
- Sacar Anim – #2 – Redshirt Sophomore
- Sam Hauser – #10 – Sophomore
- Harry Froling – #21 – Sophomore
The keys to victory for Providence are to defend the 3-point line and not fall in love with taking too many triples. As I discussed above Marquette is particularly dangerous from behind the 3-point line. They are 2nd in the Big East and 23rd nationally in 3-point shooting percentage and they score 40.4% of their points from downtown. That’s the 17th highest percentage of 3-point scoring in all of America. The Golden Eagles don’t have a lot of size and they are susceptible to inside scoring on the defensive end. It will be interesting to see if Ed Cooley opts to run out a smaller lineup or allow the ball to go inside to Kalif Young and Nate Watson in the post. I’d even like to see Alpha Diallo get some post up looks.
Prediction: Providence 78 Marquette 82
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