Providence has a chance to make a statement in the week ahead
16-2 for the first time since before the formation of the Big East.
A 6-1 conference record for the first time in program history.
Yet still, the week ahead is presenting as an opportunity for Providence to make a statement about just how good they are this season.
Providence returned from its COVID pause this week with a pair of victories against programs that offered as safe a landing spot as the Friars could have asked for in Georgetown and Butler.
The Hoyas haven’t won a game since Dec. 15, and following two losses in three days to PC and Villanova, Patrick Ewing’s club now stands at 6-10 overall and 0-5 in league play.
Butler was hoping to rely on its experience to bounce back from a difficult 2020-21 campaign, but Sunday afternoon’s loss to the Friars dropped them to 9-10 and 2-6 in the Big East. Admittedly, the Bulldogs have been fighting through injury issues once again this year (and we saw what a healthy Bo Hodges can do for them on Sunday — he shot 8-12 for 17 points in his fifth game back from a knee injury), but they have already lost to Purdue by 29 points and Villanova by 40 this season.
There are no easy wins in the Big East, but Providence couldn’t have drawn up their return from a two-week hiatus much better.
The Friars, ranked #21 by the Associated Press this week, should find their way into the top 20 after taming the Bulldogs and Hoyas. To stay there, they will have to do some damage against two of the better teams in the Big East in the week ahead.
Wednesday brings a trip to the Cintas Center, where #20 Xavier has proven to be extremely difficult to beat since the Musketeers joined the Big East in 2013. Providence has defeated them just once in Cincinnati. That victory came in Jan. 2019 when the Friars snapped a seven-game losing streak in Cintas with a 64-62 win, led by Isaiah Jackson’s 13 points off of the bench.
The Friars let one slip away at Xavier a season ago, as they led by seven points with a minute to go before Colby Jones buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer in a stunning 74-73 Xavier win.
There has been some bad blood between these programs in years past, but with the roster turnover that may no longer be the case.
Still, both teams should come hard in this one. The Friars will look to continue to prove their top 25 legitimacy, and Xavier will do all it can to avoid dropping to .500 in conference games.
The Big East schedule hasn’t been kind to Travis Steele’s group so far this year. Through seven games, they have already played Villanova twice (losing both times), and Sunday brought a matchup with the hottest team in the Big East — if not the country — in Marquette. The Golden Eagles came out on top of that one, 75-64.
Xavier has a lot of options. Zach Freemantle and Paul Scruggs were both Preseason First Team All Big East selections, but their leading scorer has been 7’0 Iowa transfer Jack Nunge.
Nunge is averaging over 12 points per game, while shooting 53% from the field and 79% at the free throw line. He is a versatile scorer who can do damage in the paint, while stretching his game out to the three point line.
Colby Jones and Nate Johnson are both double digit scorers who can deliver from beyond the 3-point arc as well.
Steele’s group is certainly talented, but this is a game Providence should feel as though they can win. Just last week, Xavier eeked out a 68-67 win over a DePaul team that was without the services of 21-point-per-game scorer Javon Freeman-Liberty.
The interior battle should be awesome, with Freemantle, Nunge, Nate Watson, and Ed Croswell getting after it inside.
Then Providence welcomes Marquette to the Dunkin Donuts Center on Saturday afternoon in what should be a wild atmosphere.
The Friars may have created a monster when they fell 88-56 in their first matchup with Shaka Smart’s club. Marquette was 8-6 prior to their win over PC, but have since ripped off six consecutive victories, including an impressive 57-54 win at Villanova thanks to a last-second 3-pointer by Justin Lewis.
In fairness, Marquette’s 8-6 mark in early January was misleading. Their first four losses of the season came against ranked opponents, then they fell to UConn without their second leading scorer (and best perimeter defender) in Darryl Morsell. Loss number six came in double overtime to Creighton.
Lewis is evolving into a star in his second season at Marquette. The big forward followed up a 21 point, seven rebound night at Villanova with 20 points and 13 rebounds in Sunday’s win over Xavier.
Morsell (who scored 19 points against Xavier) gives them one of the best two-way guards in the league, George Mason transfer Tyler Kolek leads the league in assists by a healthy margin, while Greg Elliott has quietly turned into one of the best snipers in the Big East (52% from deep heading into Sunday).
Four of Marquette’s six victories during this winning streak have come against top 25 teams. As a result, they should expect to crack this week’s AP top 25.
Smart’s group has been very good defensively this month. That was on display on Sunday after Xavier opened the second half with six straight baskets. From that point forward, Marquette limited them to 5-26 shooting from the field the rest of the way.
With a 6-3 league mark, Marquette is currently third in the Big East behind Villanova (7-2) and the first place Friars.
The week ahead won’t be easy, however. Prior to coming to Providence they will head to Newark to take on a Seton Hall team that feels like they were robbed by a late foul call when the two teams met two weeks ago.
This has the potential to be a bit of a statement week for the Friars, who have gone 3-1 since AJ Reeves fractured his finger against DePaul on Jan. 1. They have an opportunity to make some national noise by knocking off a pair of teams that figure to be NCAA Tournament programs come March. Providence will also have a chance to exorcise some demons in the Cintas Center, and get a measure of revenge on a Marquette team that delivered one of the worst losses of the Cooley Era earlier this month.