Providence Friars 77 (15-8)

Marquette Golden Eagles 75 (13-10)

Whenever Providence and Marquette square off against each other, the games seem to become instant classics.  Whether its the game from earlier this year where Marquette guard Markus Howard dropped 52 at Providence en route to an overtime win or last year’s first ever win for Providence at Marquette with a 1 point victory, the games are always exciting and down to the wire.  I mean, check out the scores from their last few year’s.

2/3/18 @ Marquette: Providence 77, Marquette 75

1/3/18 @ Providence: Providence 90, Marquette 95 OT

2/25/17 @ Providence: Providence 73, Marquette 69

1/28/17 @Marquette: Providence 79, Marquette 78

2/10/16 @ Marquette: Providence 91, Marquette 96 2OT

1/5/16 @ Providence: Providence 64, Marquette 65

Just in the last three years, in the 6 games between the two teams, the largest margin of victory was 5 points, which happened twice.  Of course, both of those 5 point games went to overtime with one of them going into double-overtime.  The average margin of victory over the last three season is just 3 points per game.

Marquette entered the half with a 1-point lead but Providence adjusted to things in the second half to take a lead that they would not give up…as hard as they might’ve tried to from the free throw line.  Each team had 2 starters foul out in a game that the refs were determined to make about them.

The Friars had 5 players score in double-figures with a balanced scoring attack and held Markus Howard to just 16 points after giving up 52 to the sharpshooting Sophomore when the two teams met earlier this year.

Game Notes: 

• A game that came down to the wire due to free throw shooting.  It doesn’t help that Marquette is an extra great free throw shooting team either.  Markus Howard missed just his second free of the year…THE YEAR.
• The Friars went 26-38 (68.4%) and Marquette went 21-25 (84.0%).  First of all, 63 free throws is way fucking too many for a college basketball game.  We’re just lucky that we shot 13 more free throws than the Golden Eagles.
• Kyron Cartwright had a really nice bounce back game after a 0 point, 2 assists performance in the Seton Hall blowout of the Friars last game.  Cartwright scored 15 points on 5-11 shooting and unexpectedly took the ‘King of the Boards’ belt from Diallo with a team-high 8 rebounds.  He still only had 3 assists to 2 turnovers, but he just looked more engaged throughout the game and a little more like the Kyron that we’re used to in Friartown.
• Kyron edges just ever so slightly closer to Ernie D.

  1. Vincent Council – 725

  2. Ernie DiGregorio – 662

  3. Kyron Cartwright – 583

  4. Kris Dunn – 552

  5. Billy Donovan – 546

  6. Carlton Screen – 532

  7. Ricky Tucker – 520

  8. Bob Misevicius – 490

  T-9. Erik Murdock – 487

  T-9. Vin Ernst – 487

• Kyron came out of the gates slow but turned things around when it really counted.

Got to love the stick-to-it-tive-ness off Kyron Cartwright to force the And-1 #pcbb #KyronCartwright #finishing pic.twitter.com/bdGCgv6HFg

— The Morning Hangover (@TheMorningHang) February 3, 2018

•  Kyron was especially solid down the stretch for the Friars.

Kyron Cartwright coming up big when it counts. Show off those muscles Ky!! #pcbb #KyronCartwright #musclesonmusclesonmuscles pic.twitter.com/rj79tg7LaQ

— The Morning Hangover (@TheMorningHang) February 3, 2018

• Alpha Diallo led the Friars in scoring with 16 points, the 10th game in a row that Diallo has scored in double figures for PC.  Diallo is avering 15.8 ppg over that span, which coincidentally is all his Big East games since he came back from injury for the Big East opener against St. John’s.
• Side note, Marquette is the biggest bunch of floppers I’ve seen in college basketball.

LOOK AT THIS ASSHOLE!! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE HOWARD!! 😂😂 #pcbb #mubb pic.twitter.com/VjnKiDkjiZ

— Brendon Jennings (@BrendonJennings) February 3, 2018 

• Jalen Lindsey started a new three-point making streak, going 3-7 from deep with 11 points after failing to keep his made three-point streak going against Seton Hall last game.
• Rodney Bullock was hampered with foul trouble the whole game, eventually fouling out down the stretch.  Bullock still managed to claw his way into double-digits, finishing with 11 points.  The nice part of his game was getting to the line 8 times and connecting on 6 of those free throws.
• Bullock has finished scoring in double-digits in each of the last 20 games but he has been getting close to falling into the single-digits lately.  In his last 6 games, he has totaled 12, 12, 10, 16, 10, & 11.
• Kalif Young was in foul trouble the entire game, fouling out having only played 9 minutes and recording 2 points.
• The Friars decided to go small against Marquette’s shooting lineup and thus Nate Watson didn’t get a ton of run in the game.  He did continue his high efficiency ways, scoring 6 points in just 9 minutes including a nice one-handed slam.

Big Nate with the ferocious one handed slam #pcbb #NateWatson #flushing pic.twitter.com/TnchJgKoqE

— The Morning Hangover (@TheMorningHang) February 3, 2018

• Isaiah Jackson was fantastic off the bench, scoring 13 points on 4-8 shooting and grabbing 7 boards.

Strong Man And-1 for The Glue, Isaiah Jackson #pcbb #IsaiahJackson pic.twitter.com/LwOazgSqHk

— The Morning Hangover (@TheMorningHang) February 3, 2018

• Maliek White and Makai Ashton-Langford were the other two players to get some run off the bench but only scored a combined 3 points in 17 minutes, all of the points coming on free throws.
• Former Friar recruiting Greg Elliott played really well for the Golden Eagles, making a lot of clutch free throws down the stretch, emphasizing why the Friars went after him in the first place.  He’s going to be a good player for the next couple of years.
• Ed Cooley made some great adjustments on guarding Markus Howard after he went off for a ridiculous 52 points in the two teams’ last matchup.  Howard only managed to go 4-15 from the floor en route to 16 points.
• Once again, shooter Andrew Rowsey wasn’t really a factor in the game.  Rowsey scored just 7 points before fouling out.  In their previous game at Providence, Rowsey shot 4-12 from the field.

Next Up, the Friars return home to take on Georgetown on Monday Night at 8:30 PM on FS1