The Marquette Golden Eagles travel to Providence to take on the Friars in a Big East matchup on Wednesday evening. The Golden Eagles had their brief two-game winning streak snapped on Saturday, as they were upset by the DePaul Blue Demons by a score of 69-61, while Providence lost to the third-ranked Villanova Wildcats, 71-56, on Saturday. Marquette won the first meeting of the season between these two teams by a score of 79-69.
Marquette is 5-10 against the spread this season, while the over-under is 6-9. The Golden Eagles have failed to cover the spread in two straight games, as well as seven of their last eight games. They were a nine-point favorite in their seven-point loss to DePaul. Providence is 7-8 against the spread, while the total has gone over in nine of their 15 games this season. The Friars failed to cover the spread in their loss to Villanova, as they were an 11.5-point underdog.
Golden Eagles look to bounce back from upset loss
Just when it looked like the Marquette Golden Eagles were turning the corner, they played one of their worst games of the season. They scored the third-fewest points that they have scored all season, while they had their second-worst shooting game of the season. The Golden Eagles shot just 35.5%, which is the worst that they have shot since they shot 33.9% in their 70-62 loss to Oklahoma State in the third game of the season. Marquette had won three of their previous four games before Saturday’s loss.“We got to learn from it (the loss to DePaul) and we got to change,” Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said on si.com. “And we have to get better. Our team has shown we can play really good basketball, but we’ve also shown that if we’re not there we can play really poorly. We got to put it together for 40 minutes.”
This is the second time in 15 days that Marquette has faced the Providence Friars. In that first game, the Golden Eagles shot 46.6% from the floor, but were just 7-24 (29.2%) from three-point range. They outrebounded Providence 39-30. Five players scored in double figures for Marquette, as they were led by Dawson Garcia with 20 points. Koby McEwen and D.J. Carton chipped in with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
Garcia leads the way for the Golden Eagles with an average of 12.7 points per game, followed by McEwen at 12.3 points per game. Carton adds 12.2 points per game, while Jamal Cain scores 10.4 points per game. Marquette is averaging 72.3 points per game, while they are shooting 44.5% from the floor and 35.9% from three-point range. Defensively, they are giving up 69.5 points per game, while their opponents are shooting 40.2% from the floor and 35.0% from three-point range.
Friars look for revenge of Golden Eagles
After winning seven of their first 10 games of the season, the Providence Friars have now lost four of their last five games to fall into a tie for sixth place in the Big East Conference. The Friars have played two straight games against ranked opponents, as they defeated 11th-ranked Creighton by a score of 74-70 on Wednesday before losing to Villanova. The 56 points they scored against Villanova was the lowest-scoring game of the season for Providence. Two of the Friars’ wins this season have been in overtime, while two others have been by four points or fewer.“We can play with anybody,” Friars coach Ed Cooley said on si.com. “But if we don’t play with a sense of purpose, desire, grit, physicality — these things will show up.”
In the first meeting with Marquette, the Friars fell behind by nine points at halftime and got as close as one point in the second half, but they couldn’t complete the comeback. Providence shot 40.7% from the floor and 47.4% from three-point range in the game. Nate Watson led the way for the Friars with 18 points, while David Duke and A.J. Reeves scored 17 and 12 points, respectively.
Duke and Watson are the only Friars who are averaging in double figures this season. They are averaging 18.7 and 18.6 points per game, respectively. The Friars are averaging 72.9 points per game this season, while they are shooting 44.8% from the floor and 32.4% from three-point range. Providence is giving up 71.7, while their opponents are shooting 44.1% from the floor and 31.8% from three-point range.
FREE CONSENSUS: Providence -2 over Marquette
