Marquette, Providence bid to climb out of Big East basement

Looking to end another three-game losing skid, Marquette welcomes Providence to Milwaukee on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in a battle of two teams in the bottom four of the Big East standings.

It was a short trip south to Chicago for the Golden Eagles (6-13, 1-7 Big East) on Friday, where after a promising first half that saw them ahead by eight, they once again stumbled and fell 80-75 against DePaul.

Nigel James Jr. led the Golden Eagles with 18 points and eight assists. Royce Parham (14), Chase Ross (13) and Damarius Owens (12) scored in double figures as well.

Marquette shot over 60.7% from the floor in the first half, including 8-of-14 from beyond the arc. Those numbers fell to 37.5% from the floor and just 4-of-15 from deep in the second.

"When you are on the road playing against a good team ... they are going to come out of the locker room and come out with a level of aggressiveness. We have to be ready for it," Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. "I thought in the second half for whatever reason, we weren't as much defensive-minded as we needed to be. I told the guys we are going to score enough points to win, we have to stop them and we did not do it."

Providence (9-9, 2-5), also having a down season compared to preseason expectations, comes in on one of its better wins of the season against Creighton, 93-88 on Friday.

Stefan Vaaks led Providence with a career-high 24 points while Jamier Jones added 18 and 11 boards.

"Another tough Big East game. ... I thought there was great attention to detail and focus (Friday), especially starting the game. Guys played with great effort and energy defensively," Providence coach Kim English said. "We made a big emphasis on challenging shots, so our guys were really contesting shots early."

On the injury front, Providence senior guard Jason Edwards (foot) has missed the last two games. He's averaging a team-high 17.2 points per game.

Marquette guard Sean Jones (foot) has missed the last five games, but forward Ben Gold (team-high 6.1 rebounds per game) did return for the DePaul game after missing Marquette's previous game against St. John's with an ankle injury.

Marquette has won four in a row over Providence after its season sweep a year ago. Last season was Marquette's first time winning a game at Providence since 2019.