Friars Look to Build Momentum Against Struggling Marquette

Photo courtesy of Carl Rizzo at gameone_photography

Regardless of the season, a trip to Milwaukee to take on Marquette has been a struggle for Providence.

The Friars are 3-16 all-time in road games against the Golden Eagles, but tonight’s contest against Shaka Smart’s club presents quite a different opportunity.

After an offseason spent not-so-subtly talking up his philosophy of not taking a single player in the transfer portal, Smart’s club has bottomed out in 2025-26.

They are 6-13 overall, 1-7 in the Big East, and the uniqueness they prided themselves on over the past few years has looked more shortsighted.

In fairness, Smart completely revitalized Marquette in his first four years on the job.

Prior to the Big East realignment of 2013-14, they had reached eight straight NCAA Tournaments under Tom Crean and Buzz Williams.

Expected to be a flag-bearer in the “new” league, Marquette largely faltered — making the Tournament just twice in the first eight years post-realignment. They lost in the first round both times, despite having stars like Markus Howard and Sam Hauser.

Smart instantly turned that around, reaching the NCAAs in all four of his seasons at the helm (prior to this one). Despite a pair of two-seeds during that stretch, Marquette reached the second weekend just once, marking the only real blemish for Smart. He’d won a Big East regular season title and tournament championship, and led the only program that was a true threat to UConn during their back-to-back title campaigns.

Last season, Marquette was ranked as high as #5 in the AP Poll behind the outstanding play of Kam Jones, who took over both scoring and playmaking duties following the departure of star point guard Tyler Kolek.

In hindsight, Jones’ graduation should have been a bigger red flag heading into this year. The Golden Eagles’ Net Rating with and without him on the floor last season was stark (a ridiculous +39.1).

Still, Marquette always seemed to find a way under Smart. The expectation was that Chase Ross would step into a bigger role and they’d continue to defend at a high level.

That hasn’t been the case.