Marquette comes to Providence with a top ten ranking, looking for first win in Friartown since 2019

When Marquette visits Providence for a New Year’s Eve tilt (6pm, Fox Sports 1/WPRO) they’ll be looking for their first victory at the Amica Mutual Pavilion since 2019.

The Friars and Golden Eagles have played some classics at the building formerly known as the Dunk over the past decade.

Most recently, PC knocked off #6 Marquette last December, the two battled into double OT the year prior as Bryce Hopkins exploded onto the national scene with 29 points and 23 rebounds, and in 2022 Nate Watson provided one of the highlights of PC’s 27-win season with a late put-back slam that blew the roof off. Providence also had one of its best performances of the 2019-20 season against Smart’s club.

Few are expecting a classic tonight when Shaka Smart’s team, ranked #8 in the country behind an 11-2 mark on the season, returns to Friartown, but this is a big opportunity for a struggling PC bunch.

Smart’s group is cohesive, experienced, and features a guard in Kam Jones who is playing as well as anyone in the country. Marquette won 29 games two seasons ago (finishing 17-3 in the Big East and taking home the Big East Tournament title) and 27 more last year, but after the losses of stars Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro a step back wouldn’t have been a surprise.

Smart didn’t dip into the transfer portal to replace either Kolek or Ighodaro, opting to develop and promote from within. Their top three scorers are seniors, and the next two are juniors — all five came to Marquette out of high school. It must have been tempting to add a portal center (the Golden Eagles aren’t particularly big on the inside), but Smart chose to supplement his veteran core with two talented freshmen and a pair of sophomores.

Jones has emerged into a college basketball superstar in his senior season. He’s scoring efficiently (20.3 points, 54% from the field, 36% from deep) and also hitting the glass (4.8 rebounds) and distributing at a high level (6.4 assists). Jones scored 32 against Wisconsin, went for 28 against Maryland, and finished with a 17-point, 13-rebound, 10-assist triple double against Purdue. He has developed from a dead-eye freshman jump shooter into one of the best scorers in the country, one who can kill you from deep, but is tricky with the ball in his hands and has great footwork in the paint.