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Can Friars Get Road Win at Marquette?

Fischer

With great parity comes little opportunity to win on the road. That may not be an actual Big East proverb, but it’s fitting for this season in which there’s a clear-cut top team in the league (Villanova), the usual bottom feeder (DePaul), and eight teams that proved enough in the non-conference portion of the schedule to allow us to safely assume that any victory away from home will be a big one.

Providence travels to Marquette this weekend looking for not only an early road win, but their first ever in Milwaukee. Marquette has held a decisive advantage in this series since joining the Big East in 2005, winning 11 of their 13 games against the Friars. But this is a different era for both schools, with PC coming off their first Big East title in 20 years and Marquette adjusting to life post-Buzz Williams.

Williams surprised many by taking a pay cut to go to ACC basement dweller Virginia Tech and at the time many took his departure as an indictment of the Big East — the reconfigured league that struggled against out-of-conference opponents and in postseason play in 2013-14.

Still, Marquette remains one of the better jobs not only in the Big East, but the country. With a sizable budget and tremendous success over the past decade, it’s been a far better position than Virginia Tech.

Former Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski apparently agreed, leaving the Duke bench after 15 years as an assistant there to take over as Williams’ replacement.

Wojciechowski has already proven to be an outstanding recruiter, filling his 2015 class with three top 100 players, including top 5 big man Henry Ellenson.

While the future of Marquette basketball is encouraging for Friar fans in today’s “all for one” Big East environment, the immediate concern is how Providence can get their first win at Marquette — and an elusive road victory in 2015.

Any thought of Marquette (8-5) sleep-walking into this one went out the window when they lost their league opener to the aforementioned bottom feeder DePaul. While that’s an ugly loss, this is a team that has talent and has competed their way through a difficult non-conference schedule.

They beat Georgia Tech and Tennessee earlier in the season, and played Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State tough without the services of a player over 6’6.

Matt Carlino, the BYU transfer, ignited the offense in the first semester. He’s proven to be a capable scorer (just shy of 13 points per game) and a good shooter from deep (.397 from 3). Freshman guard Duane Wilson has been one of the top five freshman in the league to date, with his season highlight coming in a 30 point explosion in the victory over Tennessee. He also had 19 in their win over Arizona State.

Key for the Golden Eagles, however, has been the midseason addition of Luke Fischer. The 6’11 transfer from Indiana came with great fanfare, as he was a top 40 player in the class of 2013 according to ESPN. On a team desperate for size, Fischer hasn’t been just a capable big body, but a revelation offensively.

In his first game at Marquette he had 19 points, nine rebounds and five blocks on 9-11 shooting against Arizona State, and he followed that up with 22 points on 8-8 from the field in his next game.

Through five games with Fischer, Marquette is 4-1 and he’s shot 100% from the field in three of those contests. He’s 9-9 over his last two games and has, amazingly, made 29-34 of his shots this season.

This is the key matchup for the Friars. With Creighton exposing PC inside in the first half on Wednesday night with marginal big men, there should be legitimate concern that despite the Friars’ length they can be picked apart by a skilled big man. Fischer is more than skilled. This is a big one for Carson Desrosiers.

Providence will once again rely on their length as an advantage. Kris Dunn figures to draw the responsibility of taking Carlino out of the game, as he helped do against Creighton ace Austin Chatman. Carlino is a better pure scorer than Chatman, having put up 38 against Georgia Tech and 19 versus Wisconsin, but Providence’s length on the perimeter has bothered many guards so far this season.

PC should have a decided size advantage elsewhere. Wilson plays mainly off of the ball and stands 6’2, while Wojciechowski gets solid production from a pair of 6’5/6’6ish forwards in Juan Anderson and JaJuan Johnson. Kenpom.com ranks Marquette’s effective height 292nd in the country, while PC is in the top 10 nationally.

The road wasn’t kind to Big East teams in their openers, with the home teams winning all five games, including losses for two of the league’s top 25 teams.

Providence is entering a difficult, but critical portion of their schedule with a pair of Midwestern road games (Marquette, then Butler) followed by visits from nationally ranked St. John’s and Georgetown.

This would be a big win for the Friars.

Twitter: Kevin_Farrahar

Email: kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

9 Comments

  1. Randy McEnaney

    January 2, 2015 at 2:28 pm

    We are so overdue for a win there.

  2. Tom McManimon

    January 2, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    Come on Friars! Get them down and then bury them. Don’t let it be close. You are Big East!!!

  3. Ed Paluch

    January 2, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    Great article Kevin! Hope we can finally steal one there!

  4. Joshua Michael Corrente

    January 2, 2015 at 7:00 pm

    Always tougher to win on the road- These next two road games will be a good test for Cooley’s Friars-

  5. Derec Lamendola

    January 2, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    THIS FRARA TWON I HATE MARQETTE And

  6. Derec Lamendola

    January 2, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPP kEEEEEP KEEEP KEEET UP FRARA TWON We Can DO This Year Provicence Colllege Friars Althciktis Porgam And LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I HATE MARQEETTE And KNOW GODNER Eneney More Thing OMG And We Can DO This Year IN 2015 #BIGEAST PLAY And Are We Redey And Provicdnce College All Aaway TO The TOP 30 PC TOP 30 TOP 25 World You Think TOP 25 All Away

  7. David Randall

    January 3, 2015 at 12:22 am

    Is the game on tv

  8. Jeremy Nunes

    January 3, 2015 at 12:36 pm

    We’re not stealing one here, we’re kicking in the front door and taking it!

  9. Debra Simone

    January 3, 2015 at 2:22 pm

    Always think positive! Yes the FRIARS can win this road game! GO FRIARS!

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