This was supposed to be a stretch of games on Marquette’s games where they had a chance to pad their record, but the Golden Eagles have dropped a pair of winnable games to drop back to .500.
After a home loss to DePaul (68-61) on Saturday, the Golden Eagles started slow Wednesday night and fell to Providence 72-63 in overtime in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Friars (9-7, 5-5 Big East) avenged a 79-69 loss to the Golden Eagles on Jan. 12 at Fiserv Forum.
Marquette (8-8, 4-6 Big East) struggled out of the gates and scored just 18 points in the first half, trailing 25-18 at the break. Marquette had more turnovers (nine) in the first half than they did field goals (eight). The Golden Eagles shot just 34.8% (8 of 23) from the field in the first half.
The second half was better for the Golden Eagles, who hit their first four shots from the field and took a 36-35 lead with just over 12-minutes left in regulation.
Koby McEwen had 13 points to lead Marquette, but he spent most of the second half in foul trouble. D.J. Carton and Justin Lewis added 12 points each.
Marquette returns home to host St. John’s in Big East action on Sunday afternoon.
