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Marquette and Providence tip off in Rhode Island tonight at 6pm Central time. Memo to Providence: Get with the streaming video program. If you want to keep track of live stats, you can click here, or follow @MarquetteWBB on Twitter for in game updates.
When we last left the Golden Eagles, they were dropping a 67-61 decision to St. John's. The good news is that senior forward Sarina Simmons became the 22nd player in Marquette history to record 1,000 career points. The bad news is that the postseason hopes are looking dim for the second season in a row, which is a rarity under head coach Terri Mitchell.
The Friars come in having lost four straight overall and three straight home games. Senior guard Symone Roberts and sophomore guard Tori Rule both average in double digits in scoring, led by Roberts at 14.2 points per game. Third leading scorer Brianna Edwards is PC's leading rebounder. The senior forward grabs 7.6 caroms per contest.
Providence has a weakness in Marquette's strength department: The Friars let their opponents get to offensive rebounds at a better rate (39%) than they get to their own misses (36%). Even worse than that, PC's opponents shoot the ball nearly 10 points better than they do (48% eFG to 39%), and they foul like crazy relative to how often they draw fouls. Providence allows a free throw rate of 34% while recording their own rate of 24%. The chances to score will be there for the Golden Eagles, so it's just up to them to take advantage of the opportunities.