Marquette takes NCAA Tournament hopes on road
A week ago, the Marquette men's basketball team had its back virtually against the wall. The Golden Eagles had lost four of five games and needed to stop the bleeding to bolster their NCAA Tournament hopes. They succeeded, scoring 22-point wins over Xavier and St. John's at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Despite those wins, Marquette's postseason goals remain up in the air. With a 17-10 overall record and an 8-7 mark in the Big East, the Golden Eagles are tied for fourth in the league. Depending on the results of their final three games, they can finish as high as third, essentially clinching their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2013, or slip to the bottom four, meaning they would have to play on the opening night of the conference tournament with some résumé-building left to do.
"Obviously it's in the back of our heads, but we've just got to take it one day at a time and one game at a time," freshman Sam Hauser said of reaching the NCAA Tournament. "At the end of the season, the chips will fall where they need to be."
The next two in a series of critical games come with Marquette's back against someone else's wall as the Golden Eagles head on the road beginning with Saturday's 3 p.m. clash at Providence (17-11, 7-8 Big East). It's a game with major implications for both teams as the Friars, who have roared back from a 4-8 start in the Big East with consecutive wins over Butler, Xavier and Creighton, have put themselves squarely in the NCAA Tournament bubble conversation.
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"Heading into Providence it's a team that I think is as hot of a team as we have in the conference," Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "It's a huge challenge for us."
In Saturday's rematch of the Friars' 79-78 win over the Golden Eagles on Jan. 28 at the Bradley Center, one of Marquette's keys will be finding a way to do something every Big East team has struggled to do of late – contain junior guard Kyron Cartwright. The 6-foot Friars guard may not be his team's leading scorer – that would be junior forward Rodney Bullock – but he has scored in double figures in nine of Providence's past 10 games. That includes dropping 18 points on the Golden Eagles during their first matchup, with all 18 coming in the second half.
Cartwright nearly fell short of continuing that streak on Wednesday but nailed a three-pointer with 2.2 seconds left to reach 10 points and more importantly lift Providence to a 68-66 victory at Creighton.
"They're playing with great hunger and desperation and a lot of guys are stepping up big for them," Wojciechowski said. "When I watch them play, Cartwright to me is the guy who makes them go. I think he's playing, in the second half of the Big East season, as well as any guard in our conference."
In addition to finding an answer for Cartwright, the Golden Eagles will need to continue their string of strong starts. Marquette fell behind by as many as 12 in the first half during its last meeting with Providence and never fully recovered, tying the score three times in the second half but never gaining the lead.
The Golden Eagles' new-look starting lineup of freshmen Markus Howard and Hauser, sophomore Matt Heldt and redshirt juniors Duane Wilson and Andrew Rowsey has been a net positive over the past two games, playing with poise, enthusiasm and efficiency. That lineup change, which includes multiple players with a glut of starting experience coming off the bench, has caught Providence coach Ed Cooley's attention and is something he's preparing his team to face.
"I think Coach (Wojciechowski) has done a great job with his rotation," Cooley said. "They're very explosive offensively. We're going to have to really dial into the details. When they're making baskets and making threes they're very, very difficult to beat."
As well as Wojciechowski's changes have paid off over the past week, both victories have come at home. Now the Golden Eagles, which are 3-5 in true road games this season, will test their mettle away from the Bradley Center, first against Providence and then at Xavier on Wednesday.
"You've got to be able to go on the road and fight your heart out," Wojciechowski said. "The intensity level for all these games with the teams that we have left to play is going to be at a fever pitch and we've got to respond to that.
"Hopefully the guys who start will get us off to a great start, but we need everybody to win a road game."