Marquette @ Providence preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 20, 2019 ) Providence 68, Marquette 79

Marquette's Markus Howard had already established himself as one of the top offensive players in the Big East last season before a record-setting performance at Providence in early January made him a household name. The country's fourth-leading scorer in 2018-19 and his 10th-ranked Golden Eagles attempt to complete a regular-season sweep of a conference rival Saturday when they visit the Friars for the first time since that historic effort.

Howard (25.7 points) erupted for the first of his two career 50-point games when he tied a conference mark with a school-record 52 points and matched a career high with 11 3-pointers in a 95-90 overtime victory against Providence. The 5-11 junior, who bested the aforementioned point total with a Big East-record 53 points this season in another overtime win at Creighton, has reached the 30-point mark eight times as a junior and just missed doing so a ninth time with 28 points in Wednesday's 79-69 triumph over Butler - a win that left Marquette with a one-half game edge on Villanova in the conference standings. Providence limited Howard to 24 points on 4-of-15 shooting last month, but Sam Hauser went off for 25 en route to a 79-68 win for the Golden Eagles. The Friars, who had dropped five of their previous six, gave their slim NCAA Tournament aspirations a bit of a boost Wednesday with a wire-to-wire 78-59 victory over St. John's.

TV: Noon ET, FOX

ABOUT MARQUETTE (22-4, 11-2 Big East): Howard's 28 points against Butler moved him past Dominic James (1,749; 2005-09) and into fourth place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,772 points, leaving him two points shy of eclipsing George Thompson (1966-69) for third place. Sophomore forward Theo John (6.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, conference-leading 2.4 blocks) tied a season high by playing 32 minutes and posted his third double-double in league play, finishing with 15 points, 11 boards and three blocked shots. Coach Steve Wojciechowski praised the recent play of reserve forward Jamal Cain, who has converted all four of his field goals - including two 3-pointers - over his last two outings after not seeing action in any of the previous four contests.

ABOUT PROVIDENCE (15-12, 5-9): Sophomore center Nate Watson (11.7 points, 5.4 rebounds) tied his career high with 21 points versus the Red Storm and is in the midst of the best offensive stretch of his career, averaging 18.3 points over the last four games while converting at 60.9-percent rate from the field. Alpha Diallo (16.4, 8.1) tallied 16 points and 11 boards Wednesday for his Big East-best eighth double-double, but he is in the middle of a four-game slump, shooting only 27.7 percent in that span. The Friars won easily against St. John's despite limited contributions from three key reserves: Kalif Young (out; concussion), Drew Edwards (limited; flu) and Makai Ashton-Langford (limited to two minutes with an ankle injury); only Ashton-Langford is questionable for Saturday.

TIP-INS

1. Seven of the past 10 meetings have been decided by five points or fewer, including three in overtime.

2. With a victory Saturday, Marquette can win six road games for the first time since joining the Big East in 2005-06.

3. Watson's most recent 21-point game prior to Wednesday came in the Jan. 20 loss to the Golden Eagles.

PREDICTION: Marquette 76, Providence 72