No. 21 Marquette travels to play at Georgetown on Saturday night looking to extend its good fortunes in the nation’s capital, having won seven straight in Washington since 2018.
The Golden Eagles (21-7, 12-5 Big East) got back in the win column with Tuesday’s 82-52 rout of Providence at home behind 17 points apiece from Kam Jones and Ben Gold while Stevie Mitchell added 14.
Jones, Gold and Mitchell combined to make 11 of Marquette’s 17 3-pointers as the Golden Eagles finished 17 of 41 from long distance — both season highs.
The high volume of 3-pointers wasn’t necessarily a new strategy or a change in the game plan, according to coach Shaka Smart.
“It was the way the game worked out,” Smart said.
“It wasn’t by design. We don’t ever go into a game saying, ‘Let’s set a record on this or that.’ Maybe on the defensive end but not on the offensive end.”
On the other end of the court, Marquette limited Providence to 33.9 percent from the field, including 6 of 26 on 3-point attempts (23.1 percent).
With the victory, Marquette remained in third place in the Big East standings, a game behind 13-4 Creighton and one game better than 11-6 UConn.
Despite Smart’s immediate success upon arriving at Marquette, leading the Golden Eagles to three straight NCAA Tournaments and highlighted by the 2024 Sweet 16, he had never earned a sweep of Providence until Tuesday.
“You’ve got teams that are desperate to beat you,” Smart said of the struggling Friars.
“We’ve never swept Providence since I’ve been here. It’s significant to win two games.”
Marquette left no doubt this season as its two lopsided wins over the Friars were by a combined total of 58 points, holding Providence to a total of 102 points.
One conference foe Smart has had no issues with so far is Georgetown (16-12, 7-10). Marquette is 7-0 against the Hoyas under Smart and will be trying for a fourth consecutive sweep on Saturday.
The Hoyas are coming off a 93-79 loss at UConn in Hartford on Wednesday and have lost 10 of their last 14 games.
Micah Peavy scored a game-high 25 points in the first game since Georgetown announced that star freshman Thomas Sorber (14.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg) would miss the remainder of the season after requiring surgery for turf toe.
Peavy, who averages a team-high 16.5 points, has scored at least 20 in six consecutive games, averaging 24.2 during that span. The graduate transfer from TCU isn’t just a scorer; he’s contributing in every aspect while almost never leaving the court.
Peavy has played all 40 minutes in each of the last four games and five out of six. He’s posted two double-doubles and has 19 steals over the same period.
“I get very frustrated,” said Georgetown coach Ed Cooley, talking about what he feels is Peavy’s lack of recognition.
“Micah should have been the national player of the week, let alone the Big East player of the week. This kid deserves way more credit.”
Peavy did earn a spot on the conference’s weekly honor roll announced on Monday.
The Golden Eagles won the first meeting 74-66 at home on Jan. 7 behind 27 from Chase Ross while overcoming a 14-point first-half deficit.
–Field Level Media
