Big East Basketball Power Rankings: Butler, Seton Hall secure road wins

Is Providence back? After struggling mightily through the opening two months of the season, the Friars have now put forth back-to-back extremely strong performances en route to dominating wins. Granted, both of these victories came at home but it’s hard to ignore a 22-point victory over Texas followed by dismantling Georgetown by 16.

These were the two best overall performances by the Friars all season as they appear to finally be looking like the team many expected them to be.

Yet, Providence’s resume is still terrible and it will take a massive run in conference play in order to get back into the NCAA Tournament conversation. It is not completely out of the question but it is relatively unlikely. As a result, Providence looks poised to “play spoiler” in the conference. The Friars are a far better team than their resume shows and they will come away with several in-conference wins to throw off the rest of the league.

Diving back into Providence’s most recent game, the team absolutely controlled Georgetown from the opening tip. The Friars’ defense was phenomenal in shutting down the McClung-less Hoyas en route to a 54-23 lead at halftime. Providence was led by Alpha Diallo posting 20 points but this was a team effort.

The Friars shot 10-for-25 (40.0%) from three in the game.