NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Virginia falls, Marquette and Gonzaga rise in top 25 power rankings

22. Providence Friars – 20-8 (12-5 Big East)

The Friars had just one game this week, a road battle at UConn. It was a game that started fairly close, with just five points separating them at halftime. But the defense of the Friars suffered in the final 20 minutes, giving up 50 points in what ended up being an 87-69 defeat.

Bryce Hopkins, the team’s leading scorer on the season had a good offensive game. He had a team-high 16 points in 37 minutes played. But he had just one assist and didn’t register a single rebound in the contest. As a team, they were doubled up by UConn on the boards, 38-19. The Huskies are a very good rebounding team but the level of domination in that category was a surprise for the Friars.

Jared Bynum had 14 points for Providence, while Noah Locke was also in double figures with 11. This puts the Friars at 3-3 in the last six games and now two games back of Marquette in the week’s regular-season finale.

It’s not over yet for Providence, who still has three games left on the schedule. The first is against Georgetown on Sunday for its last road game, before taking on Xavier, who might not have Zach Freemantle, and Seton Hall, who might not have Kadary Richmond to end the regular season.