'It was mind-boggling. It was tough to watch – very tough to watch,' said Friars coach Kim English.
PROVIDENCE – So much for carrying an extended winning streak into Madison Square Garden next week.
This was the version of Providence that flirted with the bottom half of the men’s basketball standings in the Big East for the majority of the season.
Marquette pushed aside its own struggles while dishing out a hammering at Amica Mutual Pavilion. It was one-way traffic throughout in a 78-56 victory, as the Friars crashed back to reality on what was supposed to be a celebratory Senior Night on March 4.
The Golden Eagles hounded Providence into a season-high 19 turnovers and limited the hosts to a season-low seven assists. That constant menace on the perimeter set the tone for a result that was never really in doubt after the opening few minutes. It was the most lopsided home loss of 2025-26 for the Friars and the worst since Marquette dished out a 78-50 thumping on New Year’s Eve in 2024.
“We just didn’t have it,” Providence coach Kim English said. “It was mind-boggling. It was tough to watch – very tough to watch.”
Marquette turned those Providence giveaways into 29 points – 20 of those came while building a 37-23 halftime cushion. Adrien Stevens buried a 3-pointer out of the locker room and the Friars never came closer than 15 over the final 18:01. The Golden Eagles capped their lead at 58-31 when a Caedin Hamilton steal in the lane led to a Chase Ross layup in transition.
“Some nasty, selfish plays – in the second half especially,” English said. “Nasty, selfish basketball plays. That’s just not the team you want to do that against.”
Providence sputtered to season-low 30.9% shooting and closed 7-for-30 from 3-point range. The Friars managed a lone assist in the first half when Ryan Mela found Jaylin Sellers in the left corner for a 3-pointer with 6:03 to play. Marquette was already out to a 28-10 lead after Ben Gold’s steal set up a Nigel James Jr. slam in transition.
“We didn’t make the passing plays against their pick-and-roll coverage,” English said. “We didn’t make the passing plays against their gap. That leads to however many turnovers and however many points off turnovers.”
That meant two more season lows for Providence in both total points and points per possession. Three of its four least efficient games in three years under English have come against the Golden Eagles – this night, 0.80 points per possession in that home defeat last year and 0.77 points in an 82-52 road spanking last season. Oklahoma is the only team to hold the Friars to less per possession – 0.73 points during a 72-51 road loss in December 2023.
“There’s someone standing right there in the gap with their arms out waiting for you to drive,” English said. “The turnovers I have in my mind where we’re trying to break through a gap – I can’t process it.
“We were bad tonight. We were really, really bad tonight. Really, really disappointed. It’s on me.”
Most of the 11,426 fans in attendance headed for the exits with more than seven minutes to play, unwilling to watch the rest of what finished out a second straight sub-.500 season at home in conference play. Providence (14-16, 7-12 Big East) matched last year’s league mark at 4-6 and is now 14-18 in its last 32 Big East games here. The Friars suffered their first four defeats here this season by single digits before falling to St. John’s by 10 and the Golden Eagles (11-19, 6-13) by more than double that amount.
“I think back to Seton Hall, think back to Georgetown, think back to Connecticut – so many games we were right there to win,” English said. “You’ve just got to do it.
“I feel like these guys, Wisconsin, maybe at Xavier – they beat us. This was the third team I felt like really beat us this season. We haven’t had it. We haven't had the oomph from within the group to win enough.”
Providence was on a three-game winning streak in league play for the first time this season – its last time winning as many as four in a row came in a 6-0 start to 2022-23. Road wins at DePaul and Creighton sandwiched around a home triumph against Xavier had the Friars potentially in position to secure an opening bye and the corresponding No. 5 seed at next week’s conference tournament. Providence will now certainly be playing on the opening Wednesday against an opponent to be determined.
“How do you come out so flat with so much at stake is where my mind is right now,” English said. “Very disappointed. Now how do we respond?”
MARQUETTE (78): Ben Gold 1-4 2-2 5, Royce Parham 3-5 2-4 9, Nigel James Jr. 7-16 4-5 20, Chase Ross 4-9 0-0 8, Adrien Stevens 8-12 0-0 21, Tre Norman 1-5 7-8 9, Damarius Owens 1-4 0-0 2, Michael Phillips II 0-2 0-0 0, Caedin Hamilton 0-0 2-2 2, Josh Clark 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-58 17-21 78.
PROVIDENCE (56): Jamier Jones 2-5 0-2 4, Oswin Erhunmwunse 1-3 1-2 3, Jason Edwards 2-11 0-0 4, Jaylin Sellers 5-13 4-5 18, Ryan Mela 5-7 4-4 17, Stefan Vaaks 1-12 2-2 4, Cole Hargrove 0-0 1-2 1, Nilavan Daniels 1-2 2-2 4, Duncan Powell 0-1 1-2 1, Jack Williams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-55 15-21 56.
Halftime – M, 37-23. 3-point FG – M 9-28 (Gold 1-4, Parham 1-2, James 2-6, Ross 0-1, Stevens 5-8, Norman 0-2, Owens 0-3, Phillips 0-2), P 7-30 (Edwards 0-6, Sellers 4-9, Mela 3-4, Vaaks 0-8, Daniels 0-1, Powell 0-1, Williams 0-1). Rebounds – M 38 (James 7), P 38 (Erhunmwunse 8, Mela 8). Assists – M 15 (Hamilton 3), P 7 (Vaaks 3). Turnovers – M 14 (Ross 4), P 19 (Edwards 4, Vaaks 4). Blocked shots – M 1 (Hamilton 1), P 3 (Jones 1, Hargrove 1, Powell 1). Steals – M 14 (Stevens 4), P 8 (Jones 2, Mela 2). Attendance – 11,426.
On X: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence loses to Marquette 78-56 on March 4 2026
Category: General Sports
