Three weeks ago, the Marquette men’s basketball team blew out Providence 93-63 at the Bradley Center.

Yet coach Buzz Williams and company can’t get over how big a victory Saturday’s 82-79 win at Providence was. It was a big win partly because of what the Friars have done since their first meeting with the Golden Eagles (Providence also recently defeated Connecticut) and partly because playing in the Dunkin’ Donuts Center is not an easy task.

“They’re a really good team at home,” said junior Jimmy Butler, adding that Providence’s loss of Jamine Peterson for the entire second half when the two teams first met made up for some of the difference between the two games. “But at home, they’re definitely a tough team to get after.”

Sophomore Darius Johnson-Odom, who is averaging 13.7 points, 2.3 rebound and 2.8 assists in conference play, suggested that it was the Friar’s slow start in at the Bradley Center that did them in.

“I think they came out a lot stronger than playing here,” Johnson-Odom said.

Before the Marquette men’s basketball team’s victory over then-No. 19 Connecticut on Jan. 30, the Golden Eagles hadn’t won a road game all season.

But the Golden Eagles were able to outplay the long, athletic Huskies frontcourt, even as Lazar Hayward fouled out with the score tied 63-63 and just under two minutes left in the game. The hope was that Marquette could take that road momentum to Providence.

“Definitely there was some carryover,” sophomore Darius Johnson-Odom said. “It started from that game, and we just kept on rolling as far as practice and getting better.”

Against Providence, Marquette proved once again that its miniature lineup can get the job done against taller, more athletic teams, even as Providence’s Bilal Dixon and Jamine Peterson combined for 41 points and 25 rebounds, including 13 offensive boards. In fact, the Peterson/Hayward match-up would have been spectacular to watch if Marquette’s senior star wasn’t spending most of his time guarding Dixon in the Golden Eagles’ man-to-man scheme.

Regardless of match-ups, Butler said that it’s Marquette’s ability to stick to its own style of play that has allowed for such success.

“We don’t let them, just because they’re bigger, dictate us,” he said. “We still try to do what we do on the offensive and defensive ends.”

And that resulted in Hayward tying his career high with 28 points.

With the triumph Saturday, the Golden Eagles (15-8, 6-5 Big East) have now strung together four straight wins. Their only real resume blemish remains the loss on the road to DePaul. Following the successful rematch against the Blue Demons on Feb. 3, several players said they were worried that DePaul loss will come back to haunt them. Williams has a different take.

“Coach Haskins taught me when I was a kid that if you win on the road it’s plus one and if you lose at home you’re minus one, and everything else is even,” Williams said after the Feb. 3 win over DePaul.

By Williams’ math, that puts the Golden Eagles at plus one in conference play with a red hot South Florida team up next on the docket.