Andrew Rowsey reaches into his bag of tricks
Already leading 74-70, Providence extended their lead to seven with just 1:33 remaining. With Luke Fischer fouled out, the Golden Eagles were down three possessions. They needed some magic in a hurry. UNC Asheville transfer Andrew Rowsey was there to answer the call multiple times. After knocking down a pair from the charity stripe, the redshirt junior cut the lead to just five. When the Friars pushed their lead back to six, Rowsey responded with a ridiculous four-point play to keep the Golden Eagles in it. The guard got Jalen Lindsey to jump on a shot fake while simultaneously switching the ball to his left hand. As he was about to land, Rowsey threw up a one-handed prayer from 21 feet out. That prayer was answered and all of a sudden Marquette was within two with 36 seconds to go. Rowsey’s shot fake was effective all afternoon long, as he earned 10 shots from the line. He connected on all 10.
Kyron Cartwright takes over in the second half
The junior Providence guard was quiet in the first half, shooting 0-for-2 from the field and 0-for-2 from the line. Marquette did a good job of bottling up Cartwright, forcing him in to two turnovers. However the second half was a completely different story. The Compton, California, native flipped the switch to tally 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the second frame. Cartwright also added three assists and did not turn the ball over once. He was hard to guard off the dribble and was nearly impossible to guard on the pick and roll. Cartwright had his fingerprints on nearly every Providence possession down the stretch.
Perimeter defense an issue … again
“The story of the game is our defense though,” Wojciechowski said. “I mean, I sound like a broken record.”
Pick your statistic: 49.1 percent from the field, 55 percent from behind the arc — Marquette simply gave too much space to the Providence shooters. The Golden Eagles out-rebounded Providence, they dished out more assists than the Friars and they had two less turnovers. All of those small statistical wins were nullified due to their defense. Junior Lindsey and sophomore Ryan Fazekas were particularly effective from behind the arc. Lindsey was 4-for-5 from downtown while Fazekas cashed three of his four 3-point attempts. Cartwright chipped in two of his own.
“We hope our offense bails us out and it almost did,” Wojciechowski said.
Luke Fischer effective in spurts
After picking up his second foul with 8:54 remaining in the first half, Fischer was forced to the bench. In nine minutes of play, the senior was 2-for-2 from the field, with two rebounds and an assist. He was a force on the defensive side as well, tallying two blocks on a single possession. The Golden Eagles started off the second half by feeding the 6-foot-11 center in the post. He scored five points in his four minutes back on the court. Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, Fischer picked up three fouls in a two-minute span, and was disqualified for having five fouls. He finished the afternoon with a double-double on 5-for-7 shooting.
Best stat line
Andrew Rowsey: 23 points on 5-for-8 shooting, 10-for-10 from the free throw line, four rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes of action
Stat of the night: Providence was 11-for-20 from 3-point land.
Up next: Marquette (14-7, 5-4) will try and get back on track Wednesday when they head to New York City to take on St. John’s (10-12, 4-5) in Madison Square Garden.
