Providence welcomes Butler to Rhode Island’s capital city for a Wednesday night matchup of two teams looking to right the ship as Big East play continues.
The Friars (7-8, 1-3) are on a four-game losing streak as they come off a narrow miss Sunday, falling at then-No. 11 UConn 87-84 after holding a 12-point halftime lead.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs (7-8, 0-4) remain on the road after taking their seventh consecutive defeat 70-62 at St. John’s on Saturday. The skid is Butler’s longest since 2014.
Coach Kim English hopes his Providence team — which Jayden Pierre led with a career-high 24 points against the Huskies — can continue its positive steps and find the win column back at home.
“It was a much different effort than (in a 78-50 loss the previous Tuesday) against Marquette,” English said. “I was proud of our guys for that, but we’ll get back to work on some stuff. That’s the beauty of the Big East. Another great opportunity against Butler in our building this week.”
Wesley Cardet Jr. also hopes to build upon a strong effort against the two-time reigning national champions, scoring 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. True freshmen Ryan Mela (10 points, six rebounds) and Oswin Erhunmwunse (six points, nine rebounds, three blocks) continue to play well.
“I felt we were more connected and together and we played that way (against UConn),” English said. “That’s a step in the right direction.”
Butler trailed by just one with 3:55 remaining on Saturday, but was unable to win the game despite St. John’s shooting 1-for-21 from 3-point range. Committing a season-high 21 turnovers and an 0-for-9 start from the field did the Bulldogs in.
It was not the only close game that coach Thad Matta’s team was unable to pull out after having led at halftime against Villanova and Marquette, as well as playing UConn to a tie game with 4:43 left.
“We gotta find a way,” said Matta, who altered his lineup by starting Kolby King in place of Finley Bizjack.
Pierre Brooks had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead Butler against St. John’s. His 14.8 points per game are one shy of Jahmyl Telfort’s team-leading total.
Telfort has netted 14.8 ppg in conference play while adding 7.5 rebounds, up from his 5.0 for the season.
–Field Level Media
