Friars in a funk: Providence falls short at Marquette again

No. 20 Providence has one of the best all-around players in college basketball in Kris Dunn and at least one other NBA talent in its starting five in Ben Bentil. Yet, the Friars keep finding ways to lose rather than win as we move into the midsection of February.

The Friars missed a chance to earn their first win at Marquette on Wednesday when Dunn threw a sloppy pass at the end of regulation preventing his team from getting off a game-winning shot attempt. Marquette went on to win in double overtime 96-91 with Dunn watching from the bench after fouling out in the first overtime.

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Providence is now 0-10 in the Bradley Center in Milwaukee against the Golden Eagles, despite the best efforts of Bentil, who scored a career-best 42 points. Dunn added 17 points on what was an off-night for the preseason All-American. Providence has lost three in a row and four of its past five, falling to .500 in the Big East at a time when a roster with such talent should be building toward a March crescendo.

It has to be a concern for coach Ed Cooley, who watched his team beat No. 4 Villanova less than three weeks ago.To be fair, the Friars encountered a Marquette team still carrying some hope of getting to the NCAA Tournament, but those hopes are dependent on the Golden Eagles winning games against ranked opponents such as Wednesday’s contest.

Five players scored in double figures for the Golden Eagles, led by standout freshman forward Henry Ellenson, who had 26 points and 16 rebounds, countering Bentil.

There is certainly no reason to panic for Cooley. It’s not as if the Friars didn’t play hard Wednesday and got blown off the court. Far from it, they did well to fight back from a five-point deficit in the final seconds of the first overtime without their best player on the court to force another extra period.

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What’s troubling about the Friars is they rarely seem to make things easy on themselves. You can certainly chalk some of this up to scheduling and playing in the Big East, but only a handful of victories this season have come by double-digit margins.

For weeks, months even, many in college basketball have expected more from this team, maybe unfairly because Dunn is such as an exceptional talent. It comes in flashes but consistency is not the Friars’ strength and they really struggle when Dunn and Bentil aren’t all over the place filling up the box score. Cooley needs more from sophomores Jalen Lindsey and Rodney Bullock.

Lindsey hasn’t scored in double figures in 12 games and Bullock’s scoring has fallen off in the past two weeks. The Friars might be relying a bit too much on Dunn and Bentil.

Things aren’t going to get any easier with the next three games coming against Georgetown, No. 5 Xavier and a capable Seton Hall team. The Friars also have to play a Creighton team they beat by two points last month before tournament time arrives. It’s going to be interesting to see if Cooley, Dunn and Bentil can regroup and charge into March or if they limp to the postseason.

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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo