The early portion of the schedule is not kind for PC. Providence opened at #5 Syracuse, welcomes St. John's Saturday, followed by #6 Pittsburgh next week before taking to the road for three consecutive games.
After stumbling through portions of their out of conference schedule, Steve Lavin's Red Storm have apparently turned the tide with three straight wins, most recently an 81-71 road victory against West Virginia.
The Johnnies hadn't won in the West Virginia University Coliseum since 1999, but controlled this one from the start, holding the Mountaineers to 37% from the field, while shooting 76% in the second half (61% for the game).
As impressive as those offensive figures are, it was the defense that left an impression with West Virginia, “I don’t remember us shooting an easy shot,” said WVU star Kevin Jones. “Everything was contested. Everything was hard."
Lavin has righted the ship after St. John's struggled at times in the out of conference schedule. The Storm blew a 20 point lead in a loss to Fordham, dropped their opener versus St. Mary's, and fell to St. Bonaventure as well.
While this isn't a must-win for Providence, there should be a sense of urgency for the 11-3 Friars. An 0-2 conference start with a top five team and then three straight on the road would be a challenging way to kick off Big East play. And it won't get any easier when they return home, with back to back contests against #20 Louisville and #8 Villanova to follow.
While not a must-win, victories over middle of the pack Big East teams are essential. Taking care of unranked opponents at home could mean the difference between eight and four conference wins. After Saturday Providence will only have four home games against teams not currently in the top 25, meaning 12 of the final 16 games on the schedule will come either on the road or against ranked opponents.
Saturday may not be a must-win, but it is the type of game Providence has to win.
