PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island – The brutality of the Big East Conference was on full display Saturday at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, and Xavier basketball was on the bad end of the result this time.
The No. 5 Musketeers dropped their first Big East game of the year, losing 81-72 to the Providence College Friars before a lively capacity crowd of 12,630.
Xavier (15-2, 3-1 Big East) played a sloppy first half and let Providence and its fans find a foothold in the contest early. It was one of several recent games in which Xavier was slow out of the gates and made matters unnecessarily difficult for itself via turnovers, of which there were 10 in the first half and 21 by game's end.