(14) Providence 66 (11) Marquette 87

With an NCAA Tournament bid possibly hinging on their performance Tuesday night, the Marquette Golden Eagles finally played like the desperate team they were.

Except for a brief scare early in the second half, 11th-seeded MU regained its footing and sailed past 14th-seeded Providence, 87-66, in a first-round Big East tournament game at Madison Square Garden.

Darius Johnson-Odom had a game-high 23 points and Jimmy Butler pitched in 19 points and 10 rebounds as MU snapped out of its recent funk with a high-octane first half that saw the Golden Eagles (19-13) knock down 57.1% of their shots.

MU, which pounded Providence (15-17) on the glass, 53-37, faces sixth-seeded West Virginia (20-10) in a second-round matchup at approximately 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“Hopefully the win helps. Obviously it doesn't hurt,” said coach Buzz Williams when asked about Marquette's chances to be picked for the NCAA Tournament. “Does it mean that we're in? I don't know. But I know that we played as well as we've played in a long time.”

Providence, which trailed by as many as 24 points with 3 minutes 28 seconds remaining in the first half, used a 10-4 run out of the locker room to narrow the gap to 50-43 - the closest the Friars had been since early in the game.

A layup by Butler on MU's next possession helped jump-start the Golden Eagles' offense, though. Two straight driving layups by Johnson-Odom and a Butler jumper sandwiched around a Providence layup got MU's lead back up to 58-45 with 14:24 left in the game.

From there, it was Marshon Brooks - who set a Big East single-season record with 468 points in 18 league games - single-handedly keeping the Friars afloat. After MU opened its lead back to 64-47 at the 10:16 mark, the senior guard scored the next eight points for Providence while his teammates sputtered.

His third three-pointer of the game pulled the Friars within 66-55 with 7:41 left. Davante Gardner answered with a traditional three-point play, though, and the Golden Eagles kept it rolling.

They stretched their lead back to 20 at 81-61, and then even MU's deep reserves got into the act, as freshman Jamail Jones hit his first three-pointer since Dec. 18. Senior walk-on Rob Frozena checked in not long after that as both teams called off the dogs.

Vincent Council had 21 points and Brooks finished with 20 in his final game for the Friars, who shot just 35.3% overall.

The Golden Eagles couldn't have gotten out to a better start.

On fire offensively and locking down the Friars on defense, MU scored the first 17 points, forcing Providence coach Keno Davis to burn a pair of timeouts in order to stop the bleeding.

MU hit all four of its three-pointers in the surge, with Johnson-Odom knocking down a pair and Butler and Jae Crowder one each.

Providence, meanwhile, missed its first 10 shots and committed two turnovers. Brooks, who entered the game ranked second in the nation in scoring at 24.8 points per game, finally broke through at the 14:29 mark.

Still, he got nothing easy whenever the ball was in his hands, as Butler and Johnson-Odom shadowed him.

Another three, this one by Dwight Buycks, stretched MU's lead to 20-2, and shortly after that a pair of layups by Gardner and Junior Cadougan made it 26-6. Davis had seen enough and used his third timeout.

It actually could have been even worse for the Friars. Despite its hot start, MU committed four turnovers and also gave Providence two points when Chris Otule was whistled for a technical foul for hanging on the rim after a dunk.

The bulge grew to 41-17 on a pair of Gardner free throws at 3:28, and it looked as if the Golden Eagles were going to be able to put the Friars on ice by halftime.

Just like that, though, Providence found its range.

Starting with a three-point play from Council, the Friars went on a 16-5 run to close the first half and go into intermission down by a much more manageable 46-33 margin.

Most troubling for MU was the fact Providence did its damage with Brooks managing only a layup in the run. It was three consecutive threes by Council to finish the half that made the difference - a scene eerily reminiscent of the way Seton Hall bombed away from long distance in the Pirates' win over the Golden Eagles on Saturday.

“I'm not going to sleep tonight,” Butler said. “I want to win every single game. So tonight I'm going to go back and watch film, see what (West Virginia) did against us, against other teams - everything I can possibly do to try to make sure Marquette has more points than West Virginia at the end of the game.”