Marquette closed 2024 with a 78-50 road rout of Providence on Dec. 31 as part of its climb to a 6-0 start in the Big East.The No. 21 Golden Eagles have split their past 10 conference games since that tear, however, and hope to regain their grit when Providence visits Milwaukee on Tuesday night.An 81-66 road loss to Villanova on Friday sent the Golden Eagles to their fourth loss in six games while reinforcing that nothing is guaranteed.Marquette (20-7, 11-5) handled the visiting Wildcats by 13 points just a month earlier.”We need for everyone on our team to understand there’s only one way for us, and that’s to truly come together and multiply each other,” Golden Eagles coach Shaka Smart said. “Let go of ourselves enough that we’re focusing on uplifting the guys around us and connected with the guys around us to get one stop.”Smart stresses that for Marquette “to play the way we want to play, it requires violence and focus.”To keep pace with first-place St. John’s and second-place Creighton in the conference standings, the Golden Eagles must get accelerated production from their starting five. Chase Ross (11 points) and Kam Jones (10) led Marquette’s starters against Villanova on Friday, but the rest of the unit combined for just nine points.Reserve Zaide Lowery swished each of his five 3-pointers en route to a team-best 25 points.”We have a lot to figure out with our starting lineup in terms of coming into the game with a level of hunger and passion that we have to have,” Smart said.Providence, meanwhile, has lost five of its past six games and is coming off what coach Kim English called “our most disappointing loss of the season” — Wednesday’s 93-72 defeat at Georgetown.The Friars (12-15, 6-10) struggled with their effort and consistency, prompting English to acknowledge he was “embarrassed” after Providence couldn’t build off a 13-point home win against Villanova on Feb. 15.Bensley Joseph started the game with a driving layup to jump-start a 25-point effort. Still, English bemoaned the Friars’ overall “flimsy” finishes of drives and overall play around the rim. It’s a trend he feels has plagued the team throughout the season.