Freshman sharpshooter Ryan Fazekas started the first 9 games of his career at Providence before missing the Friars’ December 9th contest against Boston College due to a bout of mononucleosis. The Indiana native had been back at home recovering with his family for the last two weeks or so and Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal reported on Twitter that Ed Cooley will again be without Fazekas for Providence’s Big East opener on December 31st at Butler.

Jalen Lindsey has been starting since Fazekas has been out and Lindsey has started to see exhibit consistency in his play, but he hadn’t been shooting the ball quite as well as Fazekas to start the season. As the polls stand at the moment, Providence and Butler would be the Big East’s first ever matchup of top 10 teams in the league’s current configuration. That could change as Providence could be jumped by Iowa State in the latest AP poll due out Monday afternoon.

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