Back on track after Tuesday night’s victory at Villanova, No. 15 Georgetown (20-6, 9-4 Big East) welcomes Providence (13-13, 5-8 Big East) to McDonough Arena this Saturday for a late-season Big East matchup.

The Hoyas, currently fifth in the conference standings, sit a half-game behind St. John’s in the race for a top-four finish and the accompanying double-bye in the Big East tournament. Should the Blue and Gray win out in their final three games, which include a home date with the Red Storm, a finish of at least fourth place is all but assured.

Georgetown’s success this season has come in spite of a league-worst 35.9 percent field percentage, but the hosts will be met by their fiercest challenger for this unenviable distinction —Providence is ranked 15th in shooting with a 36.2 percent average.

But while the Friars are likely to receive little sympathy from the Hoyas’ pressure-oriented defense, which holds opponents to the third-lowest shooting percentage in the league, the Blue and Gray may have a golden chance to rediscover their shooting stroke. As a defensive unit, Saturday’s visitors allow opponents to shoot the highest average field goal percentage in the conference.

“We always want to try to shoot better, and we are taking each game as it comes,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said.

Georgetown enters the matchup having won five of its past six contests, though the lone loss at then-No.3 Connecticut came by a cringe-worthy 80-38 margin. Asked if the Hoyas would use the defeat as motivation entering the final stretch of league play, Williams-Flournoy instead emphasized that her team was moving on.

“We [have] put the UConn game behind us and move[d] forward. Our next opponent is Providence,” she said.

The Blue and Gray weren’t the only team to struggle in its trip to Storrs, Conn., however. Providence found itself on the wrong side of a 96-35 rout at the hands of the Huskies on Jan. 10. The Friars have both struggled and surprised during their league campaign, but the struggles have certainly outnumbered the positives in their season thus far.

Led by redshirt senior forward Teya Wright’s 12.8 points per game, the Rhode Island squad beat then-No.17 Depaul, 60-52, on Jan. 7 and toppled third-place West Virginia the following week. The Friars have faded of late, however, suffering a 26-point home defeat to a mediocre Syracuse team and falling to 13th-place Cincinnati on Feb. 7. Providence enters the weekend with four defeats in its past five tries, with the lone win coming against last-place Seton Hall.

Despite Georgetown’s team shooting struggles, junior guard Sugar Rodgers retains her perch at the top of the Big East scoring charts at 19.5 points per game. Senior forward Tia Magee adds 11.3 points per game, while senior guard Rubylee Wright, who contributed 12 points and four assists in Tuesday’s victory, will orchestrate the offense from the point. Senior forward Adria Crawford leads the Blue and Gray in rebounding, with 6.1 boards per contest.

Georgetown prevailed in last season’s meeting with a 49-45 victory in Providence. It has been over a decade since the Friars have beaten the Hoyas, with their last victory coming in January 2002. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. this Saturday at McDonough Arena.