The Cincinnati Bearcats will look to bounce back from a 95-78 loss to Marquette on Saturday as they return home to face the Providence Friars (13-13 2-11) at 9 pm Wednesday night.

With Selection Sunday less than a month away, the Bearcats find themselves firmly on the bubble as the stretch run of the regular season begins.

It's a familiar position for UC seniors Yancy Gates and Dion Dixon as they have experienced both sides of the NCAA Tournament process.

There was the inability to make a run late two years ago that saw the team land in the NIT while last year they finished the regular season strong and made it to the dance for the first time under head coach Mick Cronin.

Gates has been through a lot in his final campaign in the Red and Black, and he looks back to that strong finish a season ago for the recipe to making it happen once again.

“The way we grind-ed it out last year,” Gates said. “Playing Providence last year the game went into overtime, but we just kept playing because we knew we needed to get that win. We're at that point now that you've got to find a way to grind every game out and get a win.”

With time ticking away, the sense of urgency is also there for Dixon, who is ready to help lead the program back to the tournament for the second year in a row.

“This is it right here,” said Dixon. “It's do or die right now. We've got a young team so we've got to lead them and get to this tournament. That's the main focus right now.”

If they are going to make that surge the team has to be better on the defensive end. The 95 point showing against Marquette was the most a UC team has allowed since March of 2008, and Cronin knows that problem has to be fixed before Wednesday night, and stay that way over the next 6 games.

“You've got to have enough accountability to look in the mirror and see where you're weakest,” Cronin said. “For us its our ability to play at our apex defensively on a nightly basis.”

That will be no easy task against a Providence squad that comes in averaging 70.1 points a game, and has scored over that mark in 6 straight games before only putting up 48 in a weekend loss to South Florida.

“They present a lot of problems offensively,” said Cronin. “They've played really well 6 of their last 7 games. They've had double digit leads, but they don't have substitutes at the guard positions so they wear down. They're played really well in a lot of games that they're losing in overtime or at the last second.”

While they don't have a lot of depth at the guard positions, they have big time production from their starters as Vincent Council (16.1 ppg), Bryce Cotton (15.0) and Gerard Coleman (13.8) can all put up big numbers on any given night.

Dixon has watched the Friars on television all season, and knows he and point guard Cashmere Wright will need to be at their best to pull out a much needed victory.

“They've got great guard play and a great point guard that controls the offense,” Dixon said. “That's going to be on me and Cash to get guys ready and go out there and outdo their guards.”

Cronin is also very aware of how well the front end of the Providence roster can play, and is looking for a better defensive effort than he saw over the weekend.

“Vincent Council is as good of a guard as there is in the Big East, period,” said Cronin. “Brice Cotton is the leading 3 point shooter in the Big East, Gerard Coleman is one of the best athletes in the league and LaDontae Hinton is one of the better freshmen in the country.”

First year Friars head coach Ed Cooley has his team playing better than their record for the most part, but they just haven't been able to close out leads late in games.

“At times Wednesday you're going to say how are these guys not one of the better teams out there,” Cronin said. “They just struggle to get over the hump and get the W.”

Cincinnati will need to continue that trend of gutting out a victory against Providence as the Bearcats tournament resume can ill afford a loss to the last place team in the leage to open up a stretch that includes 3 in a row at home and 4 of the final 6 inside 5/3 Arena.

They have responded to rough situations all season long, and Dixon feels the team will be ready to handle another to begin the home stretch of the regular season.

“I think we handle adversity well,” said Dixon. “Just come to practice and get better and get ready for this next game.”