PROVIDENCE — Like virtually all college basketball players, the Brown Bears love to watch as many games as they can.

When they get the chance, they’ll not only flip on ESPN but also come downtown to watch the beasts of the Big East take on Providence College. The chances to play the sport’s upper crust are even more fun.

“It’s a thrill for our guys to go and play the big shots,” said first-year Brown coach Jesse Agel. “Our kids go and watch the Big East games a lot. It’s a great game for our fans and community as well.”

The problem for the Friars is that the Bears don’t just show up and look around when they walk into the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. They’re out to win, just like they did two years ago in a 51-41 rock fight. Tonight the intracity rivalry renews for the 114th time and Brown is more than capable of springing another upset. The Bears have won three of their last four games and have been handled only once (in an 89-52 loss to George Mason) this season.

“We’re coming along pretty well,” Agel said, “but as a coach you want a better reward. We’re going about things the right way and moving in the right direction.”

PC coach Keno Davis says he has plenty of respect for the way the Bears are playing. After the Friars’ lost to St. Mary’s at the 76 Classic Sunday night in Anaheim, he quickly began watching game tape on the Bears.

Davis is not happy that the Friars are back in action against anyone tonight. With the cross-country travel on Monday and the return to classes yesterday, he wasn’t quite sure how the team would look in its final preparations for the Bears.

“This is not the way to put a schedule together but it will mean all the more to come away with a win,” Davis said. “We know we have to play well to beat them, but that’s what we’re looking to do.”

This season the Friars are becoming accustomed to the quick turnaround. They played three games in four days in Anaheim and had little time to prepare for games against Charlotte and St. Mary’s.

Davis said that his team didn’t play well out West but made note of two key points. The first was the strength of the opposition, specifically Baylor and St. Mary’s. He feels both will ultimately play in the NCAA Tournament.

“I don’t want to be too negative about it, because I think they’ll both be Top 25 teams. We played two teams that are better than us, but as we improve we want to pull out as many wins as possible.”

The other issue at the tournament concerned the health of Geoff McDermott. The senior forward entered the Baylor game averaging 10.8 points and 10 rebounds a game. But after he twisted his ankle in the opening 90 seconds of the first game, he was a shell of himself. He went on to average a shade under five points and rebounds in the three games. “It was a great effort for Geoff to be able to play. He helped us in those games but I’d like to have played them with him at full strength,” Davis said.

Agel says he expects McDermott to play but he’d probably wish for a few more banged-up Friars. He said he appreciates PC’s athleticism and ability to run the floor, shoot and put up points in a hurry. The Bears avoided similar outbursts in a season-opening 76-74 loss at Rhode Island. The offense hasn’t been as prolific since, with the notable exception of an 80-73 win over Army. Sophomore Peter Sullivan (16.8 ppg) and junior center Mark Mullery, who is shooting a surprising 75 percent from the floor, have led the offense.

“Providence wants to play fast and we can’t feed into that,” he said. “If we can cut down our unforced turnovers, we’ll be better. We need to make the simple plays.”

kmcnamar@projo.com