GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The 8^th ranked University of Providence men's basketball are hoping to use their home-court advantage this weekend on back to back nights against two difficult Frontier Conference opponents.

The Argos (18-2, 6-2) will take on Montana Tech (13-6, 5-3) on Friday night and #12 Lewis-Clark (19-1, 7-1) on Saturday. Both games will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the McLaughlin Center.

"These home games are huge," head coach Steve Keller said. "We want opponents to think that when they come here it's going to be a tough place to play. It's an advantage to us to have home games but we still have to show up and produce."

The Argos survived a scrappy Oredigger team when the two teams previously met in Butte on Jan. 16. Two days later, the Argos dropped a game to the Warriors in Lewiston. The Argos are hoping they can play better against both opponents on their own floor. 

"We talk about it all the time," Keller said. "It's the grind of the Frontier Conference. You just have to play and hang in there and try to win it at the end because it's all going to be close. We just try to prepare for the next game. We try to make sure that we're fully rested because have to have our legs."

The Argos will hope for a better shooting performance when they play Montana Tech this time around. The two teams shot a combined 5/51 from beyond the arc when the teams previously met. The defense from the Orediggers also forced 18 turnovers from the Argos.

"I don't know if we can prevent Tech from making it an ugly game," Keller said. "That's how they want to play. When you play Tech they're going to guard you, they're going to be physical. You have to be able to withstand that. You just know that when they play you that's the way it's going to be. It doesn't really matter what you do."

Saturday's game will be a marquee matchup between two ranked teams at the top of the Frontier Conference. The Warriors defeated the Argos 90-71 the last time these two teams met on Jan. 18.

"They're very talented," Keller said. "They're 19-1 so they're obviously doing something right. We're hoping that they'll find out this road trip is a little tough. We'll see what happens."

The Argos will hope to roll off some momentum gained from defeating #9 Carroll on Saturday night in front of a packed gym.

"The crowd was awesome last time," Keller said. "They were loud and gave us a good atmosphere. We're hoping that everyone comes out and watches us Friday and Saturday night."