After stumbling against Connecticut, Providence will look to turn things around at MSG
A look at how Saturday's game against UConn fell apart, and the road ahead for the Friars at MSG.
Despite a blazing start on Saturday night, Providence was outclassed by Dan Hurley and Connecticut in what felt like a play-in game for the Friars’ NCAA Tournament hopes. The Friars raced out to a 15-2 lead to start the game, and closed on a 16-4 spurt after this one was well out of hand, but the Huskies showed why they are, once again, considered by many to be the favorites to win the national championship this spring.
Providence cracked against the UConn defense midway through the first half, played with “immaturity” (in the words of head coach Kim English) when the game was still in the balance, and looked overwhelmed for most of the night in their 74-60 loss.
If you were paying close enough attention, you could have seen this one coming. The Huskies wrapped up the Big East portion of their schedule at 18-2, and have been playing at an elite level for virtually all of this season, while the Friars had been thoroughly outplayed at Marquette and at home versus Villanova before picking up their 19th win of the season at struggling Georgetown on Tuesday night.
Still, there was hope that the Friars could summon some magic that comes with playing in the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Ultimately, UConn was simply too talented on both sides of the ball, and they are playing with a confidence that may be unmatched by any team in the country.
Devin Carter was the catalyst during Providence’s 15-2 run, starting 4-4 from the field and electrifying the home crowd. While they started hot, English was frustrated with some early decisions. “Immaturity set in,” English said of some of the ill-advised 3-pointers his team launched while the building was buzzing. “You’re not going to knock a team like that out five minutes into the game.”
The killer blow came at the 12:02 mark of the first half when Josh Oduro picked up his second foul of the game. At that point PC led, 19-9, and Oduro had six early points, but he was whistled for two fouls 45 seconds apart, and the Friars (playing with no frontcourt depth beyond Oduro) fell apart without him.
“Josh’s second foul was not one,” English said, while noting that he thought losing Oduro that early changed the tenor of the game, sharing that Providence and UConn were even from a plus/minus perspective with Oduro on the floor.
Following Oduro’s second foul, Providence scored just five points over the final 12 minutes of the first half. Carter had a dunk off of a block of a Tristen Newton 3-pointer with 8:45 left in the first half. That served as the Friars’ only made field goal after Oduro picked up foul number two.
Over those final 12 minutes, UConn went on a run that would have made their women’s team proud, blitzing the Friars with a 33-5 spurt to close out the half and take a 42-24 lead heading into halftime.
The game was over at that point.
“Disappointing outcome, disappointing effort, disappointing all around,” English said of his team’s play. He highlighted Providence’s poor decision-making with their early lead, noting his team’s decisions became “silly” after their hot start, while stressing the need to play methodically in order to beat a team of this quality.
Carter was terrific, once again, finishing with 24 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and two steals, while Oduro closed with a 13-point, 11-rebound double double.
The Friars got little outside of its top two players, while Connecticut shot 40% from three as a team (after struggling to a 4-23 mark in the first meeting between these teams in Storrs). All five of their starters scored in double figures.
“I’m not going to lie, it felt pretty good,” Dan Hurley said of picking up his first career win at the AMP between his time at UConn and Rhode Island. “I’ve had to eat a lot of shit in this building.”
Hurley was in true Hurley form on Saturday, picking up an early technical and then chirping with, and shushing, the Providence crowd in the waning minutes of the game.
Theatrics aside, Connecticut has turned into a force in Hurley’s five years at the helm. His progression went from finishing 19-12 overall and 10-8 in the league in his first year, then reaching the NCAA Tournament in years two and three (but falling in the first round), to winning the national title a year ago. Many believe his fifth Connecticut team is better than the one that took home the championship last April.
Hurley called Providence an NCAA Tournament team afterwards, and shared his admiration for the job English has done this year: “Very high level of respect for what Kim’s done. Losing a player of Bryce’s (Hopkins) caliber, his leadership, and tactical changes to keep these guys in the hunt for March Madness — just big respect for Kim and his players.”
He also praised Carter: “It’s rare that you see a guy that does so much. The energy that he expends on the offensive end to get his own, to create for others, and then he guards and chases around like a maniac. He’s just such a unique player.”
Providence closed out its regular season 19-12 overall, with a 10-10 record in league play. They head to the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden in somewhat of a unique spot — coming off of a demoralizing defeat and playing inconsistent basketball, yet with a potentially beneficial path in front of them.
The Friars open with Georgetown on Wednesday night, and if they were to win there they would face a Creighton team they split with during the regular season. If they were to knock off a top-ten team in Creighton then the winner of Villanova, and a potentially Tyler Kolek-less Marquette team would await.
Carter, Oduro, Rich Barron Earn All Big East Honors
To the surprise of no one, Devin Carter was an unanimous choice for 1st Team All Big East this year. He led the league in scoring in Big East play (21.4 ppg), while also playing the best perimeter defense of perhaps any player in the country. He is one of only four players nationally named to both the Naismith Player of the Year Midseason and Defensive Player of the Year Watchlists. Carter is joined by Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer of UConn, Creighton’s Baylor Scheiermann, Marquette’s Tyler Kolek, and Seton Hall’s Kadary Richmond on the 1st team.
Josh Oduro earned Big East Honorable Mention honors after averaging 16.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Oduro enjoyed a seamless transition to the Big East after spending four years at George Mason, highlighted by a season-high 32 points against Creighton.
Freshman Rich Barron was named to the Big East All Rookie team as well. Barron started seven games for the Friars and provided a huge lift as a shooter, knocking down 43% of his shots from beyond the arc. Originally committed to English at George Mason, Barron flipped to PC after English took over and became a revelation with his consistent outside shooting ability. He has hit at least two 3-pointers in five of the last seven games, and forced his way into bigger minutes after playing sparingly at times in the first two months of the season.