Despite lighting it up from three, Providence loses another close one -- this time at Butler

"We wasted a game where we made 16 threes. We wasted it because we just didn’t guard."

We’ve been here before.

Trailing, 74-61, with 9:14 left on the clock, Providence staged a furious rally behind outstanding shooting from beyond the arc.

The Friars ripped off a 15-2 spurt to tie Saturday’s game against Butler at 76-76 with 3:47 to go, but as was the case just seven days earlier, Providence saw a last-second shot by Bensley Joseph fall aside in their latest loss that came down to the end — this time an 82-81 victory for Butler in Indianapolis.

Great outside shooting was at the heart of a road comeback once again.

Last week it was Jabri Abdur-Rahim nearly single-handedly leading Providence to an upset of St. John’s at Madison Square Garden with eight 3-pointers.

Saturday at Butler was more of a team effort, as PC shot 16-32 beyond the arc — a shooting performance that somehow wasn’t good enough to overcome a Butler team that improved to 4-9 in the Big East with the win.

Rich Barron played his best game as a Friar. The sophomore shot 7-9 beyond the arc in setting a career high with 23 points, while Joseph was terrific with 26 points of his own on 10-20 shooting from the field and 5-9 from deep.

Jayden Pierre added 11 points and eight assists, while Corey Floyd Jr. continued his terrific play with 17 points, six assists, and four rebounds.

Here’s the 15-2 Friar run:

“16-32 from three was remarkable,” Butler head coach Thad Matta said afterwards.

The 16 threes set a season high (topping PC’s 14 at Villanova), and their 20 assists were second only to the Friars’ win over lowly Delaware State in November.

So, how did Providence lose despite that type of shooting effort?

Butler was the more physical team.