Jaylin Sellers Left Everything On the Floor Against Butler
Sitting at the postgame podium following a 97-87 double overtime win over Butler, Nilavan Daniels lavished praise on backcourt mate Jaylin Sellers.
“He’s absolutely incredible,” Daniels said after Sellers scored a career-high 36 points while playing through a lower leg injury. “If you guys saw the type of person he is — he never stops fighting.”
The fight of this Providence team has been called into question at times, and while the decision-making of Sellers has also been scrutinized, it’s been crystal clear since November that he desperately wants to win here.
In an era in which every injury comes with questions about players trying to squeeze another year of eligibility out of their college careers, Sellers hobbled his way through 43 minutes on Wednesday night — coming up with several of the biggest plays of the night.
No one foresaw the lineup Providence rolled out in double overtime of Sellers, Daniels, Ryan Mela, Duncan Powell, and Cole Hargrove, but between injuries (Jason Edwards and Corey Floyd Jr. were DNPs, while Stefan Vaaks appeared to tweak his knee and departed), and foul trouble (Jamier Jones and Oswin Erhunmwunse fouled out) this was the group that closed the game — and eventually won it.
The biggest shot of the night belonged to Daniels, the sophomore walk-on who earned a scholarship by doing everything the coaching staff asked of him since stepping foot on campus.
Prior to Daniels’ freshman season, Kim English posted on social media that Daniels would make an impact for this program. He’s made the most of this opportunity — knocking down a pair of threes in a tightly-contested game at UConn before burying a go-ahead three with 18 seconds left in overtime on Wednesday.
Daniels, not lacking for confidence, kept it simple when asked about the biggest shot of his career, “We don’t turn down open shots. We shoot open shots,” he said.
“That’s literally something we work on every day. It’s nothing new. It’s something I was ready for.”
Perhaps it was the emotion of a double overtime victory, but Daniels shared his strong conviction that Providence still has fight left, “We’re right there. It doesn’t matter how many guys we’re down, we will not stop fighting. We will change the season around.”
English didn’t specify whether Sellers injured his foot or ankle postgame, but he instead heaped praise on the graduate guard, “Jaylin Sellers was tremendous and our guys had incredible fight and resolve.”
“I thought our guys showed incredible resolve down, I don’t know how many guys now.”
Counting Vaaks, that number would be six, Coach. That’s Floyd, Edwards, Vaaks, Daquan Davis, Rich Barron, and Jaylen Harrell. After Erhunmwunse and Jones fouled out, the number jumped to eight.
Still, Providence pulled this one out — with some help from Butler. Finley Bizjack scored 30 points on the night and shot 14-16 at the free throw line, but his two misses both came in a tie game with a second left on the clock. Five Bulldogs fouled out by game’s end, including star forward Michael Ajayi (20 points, 12 rebounds).
As noted here prior to the game, Butler often wins on the margins. They hit the offensive glass hard, they enjoy big disparities at the free throw line, and they don’t turn the ball over.
The first time these two teams met (a 113-110 Bulldogs win in double OT), Butler crushed PC on the offensive glass and lived at the stripe. On Wednesday, Providence held a 46-36 edge on the backboard and a 26-23 advantage in made free throws.
It was far from a work of art; with Vaaks struggling through a 4-15 shooting night (2-11 from three), but Providence limited Butler to 6-28 shooting from three, got timely buckets from their bench (Daniels’ 3 and Duncan Powell’s and-1 in the extra session), and benefitted from a 14-point, 10-rebound night from Ryan Mela.
Ultimately, Providence had the best player on the floor in Jaylin Sellers. He seemed determined to ensure this one ended differently.
The tide has finally turned in our favor. What an incredible performance by Sellers and the whole team. I woke up yesterday saying we are going to Win today. With 1.8 seconds left I said to myself another heartbreaking loss. Those 2 missed free throws it was then I knew we were going to win. Incredible game.