New Jersey Locals Lead the Way in Providence's 69-67 Win over Seton Hall in Newark
Plus, a look at Rick Pitino and St. John's after they locked down Georgetown... leaving the Hoyas griping about an unfair schedule.
Quietly, Providence has won four of its past six games following Tuesday night’s 69-67 victory at Seton Hall — a night in which three New Jersey natives scored in double figures for the Friars.
Yes, there were turnover issues (the Hall converted 19 PC turnovers into 27 points) and Providence lost the possession game by 11 (a point of emphasis for head coach Kim English), but the Friars will gladly take a road victory regardless of how it looked.
Providence shot 49% from the field, made over 40% of their 3-point attempts for the third time in the past six games (they also shot 39% in their loss to Villanova), and led by as many as 15 points in the second half before closing it out in the final minute.
The victory evened Providence’s conference record at 5-5 after they opened league play at 1-3.
Seton Hall shot 4-22 from 3-point range (18%) and 39% from the field. The Pirates are now 1-9 in Big East play.
Locals Step Up in Newark
Jayden Pierre led Providence with 16 points on 6-9 shooting from the field, and 3-5 beyond the arc. Playing 20 minutes from his hometown of Elizabeth, NJ, Pierre played his second strong game in a row — bouncing back from a tough road trip at Creighton and Villanova.
The Friars also got a big lift from Jabri Abdur-Rahim. The former New Jersey High School Player of the Year knocked down a critical corner three at the eight minute mark, before hitting another from the opposite corner to snap a 55-55 tie in the final five minutes. Abdur-Rahim followed that 3-pointer up with a tough fadeaway off one leg to push PC ahead, 60-55, after the Hall erased the 15-point second half deficit. Those were simply two huge shots from Abdur-Rahim after momentum had flipped.
There’s a good chance Providence wouldn’t beat either Seton Hall or Georgetown last weekend without Abdur-Rahim, who finished with 13 points on 3-5 shooting from deep against Seton Hall after hitting the biggest shot of the game late against the Hoyas. He is 7-12 from deep over the past three games and has scored in double figures in each.
Bensley Joseph (11 points, 7 rebounds), Oswin Erhunmwunse (11 points, 3 blocks) and Corey Floyd Jr. (11 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists for the Franklin, NJ native) rounded out PC’s double figure scorers.
Providence shot 61% in the second half, but took just 45 field goal attempts — their second-lowest total of the season. The Friars took 62 shots from the field against Georgetown, 56 at Nova, 68 at Creighton, 70 versus Butler, 60 at UConn, and 50 against Marquette.
More News and Notes:
With two more makes beyond the arc last night, Bensley Joseph is now shooting 50% from three (2nd in the Big East) and 91% at the free throw line…
Great to see Devin Carter in attendance for this one. Carter continues to be a big ambassador for the program…
Providence’s 104.0 Defensive Rating was its best since a 99.9 mark against Butler earlier this month…
The Friars were without wing Wesley Cardet, who missed the Villanova game and looked pretty hobbled in five minutes against Georgetown over the weekend…
English was asked about Bryce Hopkins’ status for next year and the PC coach said, “We’re very excited to get started. Looking forward to having him next season.”
Up next for Providence is a trip to Madison Square Garden to take on Rick Pitino and St. John’s on Saturday afternoon. The Johnnies are one of the best stories in the Big East, with a 9-1 conference record following Tuesday’s 66-41 drubbing of Georgetown in the nation’s capital. This one was over early, with St. John’s taking a 23-3 lead and a 47-21 edge at the break — even without point guard Deivon Smith.
Pitino has been high on this group since the preseason and raved about their humility on a number of occasions last night. They smothered Georgetown on the defensive end.
Ed Cooley called the Storm’s defensive effort the best he had seen in a decade. St. John’s held Micah Peavy to 3-14 shooting, Jayden Epps 1-9, and Thomas Sorber 3-9, as the Hoyas shot 25% from the field and 23% from three.
It’s hard to recall Cooley making this many excuses during his tenure as Providence’s head coach, but this year he has made note of officials giving his team a tough whistle after more than one game, cited how he hadn’t had his full complement of players on multiple occasions following a loss to DePaul, and last night’s gripe centered around how both Providence and St. John’s were coming off of bye weeks prior to playing the Hoyas.
“Providence has eight days off, we played two games (in that time),” he said. “St. John’s has a week off, so you can see the energy and how healthy they were and how lackluster we looked. I’m not saying that’s why we lost, at all, and I absolutely love the Big East, but that’s a big-time, big-time disadvantage when somebody can prepare for you. It’s really hard to overcome that when we are trying to rebuild this program.”
“We’ve got to do something about that. We have to do something about that because it is a competitive disadvantage. I don’t give a damn if you’re playing the CYO team from around the corner. The league has to do a way better job with that.”
To clarify, Georgetown didn’t play two games during PC’s bye week. Both teams played on Friday, Jan. 17 — the night Providence lost to Villanova and Georgetown fell to DePaul. Georgetown played the following Monday at Villanova with the rest of the week to prepare for this past Saturday’s game.
The Hoyas have had two bye weeks so far this season. They lost, 84-63, to Notre Dame following a week off, and defeated Syracuse, 75-71, eight days after losing to West Virginia.
After their bye weeks last season they fell at home to Syracuse (80-68), Creighton (77-60), and Marquette (91-57).
In his final season at Providence, the Friars played four conference games following a week off — winning at Seton Hall, at Butler, and against Georgetown, while falling at Creighton.
Good stuff as always, Kevin. Thank you.
Cooley is becoming a big cry baby. Just play the game. Since when does he praise another team. Glad he left!
Go Friars!