Noah Locke is, once again, a difference maker in a Big East victory
If Providence is to make any noise this postseason they will likely need at least a few games in which Noah Locke turns the tide like he did on Saturday.
Locke was at his best Saturday versus DePaul, scoring 29 points on 7-12 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc. The 29 points were a career high, while his seven made threes tied the best output of his career.
He also joined some elite company at Providence in the process. The seven made 3-pointers tied him for the fourth most made threes in a game in Friar history. Most recently, Jared Bynum hit seven treys at Georgetown, as did AJ Reeves in the regular season finale versus Creighton. Only four times in Providence history has a player made more than seven (Donta Wade had 10 in 2000, Donnie McGrath nine in 2005, Ernie Lewis 8 in 1986, and Delray Brooks with 8 in 1987).
Like all shooters at this level, there are going to be games in which the shots are dropping, which was the case in a Midwestern swing against Creighton and Marquette in which Locke went 3-14 combined. Against Marquette Locke had great looks, and just couldn’t knock them down.
Four days later, he couldn’t miss.
Providence likely isn’t 15-5 on the season and 7-2 in Big East games if not for the emergence of the fifth year shooter out of Maryland. Locke scored 17 points and put Connecticut away with a late jumper, and followed that game up with a 20 points performance in an 83-80 win over St. John’s. Locke was a combined 8-14 from distance on those two critical wins.
Following Saturday’s effort, Locke is shooting 42% from three in Big East games, and 37% from deep overall.
“He knows exactly why he’s here and he continues to get better and better,” Ed Cooley said following Saturday’s win.
The focus with Locke will always be on his outside shooting, but at Providence he is showing flashes of some different things he can do offensively. On Saturday, there were little step back floaters and pull-up mid-range jumpers.
With 11 games left in the regular season Locke has made 30 two-point field goals, and he’s on pace to easily set a career high for scoring inside the arc. In three years at Florida he made 105 two-pointers, and never had more than the 37 in his junior year.
Last season at Louisville Locke made 42 twos, but did so while shooting .389 from inside the 3-point line (he shot .417 from two in three years at Florida). This season, Locke is shooting a career-best .484 from two.
In November, it was fair to wonder how the Noah Locke experience at Providence would turn out. He struggled in losses to Miami and St. Louis at Mohegan Sun, and the next time out went scoreless in just ten minutes off the bench at TCU.
That was the only game Locke didn’t start this season. Cooley reinserted him at URI, and Locke responded by hitting some huge shots in the first half when Providence got some late separate.
Since then, Locke has made 29 threes in eleven games.
Providence is 11-2 during that time.