Season in Review: DePaul and Villanova Come to Town and Madness Ensues
Following Jared Bynum’s 27 second half points in a 71-52 win at Georgetown, Providence had everything going for them.
They were 20-2 on the season, 10-1 in the Big East, and hadn’t lost since an early January blip at Marquette when they simply didn’t play well. From Dec. 1 until the Georgetown win, Providence had won 15 of 16 games.
Somehow, the Friars couldn’t shake the narrative that they had lucked their way into a 20-2 record by the start up The Field of 68. Those were questions they would have to answer until the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Just how lucky Providence was became a bit of a battle cry on Smith Hill, but in reality the Friars were being praised by virtually every other national media outlet.
They knew they had a chance to shut their critics up by essentially locking down their first Big East regular season title with a home win over Villanova on Feb.15.
Before that though, they would have to take care of business against a DePaul team that had been more competitive than their record indicated.
The Blue Demons headed to Providence winners of two straight, including a surprising 69-65 win at Xavier. First-year head coach Tony Stubblefield had his team competing, even without the services of leading scorer Javon Freeman-Liberty. If ever there was a trap game on the schedule, this was it.
DePaul took a 13-point lead early in the second half, then with about 13 minutes remaining in the second, Jared Bynum went into Superman mode once again. Bynum buried three 3-pointers and dished out assists to Ed Croswell and Alyn Breed over the next four minutes of game action to bring the Friars to within two points at 49-47.
The final five minutes of this one followed patterns we saw throughout conference play — Noah Horchler cut a six-point lead in half with a critical 3-pointer at the 4:32 mark, Al Durham got to the foul line late to make it a two-point game, and then Nate Watson tied it in the final two minutes on a lob from Durham, sending the Dunk into a frenzy.
Watson then grabbed an offensive rebound (speaking of recurring themes) in the final minute, got fouled, and made both free throws to put PC ahead, 60-58, but DePaul sent the game to overtime after a Nick Ogenda hook.
A five-point Friar lead with 2:47 left was cut to just one a minute later, but Durham scored to give Providence a 70-67 advantage and then connected on four free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal a 76-73 victory.
Bynum followed up his 32-point performance at Georgetown with 25 points, seven rebounds, and six assists versus DePaul. He made 11-16 from 3-point range in those two contests after shooting 4-5 from deep the game prior at St. John’s.
That set up an epic showdown between Providence (21-2, 11-1) and Villanova (19-6, 12-3) that felt more like a happening than a basketball game.
The Friars were ranked 8th in the nation heading into this game, Villanova 10th. Students lined the entrance of the Dunkin Donuts Center hours prior to tip off, and from beginning to end the old building was nothing short of deafening.
How wild was the environment at the Dunk that night? Villanova superstar Collin Gillespie, who won a national championship at Nova and played in multiple Final Fours, called it his favorite game of his career when appearing on the Cole Swider Podcast this week.
Providence trailed, 82-80, after a Durham bucket with under a minute to play, but Gillespie did what Collin Gillespie does — burying a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to stick a dagger in the heart of Friartown.
Gillespie finished with 33 points on the evening — a night in which he hadn’t been practicing prior to due to a sore ankle.
Watson was a load inside (20 points), Bynum scored 18 more, but the execution and poise of the Wildcats (29-57 shooting from the field, 11-23 from long range) proved too much to overcome, as Nova won, 89-84.
Key for Villanova was a 9-3 spurt to close out a first half that had virtually been a one possession game for 18 minutes. A 37-36 Wildcat lead with 2:18 left in the first half turned into 46-39 Nova lead heading into the break.
And with that, it felt as though the Friars were playing uphill throughout the second half — especially when they were getting consistently burned by pick and rolls.
The Friars got a big lift from AJ Reeves (16 points) midway through the second half. It was the first time Reeves looked to be back in rhythm since returning from injury a few games prior. Then Al Durham went into attack mode over the final 12 minutes, scoring all 13 of his points during that time.
Ultimately, every time Providence pushed, Villanova countered with a big shot on the other end.
Here’s a detailed account of the night from Friar Basketball after the game.
With four regular season games left, there was still an opportunity for Providence to take home the regular season title. They would have to avoid a letdown at Butler, and then welcomed Xavier back to the Dunk for a rematch of a great game in Cincinnati a few weeks prior.
Those eight days following the Villanova loss provide two more exhilarating games in the 2021-22 season…