The #25 Providence College Friars (19-9, 9-6 Big East) fell 89-61 to (26-2, 13-2 Big East) #6 Villanova on Tuesday night in Philadelphia on senior night. Providence gets swept in the season series against the Wildcats and fall to fourth place in the Big East conference.
See the five takeaways slideshow below.
Providence got off to an awful start, turning the ball over five times before scoring a point which in turn spotted Villanova a 9-0 lead. Providence trailed 34-18 with two minutes left in the half before ending the half on a 7-0 run to only trail by nine going into the locker room.
The second started off much better for Providence as they cut thier deficit to only six points, 38-32, with 17 minutes left in the game. However, from that point Villanova used a 10-2 run to put them back up by double digits, 48-34, with 15 minutes left. PC was never in the game the rest of the way as the Wildcat seniors finished their home schedule with a blowout win.
Tyler Harris led the Friars with 18 points in the game while Kyron Cartwright and LaDontae Henton each finished with 12.
Villanova was led by Darrun HIlliard II who netted a game high 24 points while Jayvaughn Pinkston followed up with 16.
The Friars return to action on Sunday, March 1 when they host Marquette at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.
For a further look at the Friars loss, see the five takeaways slideshow below.
Related Slideshow: Five Takeaways From The Friars 89-61 Loss to Villanova
The #25 Providence College Friars (19-9, 9-6 Big East) fell 89-61 to (26-2, 13-2 Big East) #6 Villanova on Tuesday night in Philadelphia on senior night.
Carson Desroisers did not play and did not dress in the game after sustaining a knee injury in the DePaul game.
Paschal Chukwu got the start in his place and grabbed four rebounds, scored two points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field and also registered two blocks in the game.
Providence is currently slated as a 6 seed in Joe Lunardi's most recent bracket projections which were released on February, 23.
Losing to the #6 team in the country in Villanova, a team with an outside chance at a #1 seed in the tournament, on the road should not hurt them too badly as far as the NCAA tournament goes.
Will they still be ranked come March 2? It will be close, that is where getting blown out like they did could hurt them.
Crucial games upcoming.
Providence has three games left, two of which are at home and all three of which are winnable and so they need to take care of business, starting on Sunday against Marquette where they could redeem themselves.
The remaining three games are also vital because of seeding for the conference tournament. PC is currently a four seed but St. Johns is right behind them with the tiebreakers in their pocket.
With three wins and a little bit of help, the Friars could still get as high as the #2 seed in the Big East Tournament.
With all that said, the next three games are vital for the Friars.
The Friars got off to an awful start, going down 9-0 right off the tip and turning the ball over five times in the process.
In that stretch, the Friars leading scorer LaDontae Henton took one shot and it did not come until there was eight minutes left in the half.
In a big game, Henton went the first 12 minutes of it without registering a shot and only got and took eight shots in the game.
So, what happened?
Give credit to Villanova's defense as they were tight on him all night but also wonder why coach Ed Cooley didn't do more to get him open, run him off screens or run different plays for him.
Having your star player go a 12 minute span in a huge game without even taking a shot makes no sense at all.
