Friars foiled again, Pirates prevail 66-57
Sunday, January 08, 2012
The effort, for the most part, has always been there.
The problem for the Providence Friars, however, doesn't come from effort. The problem comes from the execution surrounding the effort...too many turnovers, and too little offense for key stretches of games. Both of those areas proved pivotal against Seton Hall Saturday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center, as the Pirates pulled away for a 66-57 win.
Early, with plenty of energy and effort on the floor, PC (now 11-6 overall, 0-4 in Big East play) found itself with a six-point lead five minutes into the game. From there, with two senior standouts in guard Jordan Theodore and forward Herb Pope expected to lead the way, sophomore Fuquan Edwin took the spotlight for himself. Edwin keyed a 9-0 run by nailing two deep three-pointers, and when the Friars went back up by four, Edwin showed his range could extend even further from the basket. As part of a 10-4 Pirates' run, Edwin nailed two more from 20+ feet away, finishing the first half 4-4 from three-point range with 16 total points as Seton Hall managed a 32-29 lead at the half.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTEdwin finished the half 6-for-10 overall from the floor in scoring his 16 points...with the rest of his teammates managing just 7-for-27 shooting and 16 points themselves. Nine PC turnovers, leading to 12 SHU points, didn't help matters.
Starting the second half looking for Edwin, the Friars came out flat, and allowed freshman guard Aaron Cosby to get loose for back-to-back three's. Seton Hall then extended the lead to a game-high 11 points with 15:03 to play, after Edwin and Theodore contributed outside jumpers. With the offense struggling most of the game, Vincent Council tried to put the Friars on his back...leading a 7-1 run to pull PC back within five at the 13:31 mark.
Again, the Pirates kept up the pressure, thanks to a huge advantage on the offensive glass...combined with PC turnovers. A 48-43 lead with 11:55 to play turned into a 10-point game a minute later, with Theodore, Edwin and Pope contributing. Suddenly finding themselves down by 10, the Friars finally got Council some offensive help from Gerard Coleman, who scored eight of his 10 points in the second half. A 10-1 run over a span of 7:16 put the score at 54-53 Seton Hall - with the Pirates unable to score a field goal in almost eight minutes of game time.
Yet even though they missed on 11 straight shots from the floor during the run, SHU (14-2 overall, 3-1 in the Big East) kept the lead. For the Pirates, their persistence paid off with nine unanswered points in the final three minutes to put the game away. As in earlier games against Georgetown and Syracuse, Providence found yet another offensive drought, at a key moment in the game, come back to stop them cold.
"When you lose at home, it's like someone breaking into your house and taking your china. And I like my china," Friar coach Ed Cooley said afterward. "Right now, we got puppies, and we're playing against dogs.
"I need to do a better job of teaching the value of toughness to our players, so that's on me," he added. "I didn't see us be tough. I need to give our guys a 24-hour break, we just look tired. This is the toughest loss I've had at this point."
Especially with the effort that has been evident on the floor. So far however, there's been little in the way of reward for that effort.
Friar Notes
Compounding the problems for PC over the four Big East games are turnovers, and the opposition scoring off of those turnovers. In the four league losses, PC has turned the ball over 63 times, leading directly to 96 points. Saturday night, 17 Friar mistakes led to 21 Pirate points, while 11 Seton Hall turnovers gave PC just nine points of their own...Providence did manage a solid defensive effort overall, holding SHU to just 34% shooting from the floor, and blocking a school record 17 Seton Hall shots (old record 16 vs. Villanova in 2005). The problem was, the Pirates attempted 16 more shots than did the Friars for the game, with a huge 20-8 advantage on offensive rebounds, and a dominant 47-33 edge on the backboards overall. SHU also had 12 steals against the Friars, adding to their numerous opportunities...Edwin led all scorers with 24 points, hitting 5-8 on threes, and had nine rebounds. Pope added 11 points and 10 rebounds, his 9th double-double game of the season, and 28th of his career - leading all active Big East players. Theodore had 14 points, nine assists and six steals...Council led PC with 23 points and nine assists while playing 40 minutes. Coleman was the only other player in double figures with 10, and LaDontae Henton had nine rebounds (with 6 points). Bilal Dixon contributed eight points, four rebounds and six blocks, but Kadeem Batts was held scoreless in 11 minutes, and Bryce Cotton managed a mere 1-9 shooting night as part of his six points..."I don't want anyone feeling bad for the Friars," Cooley added afterward. "The Friars will persevere. When we do it, we will be great. We'll be alright." PC is now 0-4 this season against teams ranked in the RPI Top 50...Next up will be nationally-ranked Louisville, Tuesday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center in a 7:00 pm tip (103.7 WEEI-FM, www.friars.com). Rick Pitino's team is coming off of a loss themselves, losing at home Saturday night to Notre Dame 67-65 in double overtime...
