Friars Win At S.C., Batts To Return Vs. UNH
Friday, December 02, 2011
No one expected Ed Cooley’s Providence Friars to take the college basketball world by storm in his first season at the helm and they have not. But Cooley’s Friars have demonstrated solid effort on both ends of the floor. Last night, that effort led PC to a 76-67 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Big East – SEC Challenge.
With the game tied at 5-5 just over two minutes in, Providence went on a 10-0 run fueled by a LaDontae Henton lay-up and three-pointer. The freshman helped give the Friars a lead they would never relinquish as they held the Gamecocks to just 36% shooting (26-72) from the field and 20% (6-30) from three.
PC was led by Henton’s 18 points and 8 rebounds. Gerard Coleman also scored 18 while pulling down 4 boards and dishing out 4 assists. Vincent Council had 16 points and 6 assists while Bryce Cotton had 13 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe win lifts PC’s record to (6-2) on the season. It was their second straight victory following their only two losses of the season against Northern Iowa and Iowa State.
The Friars return to the Dunk to host Brown Monday night at 7pm. The Bears are coming off an upset win over URI Wednesday night and will play the Big Ten’s Iowa Hawkeyes in Iowa City Saturday afternoon.
NOTES:
-If you’re wondering when you can expect 6’-9” sophomore forward Kadeem Batts back, wonder no longer. GoLocalProv.com has learned that Batts is expected to be cleared to play second semester for the Friars which officially begins after exams with the game against UNH on December 20th. That would mean Batts would have missed a total of 11 games during his suspension for what PC called “failing to meet his obligations as a student-athlete.”
Batts was academically eligible by NCAA standards and has been practicing with the team. He will add some much-needed depth up front for the Friars who will play Rhode Island on December 23rd at the Ryan Center.
-Although Vincent Council did have 5 turnovers last night, the junior does have a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio thus far this season with 46 dimes to just 23 drops.
-The Friars did a much better job of sharing the ball offensively Thursday with 16 assists on their 24 field goals. That has been a point of emphasis for Cooley whose Friars rank 214th in the nation averaging just 12.3 assists per game.
