PC Set to Meet USC in NCAA Tournament for 2nd Straight Year
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
The Providence College Friars are in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year, a program record. This appearance might be the most unexpected one given the Friars were picked to finish 9th in the preseason.
"First of all, Providence College is excited to be here. It has been an up and down season for us, a lot of new faces. We are excited to play a talented USC team, it has been a grind of a year and we are so excited to throw the ball up, we are excited to be here in Dayton and excited to get this game going. I can’t believe we are here, I really can’t. Don’t forget we were picked ninth in the Big East," said Providence head coach Ed Cooley in his Tuesday press conference in Dayton.
This will be the second straight year the Friars will play USC Trojans in the tournament.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTLast year, Providence beat USC 70-69 on a Rodney Bullock layup in the closing seconds in the round of 64. This year, the game will come in the First Four.
"The biggest experience we can take away is that we won the game. I think both teams are totally different. We have five first year guys in our of our nine man rotation. I know USC is a very young team but they have a core group of guys that actually played in the game, much like ours. Same systems, different personnel. I think their style of play is the same, ours is very similar, but totally different personnel," said Cooley.
Game time is set for 9:10 p.m. on Wednesday night on TruTV.
USC Trojans
The Trojans started the season by winning their first 14 games and were 21-4 a week into February before dropping four straight games, three of which were to #5 Oregon, #6 UCLA and #4 Arizona.
USC was eliminated by UCLA in their conference tournament. They finished the year with an overall record of 24-9.
For USC it comes down to the play of guards Elijah Stewart and Jordan McLaughlin. Combined, the two averaged nearly 26 points per game for the Trojans.
“USC’s guard play is what fuels the team, how Stewart and McLaughlin go is how USC goes,” said James Steiner, sports producer at KABC in Los Angeles. He added “if SC can get great guard play than Providence can’t win. They are not athletic enough.”
In last year's game, McLaughlin scored 15 points, dished out five assists, grabbed five rebounds and record four steals going up against Kris Dunn.
"This kid McLaughlin is their glue guy, he is very talented, he plays with different paces, different speeds, he is really really good on ball screens. He is the mistro for them, I think he is one of the best guards in the country, made All-Pac 12. We got our hands full with him," said Cooley.
The Trojans leading scorer is big man Bennie Boatright who has scored at least 20 points in four straight games. He is also their best three-point shooter, launching between seven and nine three-pointers a game.
“The Trojans are a team that relies on jump shots. They are at their best when shots are going down and they are getting stops on the defensive end. The offense tends to fuel the defense,” said USC radio play-by-pay man Chris Fisher.
PC Basketball - Two Thing to Watch
Sloppy Play
Over the last three games, PC’s play has fallen off and it all came to a head in the Big East Tournament when they lost to Creighton after turning the ball over 22 times and missing 12 free throws.
That game was just an extension of the Friars final two regular season games in which they turned the ball over 14 times against St. John’s and 18 times against DePaul, but managed to hang on for wins.
The Friars will look to clean up their play in hopes of advancing.
Rodney Bullock
For the Friars to advance, Rodney Bullock is going to need to be a factor.
In Providence’s game against Creighton, Bullock went 1 of 8 from the field and 1 of 2 from the free throw line for a total of three points in 32 minutes of action. He also turned the ball over four times.
After reaching double figures in six straight games, Bullock has not scored more than four points in each of the Friars last two games.
For what it is worth, last year against the Trojans, Bullock played all 40 minutes and totaled 16 points, including the game winner, and pulled down 10 rebounds.
For more on the matchup, see the chart below.
Related Slideshow: PC’s Top Post-season Teams
With the Providence College Friars back in the NCAA tournament for a second straight year, GoLocal takes a look back at the top post season teams in Friars history.
From the early days of Lenny Wilkens and Joe Mullaney, to Dave Gavitt's Final Four Friars, to Rick Pitino, Rick Barnes and Pete Gillen-led teams, we've included them all.
Here is a look at the top postseason teams in Providence College history.
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