Providence 2nd half comeback stuns UConn, 72-70
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
There may be no other explanation for this one, other than to say the Friars were simply due.
After all, when the defending national champions have you down by 14 points in the second half…with one of your best players on the bench in foul trouble…and the players in the game weary with fatigue from the game – if not from the long season itself – it usually doesn’t add up to a victory.
But in this unlikely scenario, with the game on the line and the outcome hanging in the balance, it was Providence making the plays in the final minutes that UConn is used to making. But in this game, the Huskies were the team left wondering what happened at the end. Behind an incredible 26-5 run during an eight minute stretch in the second half, PC came from behind to beat UConn 72-70 at the Dunkin Donuts Center Tuesday night.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“The players were phenomenal,” head coach Ed Cooley said afterward. “They made play after play after play. We continue to improve, and prove people wrong, as a lot of people have written us off and these guys just continue to come back and play like lions.”
It was the Huskies roaring out of the gate from the opening tap, however. With the Friars concerned about the three-point shot, their two-three zone defense extended to the UConn shooters, leaving the back line vulnerable. 6-10 freshman Andre Drummond, the pre-season rookie of the year in the Big East, made the Friars pay with two alley-oop dunks and a tip-in on the first three scores of the game, sending a physical message to the Friars.
And while PC was able to actually grab an eventual lead in the first half, whenever the Huskies sensed a momentum swing, they usually pushed the ball back inside against a smaller, if not quicker, Friar front court. With Providence up 23-21, UConn used an 11-2 run, fueled inside by Drummond and outside by freshman guard Ryan Boatright, to open up a seven point lead. The Friars scored the final five points of the half to narrow the margin to 32-30 at the break, but clearly knew their strategy would need an adjustment in order to keep pace.
“Bilal (Dixon) and Kadeem (Batts), we had to try to match their physicality, and I thought they did a really good job, especially late,” Cooley explained. “We got our hands on a lot of balls and secured them.”
Nothing, however, was secure about the opening five minutes of the second half. Again the Huskies used their size advantage with 6-9 junior Alex Oriakhi scoring inside, and 6-8 sophomore Roscoe Smith attacking from the outside. An 11-1 run to open the half gave Connecticut their largest lead at 43-31 with 15:06 to play.
While PC was able to get open three-point looks to fall from LaDontae Henton and Bryce Cotton to stay in shooting range, UConn held a 14-point lead, 51-37, with 12:30 to go after Henton picked up his fourth foul and headed to the bench.
Not exactly a “Kodak” kind of moment for Friar fans. Actually, that would come over the next few minutes…because what transpired truly needed a photographic record. It had to be seen, to be believed.
Over the next eight minutes, Providence outscored UConn by an incredible 26-5 margin, led by Cotton, Batts, Dixon, Vincent Council and Gerard Coleman. The Friars ran, and shots fell. UConn fired away, and shots wouldn’t fall. The Friars rebounded, the Huskies didn’t. The Friars defended, the Huskies couldn’t. And before you knew it, roles were completely reversed…with the Friars on top, and the Huskies reeling.
With Providence suddenly holding a 63-56 lead and 4:30 to play, UConn sliced into the lead to make it a two-point game. At this point, Henton re-entered the game, and after sitting for the eight minute stretch in foul trouble, “Buckets” hit two huge shots that can only be described as “reputation-makers.” A three from the top of the key, coming in cold from the sideline, coupled with another three from the wing as the shot-clock expired on the next possession, turned a two-point nail-biter into an eight-point cushion with a minute still to play.
“My teammates just trusted me, I just tried to make sure I had the rhythm and it went in,” was the way Henton described the first shot after the game. Similarly against DePaul last Saturday, Henton found himself in position to deliver a game-winner from almost the same spot on the floor. And he did. Against UConn though, the shot was behind the stripe for three. And the second shot was simply a prayer that was answered. “I tried to stay loose while I was on the bench, coaches were telling me to stay ready.”
Despite the Huskies outscoring PC 9-3 in the final minute, the Friars hung on for the type of win that has eluded them this season in heart-breaking losses to Georgetown, Villanova, South Florida and West Virginia.
This time, there was enough life left in the end to win.
“Our execution, our precision down the stretch really showed,” Cooley noted. “I told our players to continue to trust one another. It may not show in our record, but we’ve come a long way as a program.”
And above all, perhaps, the Friars were just due.
Friar Notes
PC hit a season high 10 three-point field goals (Henton 5-10, Cotton 5-9) for the game in 21 attempts…Batts (six points) pulled down a career high 13 rebounds to lead the Friars to a surprising 41-37 rebounding edge, including 17-11 off of the offensive glass…Cotton led all scorers with 22 points, Henton finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, and Coleman scored 13 points with seven big rebounds (four offensive). Council scored just nine points, but handed out 11 assists as the three C’s played all 40 minutes…UConn was led by Drummond’s eighth double-double of the season (14 points, 12 rebounds), but only two of his points were scored in the second half, after the Friars adjusted defensively to put more size (Dixon, Batts) on him…the Huskies have now lost nine of their last 12 games overall, dropping to 17-12 on the season (7-10 in the Big East) with a home game against Pittsburgh still to play before next week’s Big East Tournament. The defending national champs could be in danger of not returning to the NCAA Tournament to defend their title...Connecticut was again without Hall of Fame head coach Jim Calhoun, at home recovering from back surgery this week to ease the distress from spinal stenosis. He could return for the finale against Pitt. Long time assistant George Blaney (father of PC assistant Brian Blaney) ran the show, as the Huskies dropped to 5-6 on the year without Calhoun on the sidelines. Another Friar assistant, Andre LaFleur, was on the UConn bench last year for the Huskies’ national title run. “Tough game for our assistant coach Brian Blaney, tough game for our coach Andre LaFleur, but their paychecks say ‘Providence College’ at the end of the day,” Cooley said…the Friars improve to 15-15, 4-13 in the league, with their second straight win…PC has now won five of the last seven meetings with UConn overall, including three straight at the Dunk…
