PC Gets Beat By Texas A&M

Saturday, March 17, 2018

GoLocalProv Sports Team

Ed Cooley

Another year and another disappointment in the NCAA tournament.

The Providence College Friars got beat by the Texas A&M Aggies 73-69 on Friday afternoon in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rodney Bullock led the Friars with 22 points.

Aggies were too big, too tough and too deep.

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At the six-minute mark of the second half, the Friars struggled to get good shots off. The Aggies disrupted shots, blocked shots and ran down the court for some easy lay-ups.

At the 4:12 mark Cooley had to call a timeout ahead of the four-minute TO to stop an Aggie run that pushed the A&M lead to 59-52.

Aggies were on a 9-2 Aggie run.

The Friars were being out-rebounded 20 to 37 at the time of Cooley’s timeout.

The score was tied 50-50 with 8:54 minutes left in the second half on a Cartwright turnaround jumper in the lane — think old school shot.

PC got pounded on the boards, losing that battle 44-26 to the bigger Aggies.

The size difference was just one of the differences:

Texas Twang v New England Accent
Big 12 against the Small Catholic School Big East
Don’t Mess with Texas v Little Rhody

First Half — Missed Opportunities

The game started with Texas A&M turning over the ball — they had 6 turnovers in the first ten minutes and almost all were unforced. But, at the ten-minute mark of the first half, the Friars only lead by three — a significant missed opportunity.

At the 3:40 mark of the first half, the Friars only lead 24-21.

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Aggies Stars

Disappointingly the Friar trailed 28-27 at the half — oh, what could have been.

In the first half, the Friars were one for 9 from three and gave up eight offensive rebounds.

Big Dance Frustration

Cooley has taken to the Friars to five NCAA tournaments, but now has a record of just 1-5.

In 2014, the #11 ranked Friars lost 77-79 to #6 University of North Carolina. In 2015, the #6 ranked Friars were upset by the #11 ranked Dayton Flyers.

Then, in 2016, the Friars beat University of Southern California and then got beat on by #1 ranked UNC 66-85.

And, last year the USC Trojans got revenge on the Friars. Friars lost 71-75.

This year, falling to Texas A&M in the first round.

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Related Slideshow: Top 10 Providence College NBA Draft Picks of All-Time

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MarShon Brooks

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In his rookie season with the Nets, Brooks averaged 12.6 points per game.

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9. Tied

Dickey Simpkins

Simpkins was drafted 21st overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 1994 NBA Draft and played 8 seasons in the league.

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9, Tied

Eric Murdock

Murdock was drafted 21st overall by the Utah Jazz in the 1991 NBA Draft and played 9 seasons in the league.

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Eric Williams

Williams was drafted 14th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1995 NBA Draft and played 12 seasons in the league.

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Austin Croshere

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Croshere averaged 6.8 points and 4 rebounds per game in the NBA.

Photo: Golden State Warriors

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Otis Thorpe

Thorpe was drafted 9th overall in the 1984 NBA Draft by the Kansas City Kings and played 17 seasons in the league.

Thorpe won the NBA Championship in 1994 with the Houston Rockets and averaged 14 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in his career.

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Lenny Wilkens

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Wilkens was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1989 and then as a coach in 1998.

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4.

Kris Dunn

Dunn was the number 3 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft after a tremendous career at Providence College.

He was all-everything at Providence -- all-Big East and arguably the best point guard in college basketball his senior year. He was a two-time Big East Player of the Year.

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3. Tied

Ernie DiGregorio

Ernie D was drafted 3rd overall by the Buffalo Braves in the 1973 NBA Draft and played 5 seasons in the league before suffering a knee injury.

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He still holds the NBA rookie record for assists in a single game with 25.

Photo: NBA.com

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2.

Marvin Barnes

Marvin Barnes was drafted 2nd overall in the 1974 draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.

However, he was also drafted 2nd overall by the Spirits of St. Louis in the 1974 ABA Draft which is what he opted for.

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