Providence punishes 15th ranked Louisville, 90-59
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Well, that certainly was not expected.
Yet the performance put on by the Providence Friars Tuesday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center was, at the very least, welcomed. PC finally had everything fall their way in a 90-59 thrashing of 15th ranked Louisville. The win is the largest victory ever for a PC team over a nationally-ranked opponent.
Before the game, the Friars learned that sophomore guard Gerard Coleman would not be available to play against the Cardinals, after suffering a bruised pelvis and back from a fall Saturday night against Seton Hall. Knowing his absence would take 15 points out of a lineup that has struggled at times to score, it became pretty clear the Friars would need someone - anyone - to pick up the slack if they were to have a shot.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBoy, did the slack get picked up. In a big way.
Sophomore forward Kadeem Batts, after going scoreless in 11 minutes Saturday in a nine point loss to Seton Hall, responded with a career night - scoring 27 points and pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds to lead the way. The double-double effort is Batts' first of the year, the 3rd of his career, and his active play around the basket gave Louisville's big men a fit throughout the game.
"Today was just the Friars' day," coach Ed Cooley said, following his team's surprising thrashing of Louisville. "We needed this win. I couldn't be more proud of our guys. All the little things added up to this victory.
"Just an incredible game for our guys," Cooley added. "Let's face it. We've been struggling a little bit, but I thought we were getting better."
Without Coleman in the lineup, Cooley opted to start freshman forward Brice Kofane in order to match with the Cardinals' length and athleticism early. With Louisville holding a 17-16 lead with 9:42 left in the first half, some of that "better" the coach spoke of began to show itself. Thanks to two key three-pointers from Bryce Cotton (27 points, 5-5 from three), and steady play from Vincent Council (15 points, 14 assists) in finding the openings on the floor through the Cardinals' zone defense, the Friars finished out the first half with an incredible 27-8 run over that final 9:42 to take an 18 point lead into the locker room at halftime - 43-25.
Louisville managed only 30% shooting from the floor, missing eight of nine from outside of the 3-point arc.
"In basketball sometimes you have a night where you can't miss," Cotton said. "Tonight was one of those nights." And that was a sentiment shared by Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who watched his Friars of 25 years ago do some of the same things to the opposition that PC did to his Cardinals Tuesday night.
"There's always that one game a year you can't explain," Pitino said. "Nothing goes right, everything goes wrong and they do everything right."
The Friars quickly pushed the margin to 21 points early in the second half following another Cotton three, and after Cotton beat everyone down the floor for a layup - followed by a huge dunk from Batts for a three-point play and another three from Cotton - the Cardinals were cooked. It was 57-33 with 14:45 still to play, and the lead grew to as high as 34 points before it ended.
This from a program that has 28 conference road wins over the past six years. Simply incredible.
"This is why you want to come home and play in front of our crowd," Cooley said. "When the Dunk is rocking, we're a tough out for people."
We'll find out if any of the home court toughness can transfer itself to the road, as a return match with #1 Syracuse looms on Saturday night at the Carrier Dome.
Friar Notes
Providence celebrated the 25th anniversary of the 1987 Final Four team at halftime, as several players were honored on the floor in a ceremony. Pitino had planned to stay away from his Louisville locker room and join the ceremony, as he said before the game a couple of the players he hadn't seen in 25 years. But after the rough first half, he decided to go to his current teams' locker room instead...the irony of this game was hardly lost on anyone who can remember the magical run during the '87 NCAA tournament, as Pitino's Friars used the three-point shot as their primary weapon. The three-ball falling Tuesday night certainly helped the '12 Friars' cause, to the tune of 9-15 for the game (60%)...PC fired in 53% of its shots overall for the night, against a defense that came into the game ranked 8th nationally allowing just 35% from the floor. They also hit 86% from the line (25-29), and outrebounded Louisville by a 40-26 margin…Council’s double-double (15 points, 14 assists) is his 4th of the season, and 7th of his career. He also added eight rebounds…LaDontae Henton added 14 points, including scoring the first nine points of the game for PC…Chris Smith led Louisville with 16 points, and senior Kyle Kuric added 11 points and nine rebounds as the only two Cardinals to hit double digits…junior guard Peyton Siva managed only two points before fouling out with 11:05 still to play…the Friar defense held the Cards to just 37.9% shooting from the floor, and only 21% from three (4-19)…while the win is PC’s largest ever over a ranked opponent, the loss is the second largest losing margin ever for Louisville since joining the Big East, topped only by a 90-57 loss to Notre Dame in 2009…
