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Post by craigl79 on Feb 15, 2018 10:19:12 GMT -5
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Post by dex on Feb 15, 2018 11:00:39 GMT -5
Cooley's remark to team in Locker Room:
"The greatest win I’ve ever had at Providence."
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Post by dex on Feb 15, 2018 11:30:53 GMT -5
Kmac's Game Article
PROVIDENCE — Four days after their worst loss of the season, the Providence Friars found a way to come up with their biggest victory.
Providence controlled the pace all night and then held off the expected charge from No. 3 Villanova to post a 76-71 win that brought the Friar crowd onto the floor in celebration. The win is the first for the Friars at home over a top-five team since an upset of No. 1 Pittsburgh in 2009.
This was a win the Friars (17-9, 8-5) badly needed after dropping a home game to DePaul in ugly fashion last Saturday. The Friars now own wins over Villanova and Xavier, two teams currently pegged to receive one or two seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
“Coming off the way we played over the weekend,” Cooley said, “and the turnaround emotionally that we just went through. For our players to respond the way they did, it’s almost like a dad. You see your kids and they’re hurting. You don’t want to be negative, you pick ‘em up and you tell them how proud you are because now today is a proud moment.”
Five Friars scored in double figures with Kyron Cartwright leading the way with 17 points. Rodney Bullock and Alpha Diallo added 14 and Jalen Lindsey logged all 40 minutes and scored 13 points.
Villanova (23-3, 10-3) lost for the second time in three games. Point guard Jalen Brunson struggled all night, turning the ball over seven times and fouling out with 68 seconds left. The potential national Player of the Year finished with 14 points and five assists. Mikal Bridges fouled out with 1:12 left after posting 19 points and seven boards.
Villanova shot 3-of-30 from the 3-point line and is now 17-of-71 from downtown over the last three games. The Wildcats were also plagued by 19 turnovers.
“It’s body-on-body when you play Villanova,” Cooley said. “They’re so talented but playing on the road is tough. I don’t care who you’re playing. You come into an environment like this, it’s tough.”
The Pink Out sellout crowd of 12,887 wouldn’t let their troops fade whenever Villa-nova looked ready to pounce.
The first half played out well for the Friars despite offensive mistakes that piled up quickly. The home team ended the first half up, 27-23, despite shooting 31 percent from the floor and not scoring for just over six minutes. PC started 1-of-10 from the 3-point line and finished 3-of-14 from downtown for the half.
The good news was Villanova’s offense was slightly worse. While the Cats shot 39 percent, they didn’t make any of their seven 3-point tries and couldn’t manage a field goal over the final 5:17 of the half. That opened the door for the Friars to score eight of the final 10 points and enter the locker room on a high.
Both offenses settled down and were more productive in the second half. The catalyst for the Friars was Cartwright as he banged in a 3-pointer, hit a tough jumper and then made a 27-footer for a personal 8-0 run to give PC a 39-31 lead. He scored again to make it 41-34 but then was called for a soft push-off foul to pick up his fourth foul with 14:09 to play.
Cooley went to Maliek White at the point, but Cartwright never really left the flow of the game. PC led, 49-39, with 11:27 left and was still up by a comfortable 65-56 with 4:29 left after a great driving layup to the rack by White.
Brunson picked up his fourth foul at the 3:34 mark while he was losing the ball for a sixth time. Diallo hit two free throws for a 69-62 lead with 1:12 left but then things got a little crazy. First, Brunson fouled out with 1:08 left, and then Lindsey made two free throws to make the Friars a perfect 11-for-11 in the half and a 71-64 lead with 45 seconds left.
But Cartwright opened the door ever so slightly when he went 1-of-2 from the stripe on three straight trips to the line. A Eric Paschall layup made it 74-71 with 14 seconds left, but this time Diallo was fouled and he calmly canned two freebies to lock things up.
“It was a great crowd tonight and we appreciate that a lot,” Diallo said. “I was just basically in awe of the fans and how they gave us so much energy. We appreciate that.”
Cooley knows this will be a win his team can hang its hat on as the final weeks of the regular season lead into Selection Sunday.
“They should be the number-one team in the country,” he said. “Two teams [Villa-nova and Virginia] lost and I don’t know how [Villanova] drops in the poll. I don’t know who’s doing all the voting, but tell Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles they’re looking at the wrong group.”
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Post by dex on Feb 15, 2018 11:38:36 GMT -5
Kmac's Friars Journal
PROVIDENCE — After a rough showing last month in Philadelphia, Kyron Cartwright had something to prove in his point guard rematch with Jalen Brunson.
Cartwright fell into foul trouble and could manage only 12 points and six assists in what turned into a 89-69 rout by Brunson’s Villanova team over the Friars. The All-American point guard led a balanced Wildcat attack with 15 points.
A month later, Cartwright faced one of the biggest challenges of the season. After struggling with sickness in a loss to DePaul on Saturday, he looked more like himself in Wednesday’s 76-71 upset of the third-ranked Wildcats. Cartwright had 17 points and dished for five assists in the win. More importantly, he and teammates such as Alpha Diallo and Maliek White harassed Brunson into an off-night as he turned the ball over seven times and finished with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting and five assists. Villanova turned the ball over 19 times, 13 in the second half.
“They were just really physical,” Brunson said. “We need to be stronger with the ball, but a lot of credit goes to them.”
PC coach Ed Cooley said he felt confident that all of his players were both healthy and focused coming into the game.
“I thought we had great pop, good energy,” Cooley said. “More importantly I listen to the conversation of the young men. You get a good feel, a good vibe for your team based on conversation and preparation.”
Cartwright was joined on the sick list by fellow senior Rodney Bullock against DePaul. Bullock’s bounce-back night was just as vital as his point guard’s. Bullock was no factor in the first half outside of a lob dunk, but the second half was a different story. After finding his groove while taking the ball hard to the rim, the senior knocked in a critical 3-pointer and made several key plays down the stretch. He finished with 14 points, snapping a four-game stretch of scoring in single digits.
“I just told him to shoot the ball,” Cooley said. “Rodney’s been here a long time. He probably played for coach [Dave] Gavitt. You have to coach confidence every single day in our business. He’s a scorer, shoot the ball.”
Reloading already
The Wildcats may have found their replacement for Brunson.
Jahvon Quinerly, a top-30 recruit nationally, verbally committed to the Wildcats on Wednesday after also considering Oklahoma and other schools. The “maybe” part of the equation is Quinerly was essentially identified as the player recruited to Arizona in the federal investigation into college basketball recruiting. After the federal case became public, Quinerly de-committed and opened up his recruiting. According to Yahoo!Sports, Quinerly’s link to the federal case and any potential NCAA violations have been investigated by Villanova and they expect the New Jersey native to be eligible next season.
While not seen as a lottery pick, Brunson is nearly certain to be set to leave for the pros with one year of eligibility remaining. The ‘Cats could also lose Mikal Bridges, a redshirt junior forward who is seen as a high pick in June’s NBA Draft. If Quinerly is eligible, he’ll add to an already strong class of recruits that is headlined by Portsmouth/ St. Andrew’s star Cole Swider.
True colors
The Friars went all-in with the Pink Out theme thanks to a combination of Valentine’s Day and a new partnership with University Surgical Associates. The surgical group hopes to create awareness about breast cancer beyond the month of October and took the opportunity to honor some current patients and cancer survivors.
One Friar was more than happy to wear pink. Center Kalif Young said he’s had two aunts battle breast cancer and appreciates the value of fundraising for a cure.
“They’re very bright but I’m very happy to wear them,” Young said of the sneakers and jerseys. “I have two people close to me who have gone through breast cancer. We all have to fight it and understand it’s not just about the pink sneakers. It’s about the message that it sends to the whole group and to everybody out there.”
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