PROVIDENCE, R.I. – There are tough losses, there are blowout losses, and then there are losses like the one Providence suffered on Saturday night. That’s the kind of loss that is beyond words as far as describing it goes, both for those who participated and those who witnessed it. Long-time Providence Journal columnist Bill Reynolds even said that he’s seen a lot of games, especially in the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, but none quite like this one.
It’s hard to fathom this one. Providence led by as many as 15 points in the game, a lead they held with 10:44 left. They led by 13 with just over two minutes to go, and still led by nine with 49 seconds left. Yet they found a way to lose the game in overtime, giving up 109 points along the way.
How they lost the game is actually not that difficult to figure out. The Friars allowed South Florida to shoot nearly 53 percent from the field for the game, including 60 percent in the second half. A lot of it was just simply letting them get to the basket with little resistance, as it wasn’t like the Bulls were taking and making open jump shots or having one of those nights where every three-point shot fell. South Florida made just four three-pointers all night and outscored the Friars 36-22 in the paint in the second half. And while the Friars have been able to force turnovers much of the season, the Bulls gave the ball up just 11 times all night.
It led Keno Davis to have one main focus in his post-game press conference.
“What we don’t have is we don’t have players that are able to stop one-on-one penetration,” said the second-year head coach. “We’re not sound enough defensively. We have some guys that are very good scorers that are big weak spots for us defensively.”
Davis has threatened lineup changes before because of players not doing things besides scoring, but little changed. This time, one wonders if something will change.
He talked a lot about defense and an increased focus on it. He knows the team he currently has isn’t exceedingly talented, especially when one adds in the experience factor as this freshman-laden team is lacking in that area. With that being the case, intangibles have to come into play, and that’s not quite happening right now. It certainly didn’t on Saturday night.
“It points out that the team we have right now isn’t good enough,” said Davis. “It’s not good enough to be able to fight through some miscues offensively or missed free throws or missed defensive assignments. We’re just not as talented as we need to be in this league to be able to fight through some of these situations.”
Davis said that defense and toughness are going to be bigger factors in who plays going forward. There’s no question this team can score; that’s been shown time and time again this season. They average 83 points per game and have topped 100 on three occasions. But Saturday night wasn’t the first time this team has struggled defensively, as they give up over 78 points per game (84 in Big East games) and opponents are shooting over 44 percent from the field.
A loss like this can take a toll on a young team. The Friars will certainly get a test in the next game to see how they respond, as their neighbors to the west visit the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Wednesday. The Huskies will certainly test this team’s resolve, especially since they’re a good defensive team and could force the Friars to have to come up with a big defensive effort to have any shot at winning.
