Providence had a lot going for it heading into last night’s game: three game winning streak, Senior Day celebration, players returning from suspension and injury, and a path to a Big East Tournament bye. With all that directly in front of them, Providence saved its worst for last at home by getting annihilated by the last place Marquette Golden Eagles 78-56.
As we’ve all seen by now, it has been reported by multiple sources that Providence and Kim English are parting ways after the season. The result from last night encapsulated many of the issues with the Kim English era, unfortunately.
I’ve written many times that the only consistent quality of this Friar program is their inconsistency. Providence under English has always been a “one step forward, two steps back”. Think to just this year alone: massive St. John’s road win followed by laying an egg against Xavier. Providence was arguably the hottest team in the Big East over the last week, and they completely sleptwalked and got “big-boy’ed” by Marquette on their home court. The game was never close, as Marquette jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back.
It was the same story that has ailed Providence all year: turnovers absolutely derailed the Friars. Providence was averaging 5.5 turnovers over the last two games, and the optimist in me thought maybe their ball possession issues were remedied. In reality, it was just a two game outlier. PC had 19 turnovers, and seemed like they had about 15 more than that number. Marquette was hounding them all night on defense, with their man defense exemplifying the lack of true ball handlers on the Friar roster.
Mike and I nervously discussed the return of Vaaks and Powell, concerned that their addition back into the rotation would hurt the positive rotation built over the last three games. Sometimes, more depth isn’t a good thing, and a smaller rotation forces the staff to not tinker. That was a prescient prediction, as the team and rotation were all out of sorts. Vaaks is a good player for a freshman, but can be a complete black hole on offense, and we saw that last night, going 1-12 and 0-8 from 3. We implored pregame that English needed to have a quick hook if Vaaks started playing selfish. He did the exact opposite, and it was an atrocious style of basketball being played.
The thing that frustrated me the most last night was that the offensive strategy went so against what had been working the last three games. PC shot 30 three’s, 13 more than they had averaged over the last 3 games. PC had won the last three games by playing at the rim and kicking out for high quality three’s. Last night, they reverted back to horrific tendencies where the offense was east west and chucking from the perimeter.
English postgame talked about Marquette’s stellar man defense and playing the gaps, essentially preventing the dribble drive and kick-out. Why not adjust with off ball-movement, back cuts, and making Marquette suffer with their ball watching? The Providence offense is too much of “my man beats your man”. It works when you have Devin Carter. As we’ve seen the last two years, this NBA centric offense fails more often than succeeds. It relies on talent superiority rather than a reliable offensive system with set principles.
For whomever the next coach is, I want a coach that prioritizes defense above all else. Marquette showed last night that a good defense will beat a good offense more often than not. Offense can be fleeting, but defense tends to be consistent night in and out. I’m tired of watching a Providence team go ice cold offensively, turn the ball over recklessly, and not able to claw back into the game because they don’t have a strong defensive identity.
In short, last night was a disaster. The worst part of it all is that all the goodwill this team had built over the last week has disappeared as we head into the Big East Tournament. Most fans are just looking for the season to conclude, whereas a win last night would cause a cavalry of Friar fans to invade The Garden. For Kim and the Friars, they have nobody to blame but themselves.
With this news leaking, the game against Georgetown to wrap up the season just got a bit more interesting.
