Providence, down 3 at half, unleashed a barrage of three pointers courtesy of Jared Bynum to advance to 20-2 on the season. We recap the the game below and what it means moving forward for the Providence Friars.
Revisiting Keys to the Game
We previewed the re-match against Georgetown and what Providence needed to do to win. (https://theprovidencecrier.com/2022/02/04/friars-look-to-extend-win-streak-to-7-and-sweep-the-hoyas-providence-georgetown-preview/#more-4507)
- Defend the 3! – Providence was stellar defending the 3, holding the Georgetown Hoyas to 3-21 from deep. Contrast that to the first game where the Hoyas made 13 three’s on 23 attempts. More importantly, Carey and Rice went a combined 2-15 from 3. The only way Georgetown would win is if they were incredible from deep. Providence eliminated that possibility.
- Get Watson & Croswell in Open Floor – Watson and Croswell only scored 14 points total, but put the Hoyas in a precarious defensive position all game. Ighoefe was in foul trouble all game, which led to Mutumbo playing extended minutes. Both bigs only had 7 points.
- Play to the Providence Standard – The Friars played a very sloppy first half, scoring only 27 points. They also had 10 turnovers. In the second half, they upped their game to the level we’ve come to expect. Providence scored 44 in the second half. Providence was incredible all game defensively, holding Georgetown to 52 points and 32.7% from the floor.
Storylines
1. Jared Bynum’s MONSTER 2nd Half- The Crier remembers hearing Bynum give an interview about joining Providence and he pointed to playing Georgetown in front of his family as a big selling point, well we just saw why. Bynum exploded in the second half with 27 points, he finished with a career high 32 points on 11/15 shooting (7/8 3pt) and added 5 steals. Bynum scorching stroke turned a tight game into a blow out in the Friars favor. Honestly one of the best half’s I’ve seen a Friar play.
2. The Nate Watson Effect- It was another slow start for the Friars’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar watch list center Nate Watson. He had only 4 points in the first half and contributed to a couple of the sloppy turnovers in the opening frame. Coming out in the second half the Friars made sure to get Watson his paint touches and it seemed to change the whole game. I’ll point to the following tweet by former Clemson guard and current Big East Guy Terrence Oglesby.
Think TO is dead on here. While Watson may not be putting up the monster numbers this year his impact can’t be understated. He wears you down then it opens stuff up for everyone else. On top of that you got a team that will defend all night long and it seems almost every night a different guy Carrie’s the offense. This team is such a tough out.
On Tap
The Friars almost have a full week off before hosting DePaul on Saturday 6:30pm FS1. It’s only February 6th and the Friars are at 20 wins, inching closer to their first ever Big East regular season crown.