It doesn’t have to always be pretty. In a snowy day in Friartown, Providence started the game scorching hot, jumping out to a double digit lead. Rick Pitino and his boys clawed back into the game by putting the Friars through a 5 minute period in the first half where PC didn’t score. Providence entered half down 5, and the two teams exchanged leads throughout the duration of the second half.
It was Josh Oduro, who returned from the birth of his child, who ultimately put the Friars on his back on the way to a victory. Oduro led the Friars with 28 points. It isn’t being discussed enough, but I’ll go out on a limb and say it: Josh Oduro is playing like THE best big in the Big East and should begin receiving consideration for First Team All Big East alongside Devin Carter. What he has done over the past few weeks against the likes of Kalkbrenner, Clingan, and Soriano is mightily impressive. The Friars now have arguably one of the best 1-2 punches in all of college basketball.
Providence needed Josh Oduro back with Devin Carter having a relatively quiet night (by his standards) with 14 points. Rich Barron was incredibly active all game, but particularly in the first half, with 10 total points. Gaines is the embodiment of “we before me” as he scored 11 points, suffered a bloody lip, and appeared to get stitches above his right eye. The Friars are playing good basketball right now at the most crucial time of the year. They are 16-9 overall, 7-7 in conference, and need to finish 4-2 the rest of the way to lock in an NCAA tournament bid before conference play.
We break down what the Friars did well last night to get a vital conference victory.
Revisiting the Keys to The Game
Oduro’s Re-Match Against St. John’s – We discussed at length above, but Oduro seems to thrive in these rematches. In the first game against St. John’s, he only had 5 points. More important, in this rematch he held Soriano to 9 points and 7 rebounds, as he put Soriano in foul trouble all game.
Josh is now averaging for the year 16.4 points and 7.1 rebounds. That is 7th and 9th overall in the Big East, respectively. Due to his historical production in the Big East, I ultimately think Kalkbrenner will get the First Team nod over Oduro, but Josh is absolutely playing like a First Teamer and should, at worst, get 2nd team All-Big East honors.
It’s fair to say Josh has exceeded every Friar fan’s expectations, yours truly included.
Defend the Three – Great call here by Mike. St. John’s only went 6-23 from three last night and were held without a three pointer the ENTIRE second half. Conversely, Providence was stellar from deep, averaging 40% on 8/20 attempts. When Providence is able to find itself from deep, they are tough to beat.
Hold Your Own on the Boards – The only reason this game was so close is because St. John’s absolutely dominated Providence on the glass with a 12 rebound differential. The scary stat is St. John’s had FOURTEEN more offensive rebounds than Providence. St. John’s was either converting on their initial attempt or getting an offensive rebound and scoring the second time around. Providence just doesn’t have a lot of size and can get exposed, especially when you play a big and athletic team like the Johnnies.
Continued Emergence of Role Players – We’ve talked about how you can count on Oduro and Carter to get you a 40 piece night in, night out. They again did that last night, combining for 42. The players around Oduro and Carter stepped up, totaling 33 points.
While Pierre didn’t have a massive game statistically, I thought he looked in complete control of the game as lead guard. Pierre scored 5 points, secured 6 rebounds, and had 5 assists to only 2 turnovers. Barron was red hot in the first half and finished in double figures alongside Gaines.
Need more from Gaines Offensively – We throw a lot on the plate of Gaines, and some of it may be unfair to the grad transfer senior. With the BHop injury, he is completely playing out of position. He still shows up and continues to grind away for his team, and I think that is incredibly admirable and a testament to him as a teammate.
Gaines left this game bloodied and bruised with a fat lip and banged up eyebrow. He had to go to the locker room midway through the first to get stitched up, but returned to the game. Even through all that, he still finished with 11 points.
He’ll be in some pain today, but it is worth it after a hard fought victory. He earned some points with the Providence diehards today for his effort last night.
Atmosphere –The crowd was electric. It is no longer a secret, but Providence has one of the best fanbases and home court advantages in the entire country. Nothing was going to stop the Friar faithful from showing up last night in a crucial conference game, winter storm be damned.
Make Your Damn Free Throws, Part 2 – Providence went 79.2% from the charity stripe, which is an improvement. They still struggled at the end of the game, with Oduro and Carter each going 1-2 and Floyd missing the first of a one and one.
Providence has issues closing out games and last night was almost a replica of the Butler game. PC needs to do a better job to slam the door shut when the game is in hand.
Pitino’s Return – How about the stark contrast in reception between Pitino and Cooley? I think it is because of the genuine admiration Pitino has for all things Providence, all while acknowledging the school and city is bigger than anything he ever accomplished while in Providence. A serving of humble pie could do Cooley some wonders, and he could take notes from Rick.
I loved his anecdote about Billy Donovan. In an alternative universe, Pitino becomes PC’s Jay Wright and stays there for the majority of his coaching career. Providence fans were blessed to have him when they did.
What’s Next
The win last night was so crucial because they now have DePaul at home. Getting to 17-9 and 8-7 in the Big East is a stellar spot to be in. If they win at home, which they should against an objectively bad DePaul team, they will need to go 3-2 the rest of the way to get to the magic number of 11 conference wins. If they do that, they’ll be in the NCAA tournament without any help needed in the Big East Tournament.
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