The last time the Friars went on the road, they fought to earn a late lead but ultimately fell to Butler. On the road at Xavier Wednesday night, the Friars would put themselves in a familiar position, but this time they were able to close it out with a 79-75 victory.
Similarly to the contest against Butler, the Friars saw great contributions up and down the lineup. Jayden Pierre provided a scoring boost, Floyd Jr and Rich Barron made timely plays, and Ticket Gaines came in clutch with a game saving block with two free throws to ice it.
It took a team effort to get a road win against a Xavier team that beat them in Providence back in January. The Friars are now winners of 7 of 10 games since the loss to the Musketeers and moved much closer to making the NCAA tournament.
Transition Defense & Early 3s Hurt Friars- If the Friars had not come back and beat Xavier, we’d have to look at two areas that did them in. The Musketeers went 12/24 from three in their win up in Providence and the first half of this one hit 6 threes.
The Friars struggled with defending the dribble handoffs and allowed guys to get good looks from three. Xavier is known for generating offense in transition and on the fast break. The Friars not only allowed the Musketeers to score off turnovers, but they gave up layups off makes. Credit to Coach English for making the adjustments to clean these areas up. Xavier would only hit one more three and finish 7/19 for the night. They also had 17 transition points around the 4 minute mark and didn’t score a single one down the stretch.
Josh Oduro Foul Trouble- Josh Oduro was a reliable option for offense in this game, when he was actually on the court. Oduro dealt with foul trouble throughout this game and after being on the wrong end of a block/charge call on a Desmond Claude drive, he had four fouls with 14:16 to play.
In stepped Rafael Castro who provided great relief for an extended streak while Oduro had to sit. Castro gave great minutes scoring 4 points, grabbing 6 rebounds and having a nice dish to Devin Carter. It was Castro’s good play that allowed Oduro to sit from the 24:16 mark until the 4:51 mark of the second half. It may have been Castro’s best play of his entire career in a Friar uniform.
Jayden Pierre’s Surge Propels Friars- Devin Carter shook off an off-shooting night (7/20) to finish with 22 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 blocks, but if there was an MVP for the game, it might have to go to Jayden Pierre. The sophomore guard scored 17 points, dished out 5 assists and had 3 steals. With Xavier having taken a 69-68 lead with 5:45 left in the game Jayden Pierre had a mini take over. He would nail back-to-back clutch threes and collect a crucial steal that would ultimately get the Friars the road win. Pierre is starting to emerge at the right point of the season, he has 27 assists to only 9 turnovers in his past seven games.
Ticket’s Mindset– After getting stitches above his eye after a collision against St. Johns Ticket said “Mindset, that’s it. Whatever it takes, however long it takes you get the job done”. Gaines truly is the epitome of the mentality of how Kim English wants his teams playing.
After the Friars built an 8-point lead late they started to let go of the leash a bit. With 41-seconds left in the game Ticket had a wide-open look at a three late in the shot clock that could have iced the game, but didn’t get it to drop. Then in the game’s final moments, Ticket Gaines came up with a massive block on Desmond Claude and calmly knocked down 2 free throws to end it.
Talk about next play mentality. Ticket channeled his inner Batman and saved the day.
What’s Next
The Friars will now have a week off before squaring off against Marquette next Wednesday at Fiserv Forum.
The job is not yet finished for the Friars, as there is work to do to make the NCAA tournament with 4 regular season games left. Providence is now one of 19 teams in all of college basketball with 5+ Quad 1 wins. Of those 19, only 11 teams have no Q3 or Q4 losses. Providence is one of those 11.
After this effort at the Cintas Center, you feel pretty good about their chances of clinching a bid to the NCAA tournament. The resume doesn’t tell any lies.