It wasn’t always pretty, but the Friars walked into the Prudential Center last night and left with a 69-67 victory and a season sweep of the Seton Hall Pirates. With the win the Friars are now back over .500 on the season at 11-10 and are an even 5-5 in Big East play. Jayden Pierre, originally from Elizabeth, NJ, led the Friars in scoring with 16 points but this was another one of those team efforts with 5 players scoring in double figures and 8 guys registering at least a point. The Friars held a 15-point second half lead in this one until the Pirates had a furious comeback which would see them take a lead. To the Friars credit, they weathered that storm and then managed to make just enough free throws and inbound passes down the stretch to get a win.
It’s a Jersey Thing– Early on in the game the broadcast did a feature on the Friars who were from the state of New Jersey. It would be some pretty good foreshadowing by Peacock because the guys from Jersey came up big in this one. As mentioned Jayden Pierre led the team in scoring, Corey Floyd Jr had his 5th consecutive game scoring in double figures, and for the second straight game the biggest shots of the game were buried by Jabri Abdur-Rahim. Those guys had a bunch of their families and friends at the game. With the game in Newark, it was great to see them play well and of course see the Friars getting a win.
Rebounding Continues to be an Asset – Providence again won the rebounding margin, securing 2 more boards than Seton Hall. They need to continue to use this as their calling card for the future.
Turnovers and Fouls Make this Thing Harder Than it Needed to Be- It looked like the Friars were going to cruise to victory with a 15-point lead with 15:20 left in the second half. However, self inflicted wounds allowed the Pirates to make this a game. Seton Hall implemented the press similar to what they did in the first meeting and once again the Friars struggled with it. A slew of turnovers and silly fouls allowed the Pirates to erase the deficit and even take a lead. The Friars had 19 turnovers for the game and Seton Hall scored 27 points off those turnovers. The Friars had a bunch of silly fouls in the first half as well as the second half and it gave the Pirates free points while putting key players in foul trouble. Both Oswin and Jayden Pierre would foul out in this game.
Rotations Still an Issue?- A hot topic from last night that we discussed on the spaces was the fact there’s still no semblance of a rotation with this team 21 games into the season. You could argue that tinkering with different lineup combos with a 15-point lead helped contribute to the Pirates comeback. Kim English wanted 13 dudes, and it’s actually been really refreshing that the Friars have depth with the injury issues they’ve dealt with all season, but finding continuity has been tough to come by. Kim English constantly preaches about “playing to the standard”, when guys aren’t living up to that standard they get pulled. Going about it this way certainly establishes a culture, but sometimes the hockey substitutions have hurt the team’s rhythm. Last night in the second half was a perfect example of Kim English overthinking the rotation.
Outrageous Ending- The Friars may have let Seton Hall come back but you have to be pleased with their overall execution late in the game. Yes, they missed some free throws but in terms of handling a three point lead they did what they wanted to do, foul up 3. It actually worked with Garwey Dual missing a big free throw, but the refs almost influenced this game with an outrageous call. Jayden Pierre fouled Isaiah Coleman with 3 seconds left. After contact was initiated and the whistle blew Coleman tried chuck up a 3-pointer. It was called a foul on the floor but after review the officials inexplicably awarded Seton Hall three free throws. Luckily, the ball doesn’t lie and Coleman missed the first free throw. The Big East definitely has an officiating problem and it’s come to a point where it needs to be addressed.
Next the Friars will head to NYC to take on St. John’s at Madison Square Garden Saturday at noon. The Friars led St. John’s by 15 points at halftime of their first meeting but lost at the buzzer. If the Friars can knock off the 15th ranked Johnnies on the road Saturday you’re going to have a lot of Friar fans starting to believe in miracles.