Here is the explanation for play that led to the technical foul on Sharaud Curry at the end of the game, leading to the 5 point play that sealed the victory for South Florida
Asked after the game to explain the play, Curry didn’t flinch. He said he was upset that he was the only Friar who hustled back on defense and caught Jones. His frustration clearly got the best of him at the most inopportune moment.
Nonetheless, still obviously an awful play by a 5th year senior.
via Projo.com
Ken DeCelles runs the South Florida sports blog “Voodoo 5”. We did a question exchange for the Saturday rematch between the Friars and Bulls.
You can follow him on Twitter @astrobull
Head on over to his site to see my answers to his questions
Friarblog.com: First of all, I don’t think we ever got any formal thanks for starting your little run that to many big wins and loads of national attention.
KD: My apologies. Thank you for kick-starting the USF bandwagon. Its been in the garage for a decade, so it was nice to be able to give that thing some mileage before it died midway through the St. Johns game.
Friarblog.com: Since the 4 game winning streak was snapped, USF has lost to some
tough teams (Nova, Marquette). But St. John’s? Really? Even we beat them!
KD: Teams are figuring out that we have no outside shooters. Everyone is playing a zone defense against us and we cant shoot ourselves out of it. Even Villanova played a little zone on Wednesday and they never do that.
Friarblog.com: Correct me if I’m wrong, but USF has never finished above the bottom 4 since joining the BIG EAST. Even if the NCAA Bubble talk has evaporated, the season would have to be considered a huge success if that’s how they finished, right? Or do you have the taste of success now and want more?
KD: All I asked from the team this year was get to 16 wins and then some sort of tournament, even a CBI bid would have made me happy. Since it looks like we are pretty much in for the NIT, this season has been a huge success even with our recent slide. Heath has preached patience, and it looks like we are getting a decent foundation in place here in Tampa.
Next season will be an entirely different animal. With Jones back for his senior year along with a great core of players back, I would hope that the Bulls will go dancing for the first time in 19 years.
Friarblog.com: In the first matchup at the DUNK, big man Augustus Gilchrist was out with an injury. He’s been back for the past 4 games, but based on the stats he might have been a little rusty. Will he have a big impact against the Friars, or he is still trying to get up to speed?
KD: I really don’t think that Gus is at 100% right now. Hopefully he can go out there and get 10 points and grab some boards, but anything that he provides us down low is a bonus. Hopefully the rust kicks off soon though, it would be nice to see him start shooting well from outside and opening up the lane for our slashers.
Friarblog.com: Dominique Jones almost broke the BIG EAST scoring record last time against Providence. Assuming (and this is a big assumption) PC makes an adjustment to keep him from putting up 40+ points, what will USF do to counter?
KD: Create turnovers, get guys like Jarrid Famous and Mike Mercer some room to run and play some suffocating defense. If that doesn’t work, praying always helps.
Friarblog.com: Since the PC game, USF has been involved in mostly low scoring
games with slow paces. Are they up for another run and gun style game?
KD: I hope so. USF plays best when its wide open, so hopefully Saturday’s game will be another high scoring affair.
Friarblog.com: Any predictions to how this one will be played out?
KD: I’m sure it will be a high scoring affair, and I think the home court advantage will lift USF over the top. Bulls win 83-77. Jones gets off his slump and goes for 28, and Greedy will get on SportsCenter for doing something awesome.
According to the USF Sports Bulletin, junior forward Jarrid Famous will not start against the Friars after being snowed out in New York.
Famous snowed in, won’t start vs. Friars
Fatherhood and mother nature have conspired to keep Jarrid Famous away from Tampa, as the junior center was stuck in New York with weather canceling his scheduled flight back to campus after spending time with his newborn daughter, London.
Dominique Jones also might not be at 100% for the match-up on Saturday night.
USF guard Dominique Jones, who scored a school-record 46 points in the first meeting with Providence, continues to be limited by illness — he was eating chicken noodle soup courtside before Friday’s practice. He’ll certainly play Saturday, but hasn’t been himself lately.
FriarBasketball.net: Year 2 Blues
So we know this year has been a big pile of suck so far. Do you remember that it was even WORSE in year 2 of Timmy Welsh? I didn’t remember either, because I was a sophomore in Aquinas Hall studying the effects of Busch Lite amongst an entire floor of lunatics (2 SOUTH 4EVA!). Well, things got better right after that horrendous 11-19 season.
A year later that team was in the tournament after shooting 44% from the field and 40% from 3 as a team, scoring an amazing 17 more points per game in conference play than they did a year before. No one saw it coming.
Two freshman who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn turned into reliable shooters as sophomores, two late signees from overseas helped, and John Linehan went from a 23% 3 point shooter in his last full season (played only 6 games the previous season) to a 44% shooter from 3 in the tournament year.
Go Friars: Wright’s Decision Opens Up Scholarship
With Kyle Wright opting to focus on graduating (good for him!), Keno and staff have a big decision coming up on what to do with that open schollie.
The most obvious option is to look to sign the best available player. ESPN listed a few possibilities in their rumor section today including Kadeem Jack (an athletic 6′8″ power forward from Rice High School in NY), Jon Horford (a more skilled and versatile, but less athletic, 6′8″ forward from Grand Ledge High School in Michigan), and Joel “Air Jamaica” Wright (another forward and New York native with explosive athleticism who was previously committed to Fordham).
Friars.com: Keno Davis Radio Show Returns March 1 At The Abbey
Even though they changed the name to the Abbey when I was a senior at PC, it will always be “Gravity” in my heart. You know what else is in my heart? Over a thousand wings I consumed at 25 cent wing day at Gravity during my 4 years. I still dream about those wings.
The Keno Davis Radio Show returns on Monday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m. live from The Abbey, located at 686 Admiral Street in Providence, R.I. The show will air live on 103.7 WEEI FM from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and will be hosted by the voice of the Friars John Rooke.
Jim Donaldson: Q&A as to Y PC plays no D
LETTERS! I see what you did there
Do they lack athleticism? Are they too slow? Not quick enough? Not big enough? Not strong enough?
He joins Vincent Council as the only Friar players on there
In civ drawin pic’s lol!
That’s more than I ever did in CIV!
BIG EAST Highlight You Must See: Marquette OT Buzzer Beater Against St. John’s
Wow, guess the Johnnie’s really don’t want that 13th seed (or don’t want to play the 2PM BET game).
With a 99-85 loss to #4 Syracuse last night, the Providence Friars drop their 7th game in a row, and their 4th in a row to a team ranked in the TOP EIGHT. It’s been a brutal stretch, with some brutal stretches of bad play leading to these losses. This time, it was a poor 2nd half against Syracuse after quite the offensive performance in the first. Even though PC lost and looked quite over matched in last 20 minutes, boy was that first half entertaining. It was raining threes by EVERYONE (including BMac!), there were alleyoops from Curry to Greedy, and even RAY HALL was dropping some points. Providence took a surprising 5 point lead (52-47) into the half.
What should the Friars have done? They should have pulled a George Costanza and left on a high note! “Alright that’s it for me – Good night everybody!”
Bottom line: Syracuse is freakin’ good and have only lost TWO games all year — we will know more about the state of our program after the final three games (with two of then winnable IMO) and their performance in the BIG EAST Tournament.
(AP Photo/Stew Milne)
Liftoff after the jump!
LETS TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT ‘THE FOUR FACTORS’
OTHER STAT NOTES
Possessions: 73
Efficiency Ratings
PC: 116.4
Syracuse: 135.6
Let’s judge some performances by dishing out some pasta (from 1-4, 4 being awesome). My homage to the Star-Ledger.
Andy Rautins – Hey buddy, how about MISSING A FREAKING BIG THREE EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE. GET EFFED!
Rick Jackson – Congratulations Rick! You were the winner of the “Opposing Player Career High in Scoring” contest! Julian Vaughn of Georgetown will do the honors of presenting you with the coveted black and white winner’s jacket at a ceremony over the weekend.
Marshon Brooks – Like the rest of the team, had more success behind the arc in the first half, but also hit 7 of his 10 2-point shot to go along with 3 steals. We need Marshon to keep stepping up.
Vincent Council – His numbers were around his season average, but you have to give him credit for playing like that with a bum hand. He’s a gamer.
Brian McKenzie – Ah BMac, you make a few threes in the first half, and feel like you can just keep chucking them up in the 2nd.
Bilal Dixon – Just overmatched against Syracuse’s bigs
Brandon Triche – BIG EAST All-Rookie, but not ahead of our VC.
BOX SCORES FOR THE STATS NERDS!
AROUND THE WEB
Friars.com: Men’s Basketball Defeated By No. 4/4 Syracuse, 99-85
The Providence College men’s basketball team (12-15, 4-11 BIG EAST) was defeated by No. 4/4 Syracuse University (26-2, 13-2 BIG EAST) by a score of 99-85 on Saturday, Feb. 23 before a sell-out crowd of 12,410 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. After the Friars led by eight at 55-47, PC could not overcome the subsequent 26-2 run by Syracuse that helped the Orange claim the 99-85 victory.
SUAthletics.com: Jackson, Rautins Lead #4 Orange at Providence
With the win, the Orange clinched one of the top four seeds in the BIG EAST Championship, earning the double bye to the quarterfinals.
Junior Rick Jackson led SU with a career-high 28 points, while senior Andy Rautins also had 28 points, a season-best mark. Jackson was 13-of-17 from the floor and a perfect 2-for-2 from the charity stripe and added nine rebounds, three assists, three steals and a pair of blocked shots in his career effort.
Projo.com: Orange crush PC’s upset hopes, 99-85
The Friars were raining in 3-pointers from every corner of the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, lighting up the scoreboard for 52 first-half points. The sellout crowd (12,410) was rocking, while the seemingly thousands of fans of the No. 4 ranked Syracuse Orange watched in stunned disbelief.
Then the second half began. Looking like every bit the national championship contender, Syracuse wiped out a five-point halftime deficit and tore away from the Friars for a 99-85 win. The Orange ripped through PC’s defense for 61-percent shooting in the half and ended the game hurting the Friars both inside (56 points in the paint) and out (10 threes, eight by Andy Rautins).
Pawtucket Times: Syracuse Blows by Providence
The game was a familiar one for Providence and its fans. After staying close for a prolonged stretch, the Friars were virtually powerless to stop the Orange from imposing their will at the game’s most critical juncture. PC managed to score only eight points in the opening 10 minutes, though recovered enough to move within 11 points on a couple of occasions.
Syracuse.com: Syracuse University basketball blasts Providence
On a night when Syracuse scored 99 points, the Orange won with defense. Nine minutes worth of defense.
Syracuse.com: Syracuse big men dominate Providence on the inside
“They’re playing a match-up zone and they’re undersized,” senior center Arinze Onuaku said. “And they got young guys in there. So any time I caught the ball, I felt like I could score.”
Syracuse.com: Rautins on a roll; SU guard is shooting 57 percent from 3 in SU’s last three games
An Andy Rautins miss from 3-point range is a recent rarity.
The Syracuse guard went 8 of 12 from outside the arc in the Orange men’s 99-85 win over Providence. He scored 28 points. In SU’s last three games, Rautins is shooting 16 of 28 from long distance.
The Axe Man: SU-Providence Recap
Syracuse opened the second half by extending the zone defense, and we are talking Gumby-like stretching here, and went on a 26-2 run to open the half and watch the Friars wilt under the defense that was taking a coffee break at the Dunkin Donuts Center in the first half.
Providence turned the ball over more in the first three minutes of the second half than they had the entire first half, decided defense was optional, and watched yet another Top 8 team steamroll them.
Daily Orange: Jackson’s career-high 28 points drive Orange offense in high-scoring win over Providence
Jackson battered Providence to the tune of 28 points on 13-of-17 shooting, including a team-high nine rebounds in Syracuse’s 99-85 win over the Friars Tuesday night. Jackson’s explosive performance was just the second time in his career he’s hit the 20-point plateau, previously having accomplished the feat against Florida on Dec. 10.
“They weren’t double-teaming or anything like that, I just got the ball and really just finished,” Jackson said. “I felt they just kept leaving me open in one-on-one opportunities and I had good position on a lot of the shots I took and it turned out good.”
ESPN.com: Rautins key to Syracuse’s success
Davis said Rautins is a game changer and someone who you can see has improved so much over his career. Rautins isn’t someone who improved his game in just two hours of practice a day, his coach said. Clearly, he has put in the extra work. But what is clear as well is that Rautins isn’t just a shooter, even though that was his staring role Tuesday night. Rautins was bringing up the ball on a number of occasions to jump start the offense. He dished out four assists, had just two turnovers and one steal in playing all 40 minutes.
Orange:44: Syracuse – Providence Postgame Reactions OR Puns & Alliterations
A little extension of the 2-3 zone, and a little more intensity, and we started to see the Syracuse team we had expected to see. They were running up and down the floor. They were grabbing rebounds (37, including 17 from the offensive glass). They were stealing the ball (12) and blocking shots (5). They were playing Syracuse Basketball
Kevin McNamara of the ProJo just reported on his blog that JUCO guard Kyle Wright has left the team.
A release from the PC sports info department quotes coach Keno Davis as saying “Kyle is an outstanding young man with a bright future ahead of him. I appreciate Kyle’s efforts this year and understand and support his decision. We wish him nothing but the best.”
Wow, didn’t really see this coming during the season. To be honest, I would have thought Russ Permenter would leave before Kyle Wright did. Wright was averaging just under 10 minutes a game (but only played over 10+ in three games since BIG EAST play started), and never really got it going with his strength – his long range shot. In 26 games, Wright took 43 threes, making just 14 for a 32.6%.
I hate to see it not work out for Kyle, as I thought despite his poor first year with Providence, he could have been a solid role player next season given his size and potential with his shot.
Anyways, this opens up a new scholarship for the Friars, so it will be interesting to see how Keno and staff will use it. Will they try to land a late big man for next year, or hold onto it for a potential big player for the class of 2011?
Good luck in your future endeavors Kyle! You were only a Friar for a short time, but still a Friar!
UPDATE (6:05PM): KMac updated his post and according to Wright, it came down to academics.
“I was required to take more credits than any other student,” said Wright. “They accepted 70 credits and it normally takes 116 to graduate. I need 140 credits. It would be possible (to graduate and keep playing basketball) but I was in a position where I had to do everything perfectly. I had to fit everything in perfectly.”
Here is a nice insight into the mind of Greedy from the folks over at Dime Magazine.
Providence Human Highlight Reel Jamine Peterson
Dime: Talk about the Syracuse dunk.
JP: Well, they came at me, and I was trying to pass it to a teammate but he was already guarded. I saw A.O. (‘Cuse center Arinze Onuaku) coming towards me and I saw I had a nice angle off the glass … It was like, “Why not try it?” That’s something I used to do in high school and on the playground. I’d never done it before in a college game.
I also thought this exchange was interesting.
Dime: Despite your numbers, Providence is under-.500 this year. Why do you think you guys have struggled?
JP: We have a young team. We lost some seniors, and when you’re basically playing against top-ranked teams in the Big East every night, it’s hard when you lack experience. I think we have what it takes to be better once guys get time to work together in the summer. We’re not losing any starters and we have some good freshmen coming in.
Woh, not losing any starters? Oh wait, is he not counting McKenzie because he has been actually invisible all season? Or maybe he just doesn’t consider him a real starter? And what about Sharaud Curry? Am I reading too much into this interview, or are we seeing a subtle reference at some beef between the players?
What do you think?
Fear not Friar fans, the end of the GAUNTLET is almost here! Sure, we’ve gotten a big fat ZERO points along the way, and nothing but bruises all over our bodies, but hey it looks like we will make it out alive. That’s not enough though. To make it through the rest of this season in Friartown, we need to be like Jack Bauer. We need to persevere and not give up. What did Jack do this season when Renee (she’s always been hot, now she’s crazy chick hot) stabbed him in the abdomen accidentally after repeatedly stabbing a Russian mobster to death? He didn’t pass out, fall to the ground in agony, or even “feel pain”. He pulled that mother effer out of his gut, and made a back handed throw into the neck of a different Russian Mobster to save the day.
So let’s do this tonight Friars! Let’s stab the Russian Mobster that is Syracuse Basketball and end this losing streak!
Now that’s a sexy GUANTLET!
WHAT TO: KNOW
Game Time: 7:00PM
Opponent: Syracuse Orange (25-2, 12-2)
Location: The DUNK
Spread: Syracuse -8.5
ESPN AccuScore Prediction: Syracuse 86, PC 74 (Cusewins in 80% of 10,000 sims)
CBS Prediction: Syracuse 87, PC 75
Pomeroy Prediction: Syracuse 84, PC 74 (80% confidence)
WHAT TO: LOOK FOR
WHAT TO: READ
The Friars return to action on Tuesday, February 23 versus No. 4/4 Syracuse at 7:00 p.m. in Providence. The Friars have posted a 10-42 mark all-time versus the Orange. The Friars are 6-20 at home, 3-18 on the road and 1-4 on neutral courts all-time against Syracuse. The two teams first met on December 29, 1969 with Syracuse earning a 94-83 win in Charlotte, N.C. Last season, the Friars defeated No. 15 Syracuse, 100-94, on January 28, 2009 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. In the first meeting between the two teams this season atthe Carrier Dome, Syracuse earned an 85-68 win over the Friars on February 2.
SUAthletics.com: Providence Awaits #4/4 Syracuse
Syracuse is 10-0 away from the Carrier Dome this season. The team is 7-0 in true road contests and 3-0 in neutral-site affairs. The last time the Orange did not lose a road game in the regular season was in 1917-18.
Projo: Under Davis, Friars are always very early to the gym
With time on their side, the Friars settle into their home arena early on game nights. Make that real early. In a new schedule this season, Davis brings his players together five hours before a game at The Dunk. During that time, they’ll study an opponent’s attack, eat a catered meal, receive treatment on injuries, catch a nap, talk on the phone and be free to shoot as many free throws as they’d like.
Projo: Capsule Preview: Syracuse at Providence
Syracuse is one of the country’s elite offensive teams. Orange leads the country in field-goal shooting (52%) and averages 80.6 points a game
Syracuse.com: Orange Scouting Report: Syracuse at Providence
Andy Rautins wasn’t just hot, he was on fire at Georgetown. His five 3-pointers tied the most he’s made in Big East play this season. His 26 points were three shy of his career-high, which he set last season against Coppin State. He was 5-for-9 from 3-point range and also went 9-for-11 at the foul line.
Two wins away from the program’s first perfect road record in 92 years, the fourth-ranked Orange visit Providence on Tuesday night with plenty of confidence after blowing out the Friars earlier this month.
The Sports Network: Orange and Friars hook up in Big East action
A 75-71 triumph at nationally-ranked Georgetown
last Thursday, coupled with a Villanova loss on Sunday, moved the Orange into sole possession of first place in the Big East at 12-2. The victory over Georgetown not only improved Syracuse to 6-0 against ranked teams, but it also kept the team perfect in true road games at 7-0. The Orange are now a healthy 25-2 overall and will host Villanova on Saturday in a game that could ultimately determine the Big East champion.
Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician: Not You Again, Providence
If any fanbase can understand Providence’s frustrations in the midst of the six-game losing streak (and losers of eight of their last nine), it’s Syracuse. Providence is just-about completeing a Big East gauntlet not seen since, well, Syracuse ran it last year.
Orange:44: Providence – Syracuse Preview
But make no mistake: this is a big game for Syracuse. Not in the sense that it’s necessary to secure a 1-seed in the NCAA Tourney or anything of significant importance, but more so to keep the high intensity going into that Nova game. Providence is a shell of its former self this year, somehow finding itself near the bottom of the Big East Conference, with lowly Rutgers and DePaul. Still, at 12-14 overall and 4-10 in the conference, the Friars can still steal games
The Daily Orange: 5 Keys: Syracuse/Providence
4. Get Wes back to 100 percent — Johnson vowed he’d be back to “Old Wes” by Tuesday. We saw glimpses in D.C., glimpses that he is losing the post-injury tentativeness that had been holding him back. While he has proven himself to be an effective shooter, SU truly needs Johnson to get to the rim with reckless abandon. If he’s healed, he’ll do just that against Providence.
CuseOrange: SU Faces Davis’ High-Flying Attack
SU’s loss to Providence last January remains as one of the most frustrating losses in Big East memory. The ‘Cuse hung 94 on the Friars that night at the Dunk and still lost, bringing back memories of high-scoring shortcomings to UMass and Rhode Island from 2007. 35 points from Jonny Flynn and 27 from Eric Devendorf, all for naught, thanks to double-figure scoring efforts from 7 Providence players.
WHERE TO: WATCH
The game will be carried on ESPNU
WHERE TO: FOLLOW
As always, I’ll be on Twitter @friarblog with in-game updates.
So I just came across the NCAA Vault, which has FULL GAME VIDEO, highlights, and history of all the Sweet 16 games and on from 2000-present. At first I went to the team dropdown list and was confused as to why Providence was not listed. Oh, 2000-2010. I see what you did there. It’s a shame they didn’t include the 90’s, since I would have loved to relive the Providence Elite Eight run of 1997. I vaguely remember PC beating Duke when I was in high school, but I didn’t really see the entire epic OT loss to Arizona.
Still lots of great games to choose from if you are a college basketball fan. My pick for you? UCLA versus Gonzaga in the 2006 Sweet Sixteen. You can’t beat seeing Adam Morrison crying after UCLA made an epic comeback — and Gus Johnson’s amazing peformance: “WHAT A GAME!! WHAT. A. GAME!!!!!!!!”. Probably the greatest announcing call ever, and I have no association to either UCLA or Gonzaga.
Anyways, enjoy losing the rest of your afternoon.
With only 4 more conference games to go and no other post-season tournament in sight, it’s only natural for us Friar fans to start looking ahead to the BIG EAST Tournament more and more each day. For all that has gone wrong this year, a solid performance to go along with a win in the first round would go a long way in my eyes.
As it stands right now, Providence would be the 14th seed in the BIG EAST Tournament (remember all teams make it this year again), with a sweet 9PM game on the Tuesday against South Florida. PC has a decent shot of picking up two more wins (traveling to USF and hosting Seton Hall), but the status of Vincent Council will be a big factor. Let’s go safe and say the Friars get one more win (we can’t take this losing streak into MSG!). They will either finish 13, 14, or 15 depending on how St. John’s and Rutgers finishes out.
I want the Friars to finish as high as possible for obvious reasons, but I’m not gonna lie — that 13th seed playing at 2PM garbage doesn’t seem too appetizing. I will gladly sacrifice a seeding to be able to hit up the Garden at night to watch the Friars! The first few days of the BET is always a blast, and I would figure there would be more Friar fans able to make the later games as well.
Here is the bracket:
