With dad at courtside, Devin Carter puts on a show, keeps Providence's NCAA hopes alive
PROVIDENCE — Devin Carter refused to be hurt.
There was a show to put on Wednesday night. His father, Anthony, was courtside while taking some time out from his busy coaching schedule with the Memphis Grizzlies.
There was also a season to help save. A loss here for Providence against No. 19 Creighton would have pushed the NCAA Tournament math for Carter and his teammates one step closer to multivariable calculus. It remains something resembling simple arithmetic for the Friars after this 91-87 overtime classic at Amica Mutual Pavilion.
Carter plus Josh Oduro plus a slice of necessary discipline elsewhere in the lineup equals winning. Those two players need to carry Providence through the remainder of this month and deliver them to Madison Square Garden with a chance to clinch an eighth berth in March Madness since 2013-14. Seeding in the Big East Tournament could prove just as important to determining if the Friars reach that larger field of 68 later that month.
“They’re a great group,” Providence coach Kim English said. “They’re great kids. They all want to please us, please each other, be there for each other. On any team, when the standard is set from the top, everything else falls in line.”
Providence is teetering toward the back end of the tournament field, but the path to qualification remains clear. Win future home games against St. John’s, DePaul and Villanova, avoid a potential road landmine at Georgetown and steal one of the following four contests — at Butler, at Xavier, at Marquette and the regular-season finale at home against Connecticut. That could be more than enough to seal qualification for the Friars before they make the short trip to Manhattan.
There was a visual reminder on this night of how and why it currently starts with Carter. Bryce Hopkins sat behind the home bench, his left knee in a brace and crutches aside his folding chair. His lengthy recovery from ACL surgery is underway, but his extended absence was always going to alter how this 2023-24 campaign played out over the final three months.
“He makes time out of his way to come to these games,” Carter said, nodding to his father at the back of the interview room just off the floor. “His schedule’s super busy. He's traveling all over. Every time he comes, I just want to give him a show.”
Consider it mission accomplished on this night. Carter fired home a preposterous 35-footer inside the final 30 seconds of regulation to wipe out a 78-75 deficit. He piled up 21 of his 28 points after halftime, and the majority of those were scored after he limped off the floor to the home bench with 18:49 to play in the second half.
Carter has been playing in pain for at least the last two games. He smashed into the padded basket support in a 74-65 loss at the Huskies last week, staying down behind the play late in the second half. Corey Floyd Jr. retreated after the next whistle to help him up, but Carter was clearly slowed after a driving layup attempt off the right wing.
Was that to blame for his comparatively restrained performance Sunday night at the Wildcats? Carter attempted just nine shots and went without a steal in consecutive games for only the second time since late in the 2021-22 season with South Carolina. The Friars were run out of the Wells Fargo Center to the tune of a 68-50 defeat, managing a season low in points and allowing Villanova to snap its longest losing streak in 13 years.
“We don’t overreact to losses,” Carter said. “Just watch film, see what we could have done better.
“Obviously, it wasn’t our best performance. I think we fixed a lot of areas we weren’t good in coming into this game.”
English rather pointedly criticized his team during his postgame press conference, and no effective coach says anything publicly that isn’t also being shared behind closed doors. Carter, despite being less than 100% physically, practiced in full over each of the last two days — English said Tuesday’s session was a strong one. Garwey Dual and Rich Barron both played through minor shoulder injuries Wednesday, following the lead of a veteran who could be hurting a little bit more.
“He practiced the last few days,” English said. “It’s later in the season. Practices are shorter — less live action.
“It’s really, really hard to do — not hook it up after a game like Villanova. And he did.”
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Devin Carter helps keep Providence basketball's NCAA hopes alive
