Providence basketball stung by loss to Villanova. Here's how the Friars dropped the ball.
You generally can’t start this poorly on the road and hope to rescue a victory in the second half.
Sunday night wasn’t an exception. Providence paid for a brutal opening 30 minutes with a defeat at Villanova, allowing the Wildcats to snap their longest losing streak in 13 years.
Cold shooting and some costly turnovers doomed the Friars at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Villanova was desperate to escape its recent freefall down the Big East standings and made the most of its opportunity, recording a 68-50 victory.
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The Wildcats built a 26-point lead midway through the second half and cruised down the stretch against icy Providence, which finished with a season-low in points scored. The Friars were just 2-for-16 from 3-point range in the first half and 7-for-33 overall — 0-for-17 outside Devin Carter and Ticket Gaines. Villanova enjoyed a 21-4 advantage in points off turnovers and a 28-0 shutout off the bench.
“Just a poor performance from us,” Providence coach Kim English said. “The most embarrassing performance I’ve been a part of since I’ve been in basketball.
“Obviously, it starts with me. I didn’t have our guys prepared to compete at the level which is needed to win the game at this juncture of the season.”
The Wildcats pulled away on both sides of halftime, opening a 10-point deficit at the break and coming out of the locker room on a 13-0 run. Eric Dixon’s 3-pointer from out high capped the margin at 50-24, and the Friars were never a serious threat the rest of the way. Four of their eight players who saw the court didn’t score, and Providence managed one fewer point than in a 72-51 road loss at Oklahoma as part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle.
“We’re just poor on offense,” English said. “A little bit of the offensive struggle is the freedom and the way we want to play offense. This team has shown me at this point that we’re not ready for that type of freedom offensively. So we’ll rein it in.
“We’re going to run set plays to get the ball exactly where we want it to get the exact shot that we want. This team doesn’t deserve the freedom that they have, and they’ve now lost it. First comes discipline, then comes freedom — it's been kind of the other way around.”
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Providence (14-8, 5-6 Big East) was still in contact late in the first half despite its shooting woes. It was a 22-16 game into the final minute when TJ Bamba made a layup in the paint and Garwey Dual committed a turnover. Dixon’s hook in the lane gave Villanova a 26-16 cushion, and it felt like more considering the way the Friars were struggling to find some rhythm.
“It’s immaturity,” English said. “I thought we let our offensive woes kind of bleed into some areas defensively. We have to grow up as players, as men.
“Body language, our communication, our accepting of coaching — it has to be better. It’s something we’ve been working on since day one, practice one. It rears its ugly head when there’s adversity.”
The Wildcats (12-10, 5-6) blew it open out of the break. Tyler Burton’s pair of 3-pointers made it 34-16 and Providence used a timeout at the 17:16 mark. Lance Ware’s dunk and a Carter turnover on the right block set up Brendan Hausen for a transition 3-pointer — it was suddenly a 23-point game. Hausen’s jumper gave Villanova a 19-2 advantage off 11 turnovers by the Friars and capped the deciding burst.
“We’re looking for consistency,” English said. “We’re looking for consistency every day and dependability and accountability. Right now, it’s a crapshoot from our team.”
Providence missed its first 10 shots from 3-point range and extended the wrong kind of recent run from the perimeter. It was the 11th time this season that the Friars have attempted eight or more 3-pointers in a half and connected on two or less — the fourth consecutive 20-minute period. Providence suffered through similar barren stretches to close a tight win against Georgetown (2-for-9) and over an entire night in a midweek loss at Connecticut (2-for-10, 2-for-8).
“I don’t think they lost confidence,” English said. “I think you can get distracted. When you’re [complainiing] about calls and coaching and making excuses, I think it distracts you from doing your job. That’s what it is.
“It’s not confidence. They're all confident. They shoot thousands of shots a week. It’s a distraction when you’re not immersed selflessly in what we have to do as a group.”
On X: @BillKoch25
PROVIDENCE (50): Oduro 4-10 10-10 18, Carter 5-9 2-2 17, Floyd 0-4 0-0 0, Gaines 4-11 0-0 10, Pierre 2-13 1-1 5, Barron 0-3 0-0 0, Dual 0-1 0-0 0, Castro 0-0 0-0 0; totals 15-51 13-13 50. VILLANOVA (68): Burton 3-7 0-0 8, Dixon 5-8 1-2 12, Armstrong 2-13 1-2 5, Bamba 4-8 0-0 9, Moore 2-8 2-4 6, Hausen 4-8 0-0 11, Hart 4-7 0-0 9, Longino 2-3 0-0 6, Ware 1-2 0-0 2; totals 27-64 4-8 68.
Halftime — Villanova 26-16. 3-point goals — Providence 7-33 (Carter 5-8, Gaines 2-8, Dual 0-1, Oduro 0-2, Barron 0-3, Floyd 0-3, Pierre 0-8), Villanova 10-28 (Hausen 3-7, Burton 2-3, Longino 2-3, Dixon 1-2, Bamba 1-3, Hart 1-3, Moore 0-3, Armstrong 0-4). Rebounds — Providence 32 (Oduro 12), Villanova 33 (Armstrong, Ware 6). Assists — Providence 11 (Carter 4), Villanova 17 (Hart 5). Total fouls — Providence 12, Villanova 15. A — 13,168 (20,478).
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence basketball stung by road loss against Villanova.
