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Notebook: Catching Johnnies at the Wrong Time

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Sometimes it isn’t who you play, but when you play them. When Providence defeated St. John’s on January 16 they immediately took advantage of a reeling group. Steve Lavin’s bunch, thought to be the deepest team in the Big East heading into the season, was coming off of four straight losses to open the conference schedule and PC punched them in the mouth with a 14-2 run to open the game before pulling out a one point double overtime victory.

Fast forward three weeks and St. John’s is a different club. They’d won three of their last four Big East games heading into this one (the one loss at the last second at Creighton) and were riding high following a 74-59 beating of Marquette.

This time it was the Johnnies doing the mouth punching, putting up a startling 53 first half points on 61% shooting with just one turnover. A 16 point halftime lead quickly became 23 early in the second half — a lead that was simply too much for the Friars to overcome, despite making 7-13 three pointers in the second half and pulling as close as five in front of a desperate and raucous Dunkin Donuts Center crowd.

Ed Cooley gave St. John’s the obligatory “give them a ton of credit for coming into our building and winning,” but the Providence head coach was looking inward.

In his post game press conference Cooley twice mentioned attention to detail as an issue, twice spoke of his team being put on its heels and twice said his team didn’t show up for the game’s first 26 minutes.

“I did not have a team that was locked in and concentrated, and that’s on me,” he shared. “Why we came out like this today is baffling to me.”

Offensive Figures

Cooley certainly would have taken 12-28 from three point range, an 84% conversion rate on 19 free throw attempts, and a 20-11 advantage in offensive rebounds (9 for Kadeem Batts) heading into this one.

Bryce Cotton was once again terrific, making 6-10 from deep and dishing out six assists on his way to a career Big East high 32 points. Those numbers combined with 4-6 from deep from Josh Fortune? Again, Cooley would certainly take his chances.

The only other time Providence has lost this season when making 10 three pointers or more was against Kentucky in early December. In nearly every other loss, the Friars have gotten little from beyond the arc.

Looking for a stat you’ll not see again anytime soon? Providence had 13 offensive rebounds in the first half alone and still trailed by 16 by the break.

Desrosiers Continues

In just 23 minutes Carson Desrosiers blocked four shots, grabbed four rebounds, scored five points and had a pair of assists.

Desrosiers has been a defensive force of late, blocking 15 shots over the past four games. What’s more, he only played a combined 26 minutes on the Marquette/DePaul road trip, and maxed out during this game against St. John’s with 23 minutes.

He had six blocks in 22 minutes against Xavier and played a key role in deterring star point guard Semaj Christon at the rim.

Sampson Strong in Return 

It was just about two years ago when Cooley and his staff put the full court press on St. John’s sophomore JaKarr Sampson, who was then a fifth year senior at Brewster Academy. Brewster was playing at the National Prep School Invitational in Providence, and PC’s staff was heavily involved before Sampson ended up with St. John’s a month later.

Friar fans dreamed of adding the uber-athletic Sampson (last year’s Big East Rookie of the Year) as a complement to a recruiting haul that included a pair of All Americans in Kris Dunn (McDonald’s, Jordan Brand AA) and Ricky Ledo (Jordan Brand), as well as Josh Fortune.

Now a sophomore, Sampson had gone 0-2 when playing the Friars (he had 22 in a 62-59 loss at the Dunk last March and 16/8 in January’s loss), but he was at his best on Tuesday, making 10-15 shots in scoring 21 points. An oftentimes inconsistent 18 footer was falling throughout, as Sampson was particularly effective as St. John’s built their lead in the opening 20 minutes.

He went 7-9 from the field for 15 points in the first half.

 

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

Twitter: KevinFarrahar

 

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