Friars Lose a Heartbreaker to Villanova

By Craig Leighton
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Updated: February 19, 2014

The Providence College Friars dropped an 82-79 heartbreaking decision in two overtimes to Villanova last night before 12,106 screaming fans at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Bryce Cotton led the way for the Friars finishing with 22 points and eight assists. Below are some quick observations from the game.

Make your layups After the game Coach Cooley pointed out that the biggest difference in the game was that Villanova made their layups and close shots inside while the Friars did not. The layups were there for the Friars, they just couldn’t finish inside. Going forward the Friars are going to need to convert these easy opportunities to keep their tournament hopes alive.

Turnovers PC finished with an uncharacteristic 19 turnovers in the game, 14 of which were in the second half. What is worse is that many of these turnovers came at the most inopportune times. Josh Fortune led the Friars with seven turnovers and he is going to have to take better care of the ball going forward.

Cotton Struggles Although he finished with 22 points Bryce Cotton struggled for most of the game shooting 6-20 from the floor. He had a quiet first half (four points on 1-6 shooting) and seemed to lose his legs a little bit down the stretch. Two missed free throws with time winding down can directly be attributed to fatigue. If Bryce has just a normal game for him I think the Friars win.

JayVaughn Pinkston The Friars never really had an answer for Pinkston all night as he finished with 20 points (8-12 shooting) and six rebounds. Pinkston was scoring at will and Villanova probably should have gone to him more than they did. He was a mismatch for Batts, Desrosiers, Henton, or whoever else tried to guard him.

Josh Fortune For the second straight game Fortune got off to a really hot start going 5-7 in the first half (3-4 from the three point line). It seems that Fortune has finally found confidence in his outside shot and is turning into the three point shooter many of us expected him to be when he enrolled at Providence College. Having that additional scoring option in the lineup will be huge for the Friars going forward.

The Crowd Last night’s crowd at the Dunk was absolutely amazing. The place was really electric for the first time in years. Ed Cooley said after the game that it was the best atmosphere he has seen at Providence in his entire life.

What’s Next PC is still very much in the tournament mix. They have three very winnable games in three of the next four and if they do indeed win all three of these games things will be very interesting in Providence on selection Sunday. But first things first, they need to take care of business at Butler on Sunday, which is a game they have to win to stay in the tournament chase. One game at a time.

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