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Friars Deserved Better, Fall to UNC

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Bryce Cotton deserved it. They all did.

Where do we even start with this one? There are heartbreakers and then there’s this — a gallant night capping a brilliant career for the latest Providence star to make his name at Providence College, not prior to arriving there. It doesn’t seem fair that it came to an end like this, a 79-77 defeat at the hands of Roy Williams and North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Those who didn’t see this one will never have a full appreciation for just how special Providence’s star guard was. He scored 23 of his career high 36 points in the second half, and matched that with eight assists and five rebounds, yet the numbers only tell the what, they come woefully short of explaining the how and why Cotton got there. We’ll get to that in a moment.

The Friars were up against a lot of history. Williams was 23-0 in NCAA Tournament openers heading into this one, and no UNCCottonteam has ever come as close to knocking him off as Providence did on Friday night.

For 30 minutes it appeared as though the Friars were on the verge of falling too far behind to stage a comeback, but Cotton kept them close when seemingly no one else could do much of anything.

PC trailed by nine points with roughly 11 minutes to play as it seemed like Carolina’s superior length and athleticism would be too much for the Friar frontcourt.

A minute later Tyler Harris scored on consecutive possessions — an up and under on a breakout and a corner three 15 seconds later, and suddenly it was a five point game as we approached the 10 minute mark. The spurt sparked a 9-0 run (Cotton scored on an amazing spin in the lane and found Henton for a layup) that tied it with 9:15 to go.

9-0 soon became 14-2 as Cotton banked home a difficult eight footer off a jump stop and Harris finished a basket and foul. The Friars were rolling and the Heels were clenching. 63-60 PC.

The next three minutes were more of the same — and with each big shot it seemed more likely that Providence would win their first Tournament game since 1997 and hand Williams the first ever one-and-done of a hall of fame career.

The run also set up what looked to be a career defining sequence for Cotton.

With Providence leading 63-62 with just over six minutes to play Carolina launched a long outlet pass that looked headed for a layup. That’s when Cotton came from seemingly nowhere and used every speck of his 40 inch vertical to come up with a one handed steal along the sideline. On the ensuing possession, with the shot clock approaching zero, he crossed over his man at the top of the key and swished a three pointer with just over five minutes keeping PC from the round of 32. 66-62 PC.

UNC was reeling. James Michael McAdoo traveled on the next possession, Kadeem Batts hit a short jumper and Providence led 68-62 with under five minutes left. When Batts bullied his way to the rim and scored while being fouled he finished the play with a free throw to give PC their biggest advantage of the night — 71-64 with 4:34 remaining.

In the final four minutes the Friars’ overwhelming grit couldn’t make up for some late mistakes. Carolina ripped off a 7-0 run over the next minute and a half with some help from the Friars. A Carolina dunk made it a five point game. A Friar turnover resulted in a UNC put back on the other end. Three point game. Then the Friars forced a one on three break that turned into an open 3 for UNC. Tie game.

Providence wasn’t shaken.

The final three minutes were utterly gripping. Cotton was fouled on a 3 and made each free throw on the next possession. UNC’s J.P. Tokoto countered with an amazing spin and layup in which he was fouled to tie it once again with roughly 2:20 left.

The 1:45 mark saw LaDontae Henton rip the ball away from a pair of bigger defenders, getting him to the line where he made 1-2 for a one point PC advantage. Carolina then followed by fumbling the ball away. Cotton recovered and raced 75 feet for a twirling layup that put Providence ahead 77-74 at the 1:21 mark.

It just felt like PC’s night.

Yet, for the second time in the final three minutes Marcus Paige (Carolina’s star guard who was in the debate for best point guard in the class of 2012 with Kris Dunn, who must have been dying watching the game from the sideline with a bum shoulder) connected on a game-tying three pointer — this one coming with 1:10 to play.

The final 45 seconds brought heartache for all of Friartown. Henton just missed on a swooping layup, then Carolina’s McAdoo grabbed an offensive rebound with three seconds left and got fouled by Carson Desrosiers. McAdoo made the first, missed the second, but scooped up yet another offensive rebound (UNC’s 20th of the night) off of his own missed and Providence’s season was, so unfairly, over.

Providence deserved this one.

PCfalls

This was Cotton’s national coming out party and he deserved the two days worth of praise that comes with the most outstanding performance of the second round of the NCAA Tournament — the type of praise he so regularly deflected throughout the past two seasons during his rise from role player to superstar.

Providence fans deserved this one too. Unless Carolina goes on an unexpected run, this season most likely will end up a forgettable footnote in their long history, but it would have meant so much to followers of the Friars. It had been ten years since they’d seen an important game in March, 17 since they felt the thrill of something like this, and a victory would have been one of the great tournament moments in program history.

It also would have given the country a longer look at the coach everyone in Providence realizes is something special.

Ed Cooley squeezed seemingly everything he could have out of the Core 6. Distractions, injuries, and suspensions be damned, Cooley and his unlikely bunch of 10 restored pride to Providence.

They just deserved more time to enjoy it.

We all did.

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball

Twitter: Kevin_Farrahar

29 Comments

  1. Joe

    March 22, 2014 at 9:18 am

    Great game, great fight, just not enough help for Bryce tonight.

    The foul call on Carson’s block was huge, it stopped a possible fastbreak when we were starting that run and gave UNC two FT’s when they were really struggling….. which tied the game.

    FWIW I felt we should have fouled and sent them to the line on the critical possession where Paige hit that monster 3 to tie the game. I knew we were gonna lose once that ball went through the net.

    If we fouled there we would have had the ball and a 1 point lead with 1 minute left…..and that’s assuming a terrible FT shooting team makes both. Foul anyone except Paige and there is a good chance we would have been up 2-3 with the ball and under a minute to play.

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