Friar Basketball

What Went Wrong Late Versus Carolina

UNCrecap

This wasn’t a game anyone in Friartown was willing to relive in the immediate aftermath. Providence was playing at their peak for a 6-7 minute stretch in the second half, yet it was their inability to “pay attention to detail” that caught Ed Cooley’s ire afterwards. While the offensive glass seems to be the obvious candidate for what Cooley was referring to, there were other mistakes that cost the Friars on a night in which they executed the game plan perfectly and were otherwise very sound.

Sure, Providence couldn’t grab an offensive rebound all night, and their inability to do so led to four James Michael McAdoo free throws in the final three seconds, but was there anything else the coach saw? A look back at the game film reveals that there were decisions well before the closing seconds that cost PC their season.

The Friars were surging from around 11:00 on the clock until there was roughly 4:30 to play. In fact, it may have been their best basketball of the season. A 22-6 run was highlighted by perhaps the signature play of Bryce Cotton’s career — an amazing jumping steal which he followed up with a three pointer with the shot clock running down on the ensuing possession.

Cotton_steal on Make A Gif

Play of the year?

When Cotton’s 3 dropped through with 5:37 to go, momentum had swung dramatically, and to the impartial viewer this one seemed well on the way to a PC victory after Kadeem Batts made a 10 footer and followed that up with a layup and a free throw to push Providence’s lead to seven with 4:30ish left.

But, that’s when Carolina went on a quick 7-0 spurt in about a minute and a half. For as well as the Friars played all night, this run — the one that kept the Heels alive — was largely the result of Providence mistakes.

The first mistake came out of the 2-3 zone. The Friars all but begged McAdoo to take a shot from the foul line and he either missed or passed up the shot throughout the second half. Yet, to kick off the 7-0 run Carson Desrosiers made what looked to be a minor lapse in judgment — stepping up a foot or two too far on McAdoo who bounced a backdoor pass by him for a Carolina dunk. Desrosiers wasn’t close to McAdoo, but he did lose sight of a cutter.

CD Beat Back on Make A Gif

UNC going backdoor

That wasn’t an egregious blunder, but it was compounded soon after by a midcourt turnover by Cotton, who had otherwise been perfect on the night. Much like they had against Creighton in the conference title game, the Friars were effectively running their flex late into the shot clock and getting good offense, but their next two possessions sped the game up.

Roy Williams threw a trap near midcourt at Cotton and there was either a miscommunication (it looked like he expected Batts to cut across the free throw line rather than directly towards him) or simply a rushed decision by Cotton who threw the ball away.

Cotton Late Turnover on Make A Gif

UNC’s switching defense forced a turnover here

The result was UNC rushing in the other direction, hoisting a 3, missing, but getting fouled with the rebound in the air. Carolina missed another shot after the inbounds and recovered that one for a short make to cut the lead to three with 3:13 left.

On the ensuing possession a bad habit reared its ugly head for forward Tyler Harris, who sprinted out to counter with a quick basket of his own. Harris tried to drive one on two with just over three minutes to go. The result?

Harris Force on Make A Gif

A key moment late

A blocked shot at the rim, sprint out the other way, another missed three, another Carolina offensive rebound and then a top of the key 3 from Marcus Paige to tie it.

It was a crushing sequence for the Friars. With a seven point lead with 4:20ish left they figured to shorten the game by milking the clock and letting Cotton go one on one, a situation where he’d been unstoppable in time and again in this game. Instead they gave up five points in 17 seconds on the clock thanks to a pair of questionable decisions and an inability to grab a rebound. In fairness, the offensive rebounds in transition came when they were recovering on their end of the floor, but that’s the result of shaky decisions on offense.

Paige 1st 3 on Make A Gif

Paige’s first huge make

Give Cooley’s group credit for their resilience. Their momentum was quelled quickly, but they didn’t melt. Rather, they went up three on their next possession when Cotton pulled up from the top of the key and got fouled. He made all three free throws (remember, free throw shooting was the Friars’ big advantage in this one — more on that in a second) and PC was back up three with about 2:30 remaining.

Nine seconds later, this happened. Just an incredible play. Nothing you can do about this.

UNC-and1 on Make A Gif

Not much PC could do about this

Here’s where the free throw shooting comes into play. J.P. Tokoto still had to make his free throw to tie the game. There was less than a 50/50 chance of that happening, as Tokoto had made just 49% of his freebies on the season and had a world of pressure on him. He made it, naturally.

With the game tied with 2:20 left the Friars went back to grinding this one out. They killed nearly 40 seconds off of the clock before LaDontae Henton simply willed himself to the free throw line. Henton grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds around three UNC big men — giving up 4-5 inches to each — before getting fouled on his second rebound.

A 74% free throw shooter on the year, and the most clutch Friar outside of Cotton (who can forget his game winner in the Big East Championship?), Henton made 1-2. The Friars led by a point, but it stings that a miss by a 49% shooter for Carolina and two makes by a solid PC shooter would have made it a three point game with 1:45 left.

It hurt even more when Carolina turned it over and Cotton did this — his last basket as a Friar. What a shot.

Cotton's Last Bucket on Make A Gif

Cotton’s last shot was a great one

The ridiculous finish gave Cotton a career high 36 points, PC a three point lead, and pushed Williams’ club to the brink, but you know what happened from there.

In the locker room after the game Cooley said you need to get some luck along the way, and that luck could have come in the form of a Paige miss (Dayton survived two great late looks from Syracuse from 3 to pull their upset last weekend), but UNC’s star sophomore made a big 3 with three minutes left to tie it, and nailed another massive game tier with a minute to go and Henton closing hard.

Page 3 Ties It on Make A Gif

Paige was huge late

The final 30 seconds were crushing for Providence. Henton made a terrific move through the lane, but just couldn’t get the ball over the rim. Carolina collected, held the ball, put up a shot with five seconds to go, collected yet again and then McAdoo was sent to the line where he won it.

Sure, a late rebound off of one of McAdoo’s misses would have given Providence a shot for a miracle finish, but the thought here is that when Cooley mentions missed opportunities he’s not focusing on the final three seconds.

603 Comments

  1. Joe

    June 29, 2014 at 5:31 pm

    Good stuff, first time I saw this breakdown. Tough noticing 3 timeouts remaining on the board when Bryce threw that ball away at halfcourt. Senior, only 4 minutes left, gotta know to signal the TO instead of throwing a risky pass when you see that trap coming. Hopefully Tyler realizes his limits this year and knocks off the 1-3 garbage we saw all season. I have a feeling we won’t see much of that this year with Lindsey & Bullock at Ed’s disposal to improve Tyler’s discipline/decision making. Terrible close out on the screen that freed Paige for his last 3…….gotta get up on him there and force it out of his hands. We probably win game if that shot was denied.

    FWIW Cotton’s last acrobatic shot should have been an AND-1.

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