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Dunn Shines, Chukwu Sparks PC

dunnURI

Maybe we can put the pitchforks away for a few days.

Providence restored order on Wednesday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center, snapping a three game losing streak with a 68-60 win over a Rhode Island team that Ed Cooley repeatedly said was “really good.”

It was an ugly five days in Friartown. Providence fans never like losing to Boston College, especially when the Friars have the better team on paper, and when those same fans saw an even worse effort in Monday night’s loss to Brown — a loss that “pissed off” Cooley — seemingly every aspect of this program was under the microscope.

And rightfully so.

Do the Friars have enough shooting? Enough cohesion? Enough heart?

Ten games into this season it’s difficult to say who the real Friars are — the Mohegan Sun Friars or the Conte Forum Friars — but Providence took a desperately needed step forward on Wednesday by grinding out URI.

A pair of Connecticut products led the way for PC, with Kris Dunn playing as complete a game as has all season in scoring 22 points to go along with nine rebounds, and four steals with just two turnovers in 32 minutes. He went 7-10 from the field and 8-10 at the free throw line, but it was the rebounding that had Cooley encouraged, “Kris is probably our best rebounder and I’m not surprised at all (with his effort on the glass). I am actually shocked when he doesn’t have 10 rebounds or 12 rebounds because he’s that powerful, that strong at the rim, and when he goes to get a rebound every person in the gym knows he’s got the ball.”

While Dunn did a little bit of everything, Cooley thought freshman center Paschal Chukwu was the star of the game. Chukwu went 4-4 from the field, had a ridiculous two handed block midway through the second half and played a significant role in Providence stretching out what was a back and forth game in the second half.

“I think he made a major impact when he was in there,” Cooley said of Chukwu. “Paschal has played great the past two weeks and I’ve got to play him more. You want to bring younger players along slowly, but he’s expediting the process.”

The process sped up a bit thanks to Kyron Cartwright. After struggling some of late, Cartwright passed the ball beautifully, with seven assists in 23 minutes. He found Chukwu for lobs on a few different occasions and provided a second creator alongside Dunn when the Friar offense got rolling in the second half.

It wasn’t perfect, Providence led by 10 with just over two minutes to play before the Rams made it a one possession game with 44 seconds left thanks to sloppy ball handling by PC. In the end, Providence had enough to hold on, as Dunn and Cartwright sealed it at the free throw line.

“Honestly, it’s been a long week coming off of some really disturbing performances, so this was a good win,” said Cooley.

Harris Emerges Late

Cooley believes Tyler Harris, LaDontae Henton and Kris Dunn have to be this team’s pillars if they are to get back to the top of the Big East. Inconsistency has plagued each this season, and after Harris started 1-7 from the field in the first half this one looked to be a lost cause for him.

But credit Harris for not only turning his night around, but the game around as well. Rhode Island went on a 6-0 run out of halftime to take a one point lead, but Harris provided PC with a huge spark with a tip dunk to give them the lead right back. He then had another slam a minute later, an assist on a LaDontae Henton layup and later a corner 3 to make it 44-35 PC with 12:46 to go.

Harris’ made 5-7 from the field in the second half and finished with 17 points and four assists.

Matthews Shines

Cooley didn’t need to be sold on URI star EC Matthews, but his 27 point night only confirmed what Providence’s coach knew: Matthews can play.

“Matthews could be one of the best players we’ve played up until this moment. He can score it off the bounce and he is really good at the rim. He’s a terrific player and he gave us everything we could handle tonight, so congratulations to him.”

Loose Balls

  • A big concern for Providence heading in was their turnovers. PC had just two in the first half, but began to crack when URI pressed them, as the Friars turned it over 10 times in the second half.
  • CoxHub’s Vin Parise noted earlier in the week that Providence wanted to get to the line more and convert at a higher rate. Mission accomplished. 21-26 at the line versus URI’s 12-22.
  • PC also won the points in the paint battle (40-34) and outrebounded the Rams (32-26).
  • There’s not much love lost between Providence and Jared Terrell. The freshman guard finished with seven points on 3-10 shooting.
  • Carson Desrosiers had two blocks and two steals for PC.
  • LaDontae Henton fouled out after scoring 15 points and grabbing a pair of rebounds.

Twitter: Kevin Farrahar

Email: Kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

7 Comments

  1. D.j. Gardien de L'argent

    December 11, 2014 at 7:11 am

    its uri…come down

  2. Joshua Michael Corrente

    December 11, 2014 at 10:09 am

    Good win- One game at a time- Good job-

  3. Derec Lamendola

    December 11, 2014 at 2:08 pm

    Cradlautions We LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO This IS LaDoante Henton Last Year This Year And Derec Lamendola Last Year And Carson TO As Well And Leta Get Dun This Year Becuase This The New BIG East Connfernts

  4. Mario Teixeira

    December 11, 2014 at 3:39 pm

    Chukwu should be playing 20-25 min a game!

  5. Sean Lenahan

    December 11, 2014 at 11:45 pm

    Fairfield Preps own Paschal Chukwu! Gettin it done for the friars!

  6. Sean Duggan

    December 12, 2014 at 2:08 am

    Go Paschal!

  7. John Delgado

    December 12, 2014 at 2:13 am

    Nice job especially since Carson was sleeping the whole game

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