Friar Basketball
Home / Game Recaps / Friars Manhandle the Minutemen

Friars Manhandle the Minutemen

dunnhenton

PC defeated UMass 85-65 this afternoon before a crowd of 7975 at the Dunkin Donuts Center. LaDontae Henton led all scorers with 27 points while Kris Dunn chipped in with 16 points, 11 assists, five steals, and five rebounds. Carson Desrosiers contributed 10 points and nine rebounds for the Friars who are now 9-3 heading into Monday’s game against Miami. Maxie Esho led the Minutemen in scoring with 17 points.

The Friars came out with a strong defensive effort from the opening whistle and never trailed during the game. The Minutemen could not solve PC’s zone defense and were very cold from the outside. The Friars built up a 37-24 lead at halftime and after UMass briefly closed the gap to 11 the Friars steadily pulled away from the Minutemen with the game essentially being over at the 14:30 mark when the Friars led 53-33. The lead eventually reached 32 points before the Friars coasted the rest of the way to a 20 point victory.

This was the Friars best effort since the Mohegan Sun games and there are several takeaways from the game

  • Rebounding – One of the major keys to the game was rebounding as the Friars controlled the glass out rebounding the Minutemen 42-32. Controlling the glass has really been a problem for PC this season. After the game Ed Cooley said, “In practice that is all we have done for a week. It was a big time point of emphasis because we felt that was our Achilles’ heel. Our point of emphasis was blocking out and getting the rebound in order to get the transition game going.”
  • The Play of LaDontae Henton – Henton scored 27 points today and really seemed like the dominant player everyone thought he was becoming for the first time since the Notre Dame game. UMass had no one who could stop him and he was able to score at will within the flow of the game. On his improved play Henton said, “the guards did a really good job of finding me in really good spots.”
  • The Play of Kris Dunn – After the game Ed Cooley said, “I thought Kris controlled the entire game.” With a stat line of 16 points, 11 assists, five steals, and five rebounds that appears to be an understatement. Each and every game Kris seems to be getting a little better and he should be one of the best players in the Big East by the time March rolls around.
  • Defense – In addition to PC’s edge in rebounding the Friars forced UMass to commit 18 turnovers (on twelve steals) and generally kept UMass off balance for the entire game. The Minutemen could not hit from the outside and PC’s height really bothered them on the inside resulting in UMass taking a lot of off balance shots.
  • The Play of the Freshmen – All of the freshmen had some very nice moments and made positive contributions to the game. Chukwu was a presence on defense, Lindsey was a force on offense, Cartwright looked like a veteran handling the point, and Bentil made his first start of the year and made his presence felt. All four freshmen are gaining more and more confidence and are going to wind up being key contributors during the Big East season.

Next up for the Friars is a key game on Monday night against the University of Miami at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, NY. If the Friars can beat Miami resulting in a 10-3 non conference record they will be in solid shape heading into the Big East season.

 

4 Comments

  1. Thomas Walters Jr

    December 21, 2014 at 3:04 am

    Dance to the sweet music

  2. Jeremy Nunes

    December 21, 2014 at 3:16 am

    Ladonte for 3!!

  3. Derec Lamendola

    December 21, 2014 at 3:22 am

    LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Can You Machting Derec Lamendola Friarabasketball.com Won’t a Happy Birthday TO One OF PC Bigest Fan Derec Lamendola LEtS GET IN The Tomment

  4. Joshua Michael Corrente

    December 21, 2014 at 10:57 am

    This kid Cartwright is a real find for Cooley’s Friars- I think….

You must be logged in to post a comment Login