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Luwane Pipkins and the Friar Redemption Tour

Pipkins Nova

Luwane Pipkins has saved his best play for when Providence needed it most.

His latest, and best effort of the season, came on Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Arena, where Pipkins scored 27 points and made all of the big plays in the Friars’ 58-54 win over #12 Villanova.

Pip got Providence going early, making a step-back jumper and a 3-pointer to push them ahead 7-1.

Then came a 3-pointer when PC led 17-15 (Villanova flipped the momentum after trailing 10-1), and another deep shot to push the Friars ahead by eight late in the first half.

With under seven minutes to go in the game, Pipkins drew a charge on Villanova’s leading scorer Saddiq Bey — it was Bey’s fifth and final foul of the afternoon.

Then the Chicago native dragged Providence to the finish line with a jab step that freed him up for a jumper to bump the lead to four with under four minutes left, followed by a crossover, spin move, fadeaway combo with about a minute and a half to go in a two point game. Pipkins spun Nova’s Collin Gillespie into the ground and smoothly swished a mid-range jumper.

In arguably Providence’s biggest win of the season, Pipkins was the best player on the floor against the #12 team in the country. In a game in which no other Friar starter scored more than five points, Pipkins made 7-13 from the field, 4-8 from long range, and continued his outstanding work at the free throw line by making nine of ten shots.

This was a huge win on so many levels for this program.

Providence’s record against Villanova in the realigned Big East was 2-15 heading into this one.

The Friars’ came in on a three game winning streak, and had won five of their last seven games, but their placement on the bubble was as tenuous as any team in country.

The win guaranteed a first round bye in the Big East Tournament. It was also Providence’s fifth straight win over a ranked opponent in February — making PC one of only five teams ever to knock off five top 25 teams in a month, according to ESPN’s Stats and Information department.

At 10-6 in the Big East, the Friars have a chance to win 12 conference games for the first time in program history if they can hold serve at home against Xavier and DePaul next week.

The Friars have transformed from one of the most disappointing programs in the country in December into potentially one of the most fascinating and surprising NCAA bid winners in recent memory.

So, how has Providence done it? Behind sterling defense and someone taking the reigns offensively.

Their current four game winning streak started with an upset of Seton Hall in which Alpha Diallo scored 35 points of brilliance, making 5-5 from long range.

After that game, many said the Friars only chance of reaching the big dance would be to get tremendous play from Diallo down the stretch. Diallo finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in a win over Georgetown, but has made just two field goals in wins over Marquette and Villanova.

Enter Luwane Pipkins.

During this four game winning streak, Pipkins has gone for 27, 24, 16, and 13 points. He shot 71% against Georgetown, 64% versus Marquette, and made 54% of his shots against the Wildcats on Saturday. Pipkins has made 10 3-pointers in the last three games.

If any one player symbolizes the story of the 2019-20 Friars it is Pipkins.

It is hard to remember any player that drew the level of vitriol that Pipkins had for most of this season. Hailed as the answer to the point guard woes that kept PC from a six straight NCAA Tournament appearance last season, Pipkins struggled to find his place in this offense for much of this year.

The Friars were seen as underachievers in the early months of the season, and Pipkins was an easy (and at times deserved) outlet for the frustration of this group’s shortcomings.

He returned to Chicago for the first time in his college career when PC traveled to Northwestern in November — a disaster of a loss that saw Pipkins continue to fire away at will, despite making 3-15 from the field. He was one of the few that showed up during a loss to Penn (14 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds), but his play nosedived in late November and early December, when he shot 0-8 from the field in a loss to Charleston and looked lost in an 0-5 effort at URI.

Pipkins was not just brought in to run the point for the Friars, but to bring more than a little bit of brashness to the Friars. After playing 17 scoreless minutes against URI, the Luwane Pipkins Experiment looked doomed.

He was better the next time out (21 points) against Stony Brook, and keyed an easy win over Texas two games later with 13 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Pipkins then scored 30 points combined in Providence’s first two conference games — wins over DePaul and Georgetown — but consistency largely alluded him until the past four games.

He scored one point combined in back-to-back games against Marquette and Butler in January, and put up 33 combined against Villanova and Butler two weeks later before going for three, six, and seven points against Creighton, Xavier, and St. John’s. That three game stretch saw Providence go 1-2 and put themselves in a hole seemingly too big to dig out of.

PC has not lost since, and Pipkins has been as key as anyone, averaging 20 points per game during the current four game winning streak. He is shooting 57% from the floor during this stretch and 42% from long range. Pip has hit a 3-pointer in eight consecutive games.

Pipkins scored nearly half of Providence’s points on Saturday, but he did not go it alone.

Maliek White was terrific off of the bench, attacking the rim and scoring 15 points on 4-8 shooting from the field. In a game in which Ed Cooley emphasized getting to the rim, White played downhill throughout, and was especially aggressive in the first half, when he scored nine points and made 4-5 from the field.

The Friars led 30-18 at halftime, thanks in large part to the combined 22 points of Pipkins (13 points, 4-6 in the first half) and White.

Villanova shot 27% in the first half. They were 2-14 from long range and missed seven of nine free throw attempts.

Providence’s length caused problems for Villanova’s shooters for the second time this season. The Wildcats made just 5-30 from deep, with Gillespie shooting 1-3, Bey going 1-7, Justin Moore making 1-8, and Cole Swider shooting 0-5.

The Friars led this game for nearly 38 minutes, and saw its bench outscore Villanova’s 21-6.

And so, the unlikely story of the 2019-20 Providence Friars rolls on. PC’s NET rating jumped from 50 to 44 with the win, and they can lock up an NCAA Tournament bid prior to the Big East Tournament with wins over Xavier and DePaul at home.

7 Comments

  1. Happy to see BC toil in obscurity

    March 1, 2020 at 10:14 am

    Pip put the team on his back, but it was clearly a great team win.

    Pipkins was sensational. He is playing with tremendous confidence. He is becoming the player we thought we were getting. Better late than never.

    White seems to be a road warrior -he plays great on the road. Fearless taking it to the hoop and a fantastic job on the defensive end. His suggested switch with Pip starting an White coming off the bench seems to have helped both of them.

    Courageous effort by Alpha playing with one eye. Even though he didn’t put up a lot of points, his defense, rebounding and poise were all huge factors.

    Duke’s defense was outstanding. In general, Villanova was getting pushed out a little further than normal on their 3’s and the 3’s were contested. We played better with Duke on the floor.

    Young and Nate did a great job. Nate had some bad calls go against him but they were strong in the middle.

    Props to Coach Cooley. It took a while, but he has developed this group of seniors into leaders.

    Let’s keep this run going! Go Friars!

  2. Guy

    March 1, 2020 at 10:18 am

    Terrific article Kevin. For sure it will end up in Luwane’s scrapbook of memories.

  3. JIm Jackson

    March 1, 2020 at 10:52 am

    Pipkins was BEAST Saturday. No more need be said.

    If he shows up for the rest of the games and the teams D’s the way they did they can go a couple of rounds in the tourney maybe deeper if another player gets hot too.

  4. GTJ

    March 1, 2020 at 11:37 am

    I hereby apologize to Pip. I was wrong; sitting him would have been the wrong decision and he is fun to watch when he plays with confidence. If Reeves and Duke can learn from Pip and White- adopting that attacking mode of play- PC has some very special years in front of them. As for this year, let’s hope they keep playing “in desperation mode” and we should be treated to some great PC basketball for another month!

  5. B Hall

    March 1, 2020 at 11:50 am

    It’s amazing how bad They played early on and what Their doing now. We still need more consistency on offense if We are going anywhere in the NCAA tourney.

  6. Thomas Dubuque

    March 1, 2020 at 1:48 pm

    Nova still is trying to be the master of the flop. That last basket by Pipkins showed Gillespe flyng backwards onto the foul line on his butt. Pipkins was doing a slow spin away from him to free up for his shot. Glad the refs didn’t fall for the ploy.

  7. Marty

    March 1, 2020 at 3:25 pm

    Another great win for PC. The defense is absolutely awesome. Keep it up guys.

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