Friar Basketball caught up with both Ed Cooley and Lee Goldsbrough following the win over Robert Morris in the second round of the NIT, check out their reactions:

Lee Goldsbrough:

Ed Cooley:

Below is the post game press conference following the Providence 61-44 loss to Cincinnati in the second round of the 2013 Big East Tournament.

Video Highlights:

• Future of the Providence College program
• Post season opportunities for PC
•  Thoughts following the loss 

Just a few short weeks ago Friartown was feasting on a stretch that left the Friars victorious in seven of their last eight games with the NCAA Tournament suddenly within reach. All of that came to a halting stop today as PC fell to Cincinnati 61-44 in the second round of the Big East Tournament.

Looking to bounce back after a disappointing overtime loss to UConn this past Saturday, Ed Cooley’s bunch came out sluggish against a Cincinnati team hungry to strengthen their post season resumé. The Bearcats began the game playing man to man and it was their pressure that both Ed Cooley and Mick Cronin attributed to the horrendous 28% shooting performance by PC. Cooley went so far as to call it “gross” in the post game press conference.

Cincinnati took control of this game and did so early. It took PC 13:56 to finally reach the 10 point mark and at that point, the Bearcats had themselves a 26-11 lead. “Credit Cincinnati’s energy that they came out with, it took us out of some of the things we wanted to do,” said Cooley post game. During that span, Cincinnati stretched the lead to a game high 18 points at the 6:23 mark. Behind a LaDontae Henton layup, Kris Dunn tip-in and two free throws by Kadeem Batts, PC was able to cut the margin to 8 heading into the half.

PC ended the first half shooting 28.1% from the floor which was a result of Batts’ 1-7 shooting, Bryce Cotton’s 3-7 performance and Vincent Council’s 1-6 effort. At times it appeared that the Friars couldn’t toss a grape in the Atlantic Ocean if they tried. The frustration on Ed Cooley’s face was very evident but the strong finish to the half left PC within 8. It was truly a miracle that the deficit was at just 8 points.

Beginning the second half, Cincinnati continued to apply the pressure that was seen in the first half as they pressed PC nearly the entire game. Surprisingly, just 7 turnovers were forced at the hands of the Bearcats. Cronin went on to say “We were just trying to throw body blows and wear them down. We were trying to take their legs, but we are just a better team when we play that way.” Cronin also referenced the loss PC suffered to DePaul on January 5th when the Blue Demons pressed PC nearly the whole game on way to their 83-73 victory.

In the second half, PC was able to cut the lead to 4 following a layup by Bryce Cotton with just over 17 minutes left in the game. Cincinnati was able to extend the lead to 10 shortly there after and PC was never able to get over the hump. Cotton continued to struggle in the second half despite getting a variety of open looks and finished 5 for 17 from the floor including and 0-7 showing from deep. Cooley said after the game, “We had the game right where we wanted it. They scored 60 points. I mean, come on. You’re not going to win many games scoring 60 points”. As valid as that statement is, overcoming the awful start to this contest as well as Cotton’s poor shooting outing, was too much to ask for of this team.

Cincinnati outrebounded the Friars 46 to 40 behind Jaquon Parker’s team leading 10. In addition, Titus Rubles and Sean Kilpatrick both scored in double-figures for the Bearcats. Kadeem Batts led Providence with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Cotton ended the game with 12 points.

Looking ahead, Ed Cooley left the Big East Tournament with strong words for Friar Fans:

“If we don’t play in the NIT, our season is gone. I didn’t come to Providence College to play in another basketball tournament. If the standard is the NCAA, that’s the standard. I think those other tournaments do a great job. I played in one at Fairfield. That’s not where our program is. That’s not downplaying anybody. That’s just my personal opinion. If somebody doesn’t agree with it, that’s just your problem.”

In tonight’s game, Kadeem Batts led the Friars with 27 points and 12 rebounds. FriarBasketball.com caught up with him after the game to discuss Senior Night as well his strong performance down low.

After losing five straight and starting the Big East schedule 0-3, Providence College earned a much needed win at Seton Hall today, cruising to a 67-55 victory. Playing in Newark’s, Prudential Center, Ed Cooley’s squad played nearly the entire game with a double digit lead as PC had four players finish in double figures. Forcing 15 Pirate turnovers in the first half, 17 total for the game, Bryce Cotton led the way with 23 points and 9 rebounds (8-13 FG, 3-6 3FG).

The story of the game had to be the 15 first half turnovers that came at the hands of Seton Hall. PC’s ability to score off those turnovers gave them a comfortable 38-22 lead at the half. At one point in time, the Friars didn’t allow Seton Hall to score for over six minutes while opening up a 22 to 5 run. In addition to Cotton’s 23, LaDontae Henton chipped in with 12 points and 13 rebounds to give him his sixth double double of the season. Vincent Council and Kadeem Batts each scored 11 points as well. 

Entering the game, Seton Hall led the Big East Conference with just over eight threes made per game and in this contest, PC held them to just four. Seton Hall’s leading scorer, Fuquan Edwin, contributed 17 points and 8 rebounds but other than his 17, no other Pirate scored more than 11 points.

Checking in on Kris Dunn after the article concerning his shoulder injury, he saw 16 minutes on the floor after playing just 9 against Syracuse last Wednesday. With his 16 minutes, he scored 6 points and grabbed 3 rebounds while turning the ball over twice.

Looking ahead, PC will face Georgetown on Wednesday night at 7 PM.

Email Craig at craig.belhumeur@friarbasketball.com

1972, the last time a Providence College team took on Brown University at a venue other than the Dunkin Donuts Center. Flash forward 40 years and second year head coach, Ed Cooley, found himself traveling across Providence to take on a 3-6 Brown squad.

Perhaps even greater news outside of PC playing at Brown for the first time in years, was the return of star point guard, Vincent Council. What fans didn’t expect, was to see Bryce Cotton sidelined with, what Ed Cooley called, “A swollen knee”, in his post game press conference. Without their leading scorer (Cotton, 22 PPG), PC struggled mightily on both ends of the floor, aside from LaDontae Henton’s career high 37 points. 

At the end of the first half, PC took a 34-31 lead into the locker room and it seemed as though, it would only be a matter of time until Cooley’s team would pull away from the lowly Ivy League school. The contrary occurred.

After getting 24 straight points out of Henton and a made layup by Kadeem Batts, the Friars had themselves a 67-60 lead with 1:58 left in the game. Following a missed three pointer by Henton, Sean McGonagill, for Brown, nailed a three of his own, to cut the PC lead to just 4 with 44.9 second left to play. Prior to inbounding the ball after the made three, Ed Cooley took a timeout. Unable to get the ball in, the Friars were forced to take a second timeout. With Council holding the ball, he was left helpless finding a receiver and tossed a pass in the direction of Kris Dunn, only to have it stolen away by Matt Sullivan.

This extremely frustrating play, incapable of inbounding the basketball after two timeouts, was the story of the game. With Brown gaining possession after PC’s seventh turnover of the game, Tucker Halpern (28 points, 10-17 FG, 8-15 3FG) nailed a three to trim the deficit to 1 with 32 seconds left. In the subsequent possession Brown sent Vincent Council to the line where he converted on just 1 of 2, to up the lead to 68-66.

With 7.3 seconds on the clock, McGonagill passed the ball to Halpern in the corner where he sunk the eventual game winning shot, giving the Bears a 69-68 lead. The contest came to an end with a missed three point attempt by Council on the opposite end giving Brown University their first victory over Providence since 2006.

Halpern was phenomenal tonight with his 8 made threes. Brown head coach Mike Martin was extremely pleased with his 6’8 senior forward saying, “The poise Tucker had once he caught the ball, to let the guy fly by and then knock the shot down”, speaking to the game winning three.

This loss certainly overshadowed LaDontae Henton’s career night (37 points 13-20 FG 6-10 3FG) and Ed Cooley had nothing positive to add after the game. “LaDontae couldn’t guard an ant tonight.” Besides Henton’s 37 the second leading scorer for the Friars was Batts with 10 points.

PC struggled all night against Brown’s three point attack. The Bears knocked down 13 trifectas on the night, including 2 huge ones by Halpern in the final 31 seconds of the game. Cooley went on to say, “We were terrible defensively, we are the worst defensive team I’ve coached. It’s just been our story, just continue to have a player, lose a player, have a player, lose a player.. I have a very fragile group, a very soft group, we better grow up real quick.”

PC, now 8-4 on the season, has a little less than a week off before they take on Rick Pitino and #4 Louisville.

Will Bryce Cotton play? A question that nearly everyone in tune with this matchup was asking prior to tipoff. Luckily enough for PC, Cotton was able to suit up for the Friars and gave Ed Cooley 39 minutes of play while contributing 11 points and 7 assists. In addition to his gutsy performance, Kadeem Batts kept his hot streak alive, scoring 23 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. Tonight’s most valuable player, however, was sophomore forward, LaDontae Henton as he finished the night with 21 points and a game high 17 rebounds.

“I thought Kadeem and LaDontae were the best two players on the floor”, said Ed Cooley. “Between their size and girth and athleticism, I really thought that was the key to the game. I really appreciate these two horses.”

On top of Batts and Henton’s impressive performances, freshman guard, Josh Fortune contributed 17 points, 10 of which came from his 11 attempts from the free throw line. As a team PC shot 24 of 26 from the stripe. I caught up with Ed Cooley after the game and for more insight here is the video:

*Video correction – LaDontae Henton finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds not 17 and 17.

For URI, tonight’s matchup was head coach Dan Hurley’s first taste of the historic PC/URI rivalry. Rams’ freshman forward Jordan Hare, who came into the game averaging just 4 points per game, gave Hurley a career high 14 points. Ed Cooley remarked in the post game press conference, “Jordan Hare is going to be a special player, he has a ton of ability, he has a chance to be really really special.” Other players scoring in double figures for Rhode Island were, Mike Powell and Nikola Malesevic, each with 12 points and Xavier Munford with 10.

Entering the game tonight, PC’s defense has held every opponent to under 40% shooting from the field with the exception of UMass, and that toughness continued in this one. URI was held to 38.5% shooting, connecting on just 3 of 18 attempts from three point range. PC also forced a lot of URI turnovers which had Hurley shaking his head in his post game press conference, “We turned the ball over 20 times against a team that doesn’t use pressure and that just can’t happen.” Echoing coach Cooley on LaDontae Henton’s play, Hurley added, “the difference for them was Henton. He was just a man out there. I haven’t seen many performances where he just takes over and physically dominates a game with 21 and 17. That was some great stuff by him.”

PC’s next game doesn’t come until the 18th of December, when Colgate University will visit the Dunk’. That will give Bryce Cotton just under two weeks to get back to full strength and PC fans are hopeful that both Kris Dunn and Vincent Council will be able to rejoin the team then as well. It is also expected that Arizona transfer, Sidiki Johnson, will make his Providence debut on the 18th.

To add to the excitement leading up to the matchup with Colgate, Providence assistant coach, Brian Blaney, mentioned to John Rooke and Joe Hasset, that PC will have Sidiki Johnson and if others are cleared, by doctors or the NCAA, they would play too. Without any name dropping, this will certainly spark the next big question in Friartown – the possibility for a Ricky Ledo sighting.

Email Craig Belhumeur – craig.belhumeur@friarbasketball.com