Providence couldn’t muster one final run, and so their season ended Wednesday night in Waco, TX in a 77-68 loss to Baylor in the NIT quarterfinals.

After Bryce Cotton connected on a three pointer to give the Friars a 58-56 lead with 9:48 left (his 98th of the season, breaking Billy Donovan’s record from 1987) Baylor locked them down.  Providence made just three field goals from that point, two of which were uncontested layups in the final minute with the game in hand.

The Friars were sound in their execution and resilient in coming back throughout the game’s first 30 minutes. They trailed 21-14 ten minutes into the game, but clawed their way back to a 38-38 tie at halftime after Cotton drilled a three pointer at the midway buzzer.

After Baylor ripped off a 7-0 run out of the locker room to take a 45-38 lead, PC scored 11 of the game’s next 15 points to once again tie things up at the 13:17 mark. Four Friars scored during that span, led by Vincent Council who hit a three and the game tying jumper in what might have been his best effort of the season – 21 points on 8-12 shooting, while grabbing seven rebounds in his last game as a Friar.

PC wasn’t deterred after Baylor scored the next four points, as Kadeem Batts (20 points, 9 rebounds) and Council made consecutive baskets to tie it up once again.

Still, Baylor continued to keep PC at bay, as point guard Pierre Jackson, who torched Providence throughout the night (20 points, 13 assists, 7 rebounds), made a three to push the lead back to three before Kris Dunn found Batts for a layup and Cotton hit his record-breaking three to give the Friars the aforementioned 58-56 lead.

Baylor had one more run left in them, and this time Providence couldn’t respond. Jackson scored nine points and dished out three assists over the final 9:45 – a period in which Baylor outscored PC 23-10 to close out the game.

Council, Cotton and Batts scored 64 of Providence’s 68 points on a night in which all three had it going offensively.

After a massive advantage at the free throw line against Robert Morris on Monday night, Providence shot just eight free throws on the night.  Baylor took 26. With the level of talent the Bears feature it would have taken a near perfect offensive game to have defeated them on the road while taking 20 less free throws.

So, Providence’s season ends on a night in which they showed just how good they can be when Batts, Council and Cotton all had it going together, but also on a night which highlighted deficiencies that hampered this group all season.

The Friars had no answer for Baylor’s length at power forward, as Cory Jefferson scored at will in the first half and finished with 26 points on 10-14 attempts.  Very often he simply rose up and got great looks from inside.

Baylor’s bench outscored PC’s 14-0, while the Friars shot just 4-18 from three point range, continuing their up and down performance from long range.

Over the next month Providence will face three questions that will greatly impact the 2013-14 season. Will Kadeem Batts return?  Will Ricardo Ledo come back?  Can they add depth for next season?  The Friars will look to add a guard to their rotation for next season, and they may need help in the front court if Batts decides to turn pro next month.

Those are questions for another day, however. In a season that in many ways was seen as a transitional one, the 2012-13 Providence Friars battled their way through adversity and gave their fan base more excitement in February and March than most had expected as they struggled to find their form in January.

Cotton finished the season a 1st Team All Big East performer, the league’s leading scorer and now PC’s single season record holder for three pointers made.

Batts emerged from a much-maligned and inconsistent forward to the Big East’s most improved player.

Council finished his career the all-time leader in assists in the Big East.

Dunn found his footing while finding his niche as a defensive stopper and LaDontae Henton cleaned the glass, while Josh Fortune was largely responsible for a win at Villanova and Lee Goldbrough and Ted Brancroft carved out roles that few saw for them in October.

It won’t make the flight home any easier for a bunch that threw their best punch at Baylor, but this team, despite some glaring flaws, began a critical step in the rebuilding process: they started to turn the corner.

Expectations will be as high heading into next season as they’ve been in almost a decade.

 

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:

In his final game ever in Providence we saw a different Vincent Council. The typically reserved Council motioned to the crowd for noise throughout PC’s 77-68 victory over Robert Morris in the second round of the NIT, and the raucous audience of over 7,000 responded to both his pleas and the effort of his teammates by roaring their way through the game’s final six minutes.

It was in those closing six minutes that Council rewrote the ending to his last game in the Dunkin Donuts Center.  Despite a subpar shooting night from their senior leader, Providence managed to withstand an outside onslaught from Robert Morris (11 made 3s) by dominating the glass (a 43-18 advantage) and by living at the free throw line (31-36 from the stripe, ten of those makes coming from Council), and when they took a seven point advantage with just over seven minutes to play it seemed as though the Friars were set to pull away.

It took Robert Morris just 56 seconds to run off an 8-0 run that suddenly gave them the lead with 6:20 on the clock.  Perhaps emotion had gotten to Council throughout the game’s first 34 minutes, as he’d gone 0-8 from the field to that point, while missing a pair of free throws during the 8-0 RMU spurt.

LaDontae Henton (21 points on 6-7 from the field and 8-8 at the free throw line) and Bryce Cotton (20 points, 3-9 from 3) kept Providence afloat offensively for the game’s first 35 minutes, but Council carried them home.

A pair of Council free throws made it 63-62 Friars with 5:21 left, and with 3:44 remaining and PC leading by just one, Council again got to the line and made the pair.

Then he delivered the back breaker.

Council’s first, and only, made field goal of the night came with just over three minutes to play – a seemingly impossible shot that he rolled over the rim off of a spin move in which he was fouled.  After converting the free throw, Council pushed the lead to five at 69-64 and had suddenly scored seven points in two and a half minutes, making all five free throws he attempted in the process.

Council then sealed it, blowing the roof off of the Dunk in the process, by finding Lee Goldsbrough (6 points, 9 rebounds) for a layup with just over a minute to play to push the advantage to eight.

In career in which he struggled through three losing seasons and fell just short of an NCAA Tournament bid as a senior, Council’s final game in Providence was vaguely reminiscent of Marshon Brooks’ finale – a game in which Brooks hit a game winner against Rutgers before thanking the crowd afterwards.

The experience was far different in another sense though.  This time it wasn’t just the senior thanking the Friar faithful, but the head coach with all of his players huddled at center court.  Ed Cooley enthusiastically closed the door on the Dunkin Donuts Center for this season by lauding the fans for their spirit on Monday, noting it was the type of crowd Providence will need going forward as they continue to build towards winning a national championship.

Sparse crowds can be the norm for high-major programs playing in the NIT, but that wasn’t the case in Providence tonight. It may not be the NCAA Tournament appearance many were hoping for after such a strong February, but the message from the fans was clear throughout a wild second half at the Dunk. Cooley and his players weren’t the only ones who stuck around to say thank you.

And the biggest applause was reserved for Council, the senior point guard that played a trademark game in so many ways: he was nearly impossible to handle off of the dribble, controlled the tempo throughout, handed out 10 assists and was the player of the game on a night in which he made just 1-9 from the field.  He wasn’t always perfect, but Council has been the best pure point guard in Providence since Shammgod.  And tonight he closed his career at the Dunk a winner.

With the win the Friars face a major challenge in the NIT’s 3rd round, as a trip to Waco, TX to play Baylor on Wednesday night awaits them.  It’s a flight that Cooley estimated at 10,000 miles after the game, but said his team would fly to the moon if it meant they can keep playing.

Their ears might still be ringing when board the plane tomorrow morning.

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Notable Quotes from Ed Cooley:

On Lee Goldsbrough: “The last time I checked Lee is taller than Kadeem (Batts). He is just not as thick, but he has a pretty good body from what a lot of girls tell us.  I thought he came in and gave us great minutes today. Really, really good minutes today from his physicality to making timely plays to catching the ball.”

On Council: “Vincent Council just willed us to win. You have those senior moments when you don’t want to lose. Vince willed us to that win with his speed. He can get from rim to rim as quick as anybody. I finally feel like I have a healthy Vincent Council where his hamstring isn’t as sore.”

On the crowd: “I thought about taking that microphone all day. I wanted to thank our crowd. We have had some really good crowds. I’d like to see every seat filled, but part of building your program is building your fan base back up.

I think this is a really tough place to play when the energy is like that. I think the last three and a half minutes of this game – that was actually fun. That was a lot of fun to hear the building shake like that. The players all feed off of that. And you know what? A team will crumble under those circumstances, and I thought that happened today.”

On Kris Dunn’s potential: “I think Kris Dunn, at the end of the day, will become an elite level defender. He has a lot of Andre Iguodala in him. Length. Toughness. I think he will become the defensive player of the year in the Big East in years to come. And he is just a baby, learning how to play. He is something to watch defensively.”

On his team’s growth: “We are not just relying on one or two guys. Everybody that stepped on the floor gave us some really good energy today. That is the fun part of building a team. That is the great part about building chemistry and guys believing in one another. Guys start to feel like they are part of it all the time, not just some of the time. Credit our players. These kids have come a long way, and I mean a long way. Credit to them for staying the course and believing in what we are teaching.

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From Andy Toole on the free throw differential: “Talk about the lopsided free throws. It is hard to beat a team when they make 20 more free throws than you do. I am not going to lie to you, we foul a lot, but we also go to the basket as well. That is a pretty lopsided advantage, but I will go back and review the film. A lot of times I go back and review film and the refs are right, so I’ll keep my comments to myself.”