Who's up and down:
Up:
Sharaud Curry: The suddenly maligned point guard provided the steady hand with 26 points and 5 assists on a great shooting night (3-3 from 3, 9-10 FT). More importantly, he only turned the ball over twice as the Friars turned it over twice as a team. The 21-4 advantage in points off of turnovers was the difference in the game. Made winning plays tonight, including tipping an offensive rebound to Greedy Peterson late. What is it about the Big East that brings him to life?
Keno Davis: In what might have been his best coaching performance of the season Keno twice made great use of timeouts when the Friars play got ragged at key moments and had his team attacking the basket out of the half opening with high screen and rolls leading to layups, two drives by Marshon Brooks, and free throws by Vincent Council on the Friars' first five possessions. The Friars cut down on the silly 3s in the second half and it paid off.
Brian McKenzie's timing: With 1:30 left in the first half McKenzie hit a 3 that lead to an 8-0 PC run that turned a nine point St. John's lead into a one point game at the half. Two more clutch 3s came as PC trailed by eight with under 15 minutes to play. He misses more often than he hits, but when BMac is hitting it is a huge boon to this offense.
Peterson around the basket: Didn't always finish when he got the ball around the basket in the second half, but that's where he belongs. With surprising strength, Greedy had two key and-1s as Providence pulled away. 4-9 in the second half after a perimeter filled 1-6 first.
Bilal Dixon: Seven 2nd half rebounds with 5 blocks and 3 steals for the game. His back to the basket game has a ways to go, but a good energy big as a freshman and stepped up defensively in the second half.
Vincent Council's passing: Still waiting for the breakout game, but he flashed a few no look passes. An impactful 1-5 performance.
Down:
Greedy's jumper: Were the oohs and ahs after his first two 3s at the Dunk the worst thing to happen to him? Shot selection is hurting my eyes.
Dixon's back to the basket game: It gets ugly at times. Stick to put backs and face up jumpers for now, Bilal.
Russ Permenter's enthusiasm: Who slipped Russ a sedative?
Bench production: 8 points against Notre Dame and 5 tonight. Still waiting for Johnnie Lacy to flash some play making skills.
Looking Ahead:
This was a nice swing win for a Providence team searching for an identity. It's always nice to get a win on the road, but a loss tonight and a tough one ahead against Louisville at home Wednesday and things would have started to look grim in Friartown. Losing conference games can quickly become a habit and the sooner a young team can get off of the snide the better.
The 2004-05 Friars opened 0-3 in Big East play after blowing a double digit second half lead at Boston College (a 12-0 team featuring three current NBA players), losing a heart-breaker in overtime to a great Villanova team (junior year Foye team), and got nipped by four at home to #7 Syracuse.
All three losses were to very good teams, but that was no consolation to a PC team looking for an identity. The losing trend had started and they lost their fourth Big East game to Rutgers (ironically, PC's fourth opponent this season). The Big East slide didn't stop until Providence's 10th Big East game. The team that played three contenders tight early in the conference schedule had lost all confidence along the way and started 0-9 in the conference in Ryan Gomes' senior year.
Getting that first win will leave the Friars feeling like they're in a good spot. Even if they lose to Louisville they have Rutgers, DePaul, Marquette, and South Florida following, so they should hover around .500 in the conference into late January.
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