With a week layoff for both teams for semester final exams the game got off to a bit of a slow start offensively but eventually Providence raced out to a 14 point lead at the 7:44 mark of the first half. The Minutemen would fight back and get the lead down to 4 points at the 5:16 mark but then Providence kicked it back in gear and pulled away again, this time for good, taking a 13 point lead into the locker room at halftime. Freshman Ben Bentil got his first career start in favor of redshirt junior Tyler Harris. He finished with 5 point and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes of action.
It will be interesting to hear from Ed Cooley after the game on what his rationale was for making the move and whether it will be something that continues moving forward. Ed Cooley did say after the Big East Championship game that going into the 2013-14 season the plan prior to the suspensions and injuries was to have Harris be the 6th man coming off the bench to provide scoring. Perhaps that’s something he and his staff are going back to now that they have the bodies to have a bench.
Harris had a good game. He was patient with the ball and didn’t try to do too much. He finished with 12 points on 5/12 shooting and only 1 turnover in 16 minutes of action.
LaDontae Henton had a big scoring day and led all scorers with 27 points on 10/19 from the field. Henton added 6 boards. Kris Dunn had another impressive stat line against the Minutemen with 16 points, 11 assists and 5 rebounds.
"That's your point guard right there" #pcbb #krisdunn https://t.co/5KjDuZR777
— The Morning Hangover (@TheMorningHang) December 20, 2014
Carson Desrosiers had a very strong afternoon and was a big factor early in the game getting UMass’ leading scorer and rebounder Cady Lalanne into foul trouble and never letting Lalanne get into the game. Desrosiers finished with 10 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. Jalen Lindsey went 2/3 from downtown and finished with 8 points including finishing a thunderous alley-oop from Kris Dunn.
Speaking of alley-oops, the Kyron Cartwright-Paschal Chukwu connection was alive and well in this one:
"Paschal, Oh My," is the spot-on response to this alley-oop from Cartwright. I need more Chukwu #pcbb https://t.co/ZnLRgnMofT
— The Morning Hangover (@TheMorningHang) December 20, 2014
The final score of 20 isn’t even really indicative of how in control Providence was in this game. The Friars largest lead was 30 points and CBS Sports Network’s color analyst had it correct when he described Providence dominating the game methodically. Providence was never threatened in the second half and kept their foot on UMass’ throat. Cady Lalanne would finish with only 4 points and 4 rebounds in 27 minutes. UMass was led by Maxie Esho who scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half when the deficit was too much to overcome.
Providence managed to keep UMass from getting out in transition and forced them to run a half court offense while switching their defense effectively between zone and man to man.
The Friars will now prepare for the Miami Hurricanes on Monday night at the Barclays Center.
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