News and Notes: A look behind PC's interior scoring at UConn, welcoming Butler, Georgetown's step forward, and the latest from The Friar Podcast

News and notes as we await Providence versus Butler tonight at the AMP…

1. Building out leads hasn’t been Providence’s problem in most of their Big East games, it’s been sustaining them. Sunday against Connecticut marked the third time in four conference games that the Friars led by double digits.

They led by as many as 14 (41-27) on Sunday, by 16 against St. John’s (38-22), and by 10 versus DePaul (15-5).

The Friars led for over half the game against DePaul (21:51 with the lead), St. John’s (29:24), and Connecticut (22:51). Notably, Providence also led for nearly 29 minutes (28:50) in their loss to URI.

2. It felt odd seeing UConn surrender so many points on the interior against the Friars. PC’s 21 second chance points tied their best mark on the season, while their 48 points in the paint set a new season high. The Friars had previously scored 38 in the paint against URI and DePaul and had 36 against St. John’s. The low mark of the year (18) came against St. Bonaventure and Marquette.

The 45 points Providence scored in the second half was their second most in a 20-minute period. They had 46 against BYU in the first half of their best win of the season.

3. Ed Cooley has Georgetown at 12-3 on the season (3-1 in league play) thanks to the terrific play of his newcomers and a stingy defense. Heading into Tuesday night’s game with Marquette, the Hoyas ranked 35th in Defensive Efficiency per Ken Pomeroy — a number that is even better in conference play. Their Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 93.0 heading into Tuesday was tops in the Big East.