Picking up the pieces from Providence's 0-3 stint at Atlantis

How do we make sense of Providence’s 0-3 showing at the Battle 4 Atlantis this week?

Offensively, turnovers were the killer in the Friars’ 79-77 opening round loss to Oklahoma. The Sooners entered that game turning opponents over on 25% of their possessions and ranked third in the country in steals per game (11.8). Porter Moser’s group finished with 12 steals on Wednesday, and turned PC point guard Jayden Pierre (Providence’s best player through eight games) over six times.

It wasn’t just that PC had 16 turnovers in the opener that killed them, but it was the flurries in which they came. Providence turned it over on their first three possessions of the game and soon found themselves down, 8-0. PC had seven turnovers in the game’s first eight minutes, then cleaned that aspect up significantly.

Kim English’s group turned the ball over just once in the final 12+ minutes of the first half, and didn’t have one in the first six minutes of the second. The Friars led 44-41 with 14 minutes to play — an 11-point swing once they started taking care of the ball.

But Providence turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions with around 12 minutes left, leading to an 8-0 OU run.

Oklahoma never trailed again.

OU held advantages of 23-14 in points off turnovers and 30-22 in points in the paint to overcome Friar edges from three (12-33 vs. 7-19) and on the offensive glass (14-5).

A Friar defense that rated well through five games saw Oklahoma shoot 51% from the field.

While Pierre’s potential game-winner catching back rim stung, the bracket had still broken favorably. The Friars were set to face Davidson in the second round, and would then get their crack at either one of a pair of highly regarded clubs in Gonzaga and Indiana on day three.

They needed the one against Davidson.

A 1-1 mark before playing either Gonzaga or Indiana felt like a no-lose situation heading into Friday’s games, but Davidson had other ideas. They didn’t turn PC over as Oklahoma had (six PC turnovers on the night) but they shut down the Friar offense in every way in the first half — 18 points, 5-28 shooting, and an astounding 1-17 inside the 3-point arc (for a team that was shooting 59% from two coming in).

The Friars trailed by 20 at the break, and it mattered little that they outscored Davidson, 40-31, in the second half.

The Friars didn’t have a matchup for Reed Bailey. The Massachusetts native and Brewster Academy grad finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists, while Bobby Durkin (20 points on 7-12 from the field, 4-8 from three), and Connor Kochera (22 points on 7-10 from the field, 8-11 at the free throw line) scored efficiently all night.

PC had advantages in 3-point makes, turnovers, rebounds, and bench points, but were outscored in the paint once again, 32-20. They shot just 10-37 from inside the arc.

This was domination from the start, with Davidson leading for a total of 39 minutes and 32 seconds of the 40-minute affair.

Friday against Indiana was just a tough spot for English’s group. They took to the floor 12 hours after the loss to Davidson, playing one of the favorites in the Big 10.

Providence had no match for 6’9, 230 pound forward Malik Reneau (21 points, 8-9 shooting in 21 minutes), guard Trey Galloway (18 points, 7-12 shooting, 3-4 from three), or star Mackenzie Mgbako who looked every bit like a top-ten player in his high school class with 25 points on a flurry of mid-range jumpers and tough makes from beyond the arc.

Indiana shot 53% from the field and finished with a 38-22 advantage in the paint.

Pierre (22 points, 5-10 from three) and Jabri Abdur-Rahim (14 points, three made threes) provided lifts, but there was too much to overcome in this one — playing uphill, the size of the Hoosiers, the Friars’ search for an identity, and the wall they hit after playing 12 hours earlier.

So where does this leave Providence as the calendar turns to December? They welcome a very good BYU team on Tuesday, head to a tough environment at Rhode Island Saturday, and the following week they kick off Big East play at what could be a better-than-expected DePaul club followed by a neutral site game at Mohegan Sun versus St. Bonaventure.

Providence has to figure it out quickly.

Here are a few of the things they need to figure out soon.