Providence Falls at Georgetown, as Kim English Deflects Questions about his Status
"There’s been no noise around our program the last couple of days. We’ve been in the gym. We’ve been working."
Kim English wasn’t going to budge following Saturday night’s 80-79 loss to Georgetown.
The narrow defeat to Ed Cooley and the Hoyas dropped Providence to the eighth seed in next week’s Big East Tournament. They’ll take on Butler Wednesday afternoon, but any on-court storyline has been dwarfed by multiple reports that English has been told his tenure as PC’s head man is over at season’s end.
English did his best to deflect any talk of his status.
First, the local Washington, D.C. press asked how “the last few days have been for you dealing with everything.”
“Yeah, we’ve had a couple of really good days of prep, I thought. The Marquette game was really, really tough. We’re trying to figure out why the game went like that. Sometimes you’ve got to chalk it up to you having one or two just stinkers a year — where you just never had it, you don’t look like yourself,” English said.
It was an answer that set the tone for his press conference. He wasn’t going to address any reports.
When Kevin McNamara asked about the noise around the program, English said, “There’s been no noise around our program the last couple of days. We’ve been in the gym. We’ve been working.”
“We talk about every single thing — everything that’s going on in our program.”
McNamara followed up by asking if he’d been told anything about his long-term status.
“I am coaching this team. I’m coaching this team on Wednesday at MSG.”
The Friars had a chance to earn the sixth seed in this week’s Big East Tournament, but simply couldn’t overcome the 22 turnovers they committed.
Jaylin Sellers was outstanding again with 21 points, five rebounds, three assists, and five makes from beyond the arc, while Ryan Mela was also terrific (17 points on 6-10 shooting and 3-5 from three).
Sellers’ 21 points earned him the Big East scoring title. He is the ninth Friar to do so, and first since Devin Carter took home Conference Player of the Year honors in English’s first season at the helm.
For as outstanding as Sellers has been, Saturday served as a reminder of the shortcomings of this roster. Jason Edwards didn’t play in the second half after an ugly opening 20 minutes, while Providence got six combined points from its bigs.
Freshman Jamier Jones added 19 points and eight rebounds, capping a strong rookie campaign. He had a chance to tie the game late after being fouled on a put-back attempt, but split a pair of free throws with two seconds left.
His second shot went out off the Hoyas, but Providence’s lob attempt to Oswin Ernhunmwunse with a second remaining wasn’t close to converting, and Georgetown walked away with the win.
“They’ve done more than we’d hoped when we put the team together,” English said of Jones and fellow frosh Stefan Vaaks. “When you end up relying on freshmen there are a lot of ups and downs. I’ve been a part of it before — two other times as an assistant coach. They kind of blossom as juniors and seniors. We’ve had a lot of success with our young guys and our freshmen… as they grow they improve.”
Meanwhile, Georgetown center Vince Iwuchukwu scored a career-high 25 points to go along with 10 rebounds to lead the Hoyas.
The last-place Hoyas shot 52% from the field, scored 29 points off turnovers, and completed a season sweep of Providence.
“Our defense is not great already, but when you turn the ball over it makes it impossible,” English said.
It was a game that encapsulated the on-court product in so many ways. Providence wasn’t sharp to start, looked terrific offensively and surged early in the second half (PC was 6-8 from the floor and 4-5 from three out of the break), but ultimately, porous defense and unforced errors on offense did them in. There were just too many illegal screens, inexplicable passes, and bad shots to expect to beat anyone on the road. And when Providence needed to execute offensively late, they couldn’t finish.
“There’s been no news in our program,” English said in response to how his group has responded to reports of his job status. “We talked about everything every day. The only news was coming off a three-game win streak and losing to Marquette the way we did.”
“Hopefully, our guys are listening to people that can help them in basketball. I know I wouldn’t listen to nobody that couldn’t help me in basketball, or coaching, or life.”
A question about his steadfastness was met with a more philosophical approach, “We’re playing basketball. I get to coach a basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. Tehran, Iran is pressure right now. Living in Haiti or Gaza, that’s pressure right now. We’re playing and coaching basketball.”
“No one’s going to get hit or hurt. We’re playing basketball, so you keep things in perspective.”
Once again another tough defeat. I’ve said from the start our problem this year was not having a real point guard to control the game. Turnovers have killed us. Jaylin Sellers outstanding game again and season. Jason Edwards can be very good but also can be very bad. Yesterday he was just plain bad. Glad Coach Kim sat his ass on the bench. Good luck guys in the Conference tournament. I’m still in your corner Coach Kim
There has been much said about PC moving on from Kim English. I think that would be a big mistake. Consider the young recruits he has attracted, and the established players that came to the program. My theory is that those player, at least one or two of whom could play at the next level came to PC because the coach had played at the next level. With the offensive talent available the coaching staff chose to play a next level offensive game, and many nights were quite good at that plan. Coach English isn't the guy throwing dumb passes, or making any of the other bad plays.
I support the develop talent approach. It requires some patience and some intestinal fortitude to get past the early development stage. The young players Erhunmwunse, Mela, Jones, and Vaaks are the foundation of a good basketball team. English recruited them, PC should let him coach them for at least one more year.
P.S. Marquette bought into the approach with Smart, and Georgetown isn't firing Ed Cooley. PC should not replace Kim English.