Providence outmuscles Creighton in a win they badly needed
A pair of freshmen continues to perform, while Oswin Erhunmwunse came alive in the second half.
Providence dominated on the interior, saw a pair of freshmen continue to emerge, went on a game-deciding run in the second half, and survived a stalled offense late to take a much-needed 93-88 victory over Creighton on Friday night.
Let’s start with the interior, where the Friars held a 50-32 edge in points in the paint and out-rebounded the Jays (46-37), behind a 14-point, 13-rebound effort from Oswin Erhunmwunse.
The sophomore center hasn’t always lived up to his preseason All Big East status this season, but he came off the bench on Friday to provide a tremendous lift against a Creighton interior that looks vastly different without Ryan Kalkbrenner.
“I really, really challenged him in shootaround today,” Friar head coach Kim English said of Erhunmwunse. “He responded as good as I’ve seen in his young career.”
After Providence was beaten up on the offensive glass early, it was Erhunmwunse who crashed the boards hard — to the tune of 9 offensive rebounds. The Friars got downhill with consistency against the Jays and when they missed, Oswin cleaned up in the second half.
The switch to starting Duncan Powell paid off on two fronts, as Powell knocked down three 3-pointers over the game’s first ten minutes after getting the start at center. Powell’s early burst kept Providence connected in the early going.
The Friars’ plus-minus numbers without Erhunmwunse over the past two seasons have been subpar, but they were a +7 with Powell on the court last night.
The other effective lever English pulled on Friday was inserting Nilavan Daniels into the lineup with PC trailing, 40-30, in the first half.
Creighton was controlling this one early, mainly because they were quicker to the ball (the Jays had nine offensive boards in the first half).
On Daniels’ first defensive possession of the game, he came away with a steal, and at the end of his two-and-a-half minute stint in the first half, Creighton did not score — and PC was back to within 40-36.
In the second, Daniels came up with an offensive rebound and dished it off to Stefan Vaaks to push PC ahead by 10.
English has been effusive in his praise of Daniels, dating back to when the St. Louis native joined the program last year.
Assistant coach Brian Tibaldi apparently liked Daniels enough to bring him up to one of his mentors — legendary Michigan State coach Tom Izzo.
“He does the right thing every single day in practice,” English said of Daniels. And what was Izzo’s advice on Daniels? “If you trust him, play him.”
Defensively, Providence had its best game since knocking off St. John’s on Jan. 3. The Jays shot 40% from the field and 5-18 beyond the arc in the second half.
Providence’s biggest issue was keeping Creighton off the free throw line. Greg McDermott’s club stayed in this one behind a 24-29 night at the stripe against a PC team that is fouling at the highest clip in the Big East in conference games.
“To see that number at 40 (%) is a step in the right direction for us,” English said of Creighton’s field goal percentage.
As pointed out in our preview of this one, Creighton has given up a few back-breaking runs this season, resulting in their only two losses in league play prior to Friday.
St. John’s ripped off a 25-4 spurt, while Seton Hall enjoyed a 16-2 run late.
Providence had a 14-0 run of their own in the second half in what was a tie game. The offensive catalysts were, once again, a pair of freshmen.
Jamier Jones continues to apply constant pressure on Friar opponents, scoring 18 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and finishing a team-high +15. Jones simply assaults the rim and the paint all game, and Creighton had no answer for him.
With the game in the balance as Providence struggled to get good shots against Creighton’s zone, Jones finished an and-1 with just under a minute to play in a four-point game — it proved to be the biggest bucket of the night.
Meanwhile, Stefan Vaaks scored a career-high 24 points to go along with seven assists. Vaaks was just 2-10 beyond the arc, but noted that he feels as though he is finally getting fully healthy after last summer’s knee injury — and as a result he’s getting into the paint and scoring inside with more consistency.
Providence scored 93 points, despite Jason Edwards missing his second straight game with a foot injury and Jaylin Sellers battling foul trouble and an off shooting night (4 points, 0-7 shooting, 5 fouls in 18 minutes).
Sellers did, however, provide the defensive highlight of the game with a massive second-half block.
Ryan Mela (14 points, 4-4 from the field, 5-6 at the free throw line) made critical free throws when Providence’s offense stalled against CU’s zone over the closing minutes, while Powell was the fifth Friar to score in double figures.
“Coaches have emphasized a lot that we have a really deep team, so I don’t think it was a problem,” Vaaks said of playing without Edwards and surviving a down shooting night from Sellers. “Next guy up.”
“We built this team with great depth, knowing some guys were going to miss a couple of games, and our game goals don’t change,” English said.
The head coach was pleased with his team’s step forward in challenging Creighton’s shooters in the second half. He noted how Providence is in the bottom 1st percentile in the country in stopping spot-up shooters and how they are focused on correcting that number.
Providence got a win it badly needed — stopping the bleeding that started with UConn’s comeback from 11 down late to kick off a three-game slump. PC twice trailed by double figures in the first half against Creighton, but took control in the second against a team that entered 5-2 in Big East play.
The Friars will look for their second consecutive win on Monday night when they travel to Marquette.
Good all around team win. Jamier Jones is freshman of the year.