Villanova's Execution a Glaring Difference in an 87-73 Win Over Providence
Villanova dismantled a shorthanded Providence group on Friday night, taking an 87-73 win and holding firm in third place in the Big East with a 7-3 mark.
The Friars were without leading scorer Jason Edwards (foot) once again, and he was joined by Corey Floyd Jr., as well as three others who have missed a majority, if not all, of the season in Rich Barron, Jaylen Harrell, and Daquan Davis.
As a result, a thin Friar backcourt cracked against the defensive pressure of a resurgent Villanova club.
This was quite possibly Providence’s most one-sided loss in Big East play this season — a defeat that dropped them to 2-9 in conference play. They are now in sole possession of last place in the league.
The numbers that stand out:
Villanova shot 13-29 from beyond the 3-point arc (45%) and opened the game by making seven of their first 11 shots from distance. That’s just deflating — especially on the road. Nova’s 13 threes were the second most a Big East opponent has made versus PC this year (UConn hit 18 on Jan. 7). The Friars are giving up 10.3 threes a game in Big East play, and conference foes are hitting at 38.3%.
Villanova turned the ball over just five times (to PC’s 14) and held a 20-2 edge in fast break points. The Wildcats enjoyed a 9-1 advantage in steals as well. Big East opponents are doubling up the Friars in steals (8.4 to 4.1). Providence ranks in just the third percentile nationally in steals since the start of conference play.
Nova also enjoyed an 18-9 edge in assists, made their final seven shots of the game, and saw veteran reserve Devin Askew score 20 points on 5-8 shooting from three in 24 minutes off the bench.
There weren’t many bright spots for the Friars. Stefan Vaaks emerged from a shooting slump to make 5-11 from three in scoring 25 points. This was the fifth time in the past seven games that Vaaks has gone for 20+ points. He came up one point shy of his career high, which was set at Marquette on Jan. 19.
Jaylin Sellers added 16 points on 7-14 shooting, but the rest of the Friars were slowed down throughout, including freshman Jamier Jones who took just four field goals in 33 minutes.
The difference in execution (on both ends of the floor) was glaring in this one. Villanova continually shot in rhythm, while Providence often found itself going one-on-one while teammates hovered around the perimeter.
“We’re going to play aggressive. We’ve been a high tempo team,” Kim English said before stressing the need for his team to make wiser decisions with the ball.
Typically self-assured, there was then a hint of doubt in English’s postgame comments: “The way we play puts a lot of onus on the players to make good decisions. Right or wrong, that’s the way I think the game should be played and taught, and we’ve got to get better at making good paint decisions.”
Providence trailed 45-28 at halftime, cut the lead to six early in the second half, but never truly threatened Kevin Willard’s club.
Jason Edwards has been a divisive figure among Providence fans this season, with many pinning the lion’s share of the team’s defensive shortcomings on him in November and December, but the Friars could have used him over the past six games — a stretch in which PC is 1-5.
Maybe he doesn’t make the difference in an 88-82 home loss to Villanova or Tuesday’s 87-81 defeat at UConn, but it’s hard to argue against Providence benefitting from his ball handling and ability to get buckets late against Georgetown and Marquette.
The Friars haven’t seen a defensive uptick without the undersized guard on the floor, while he’s proven to be one of their better scorers in “clutch” situations (a two-possession game with under four minutes to go in regulation or in overtime).
Edwards is shooting 47% in clutch situations this year and has been far more efficient than Vaaks (31%) or Sellers (28%) from the field in those minutes:
This isn’t to say Edwards was going to salvage this season, but it likely feels a lot different had they taken out Marquette and Georgetown following a win over Creighton at home on Jan. 16. It’s not unreasonable to think Edwards would have been the difference in those two games.
Instead, the Friars enter February with a 9-13 mark overall and 2-9 Big East record. The schedule over the final month of the season is relatively favorable, but it’s hard to imagine this group doing anything close to what the 2012-13 Friars accomplished.
That group entered February with a 2-7 league mark, but closed 7-2 the rest of the way to finish 9-9 in the league. That was Ed Cooley’s second season at the helm, and PC benefitted from Kris Dunn rounding back into health, a junior year emergence from Bryce Cotton, a veteran point guard in Big East all-time assist leader Vincent Council, and a break out from Big East Most Improved Player Kadeem Batts.
Conversely, Providence went 1-9 from Feb. 1 on last year, heading into the month with a 5-5 league record before stumbling to a 6-14 finish. Last season’s group “let go of the rope” as English likes to say — and Friday night against Villanova looked like the first time this year’s Friars were close to doing the same.
“I felt like today we were close to letting go of the rope, but our guys didn’t,” English said. “They responded out of halftime, but just not enough. Before you can win you need to eliminate losing, and when you look at the stat sheet — 14 turnovers — when you think of the flimsy plays at the rim, you’re not going to win on the road.”
Hate to say it, KE might be our best option. He does need to grow as a coach for sure, but starting over could be along road for PC Hoops. This is a talented (albeit thin and small) group of kids that play hard most of the time. They just need to play with more joy, confidence, and killer instinct. If KE has the humility to learn and grow, I say we get behind him as painful as this year has been.
Kim English hopes that doing same every year will get different results. He has not changed his style of coaching in the last 3yrs. Same Gun and Run offense, tons of injuries, no game plans. Hope is not a strategy. KE has failed the Friar fans and Alumni. He has a 10 mill NIL budget and is last in BE. Time for him to go!