Providence Quotes | Creighton Quotes | Box Score
By SEAN BRENNAN
BIGEAST.com
Stop me if you’ve heard this before - if Providence wanted to play any meaningful basketball after it departed the BIG EAST Tournament, whenever that should be, they most definitely had some serious heavy lifting to do at the Garden.
Yes, just like St. John’s and perhaps Seton Hall, the Friars were yet another BIG EAST team that needed to juice up their resume in order to get that coveted invite to the Big Dance. They got off to a nice - but expected - start when they jettisoned Georgetown in their tournament opener Wednesday night. But that victory did little to move the needle for Providence as far as the selection committee was concerned. You want to impress the people in that windowless room somewhere in Kansas where hoop dreams are made and broken? Then the Friars would need a splash win. A victory over a heavyweight. They needed to take down a top 25 outfit.
They needed to knock off Creighton.
Creighton came into the game wanting - but not needing - to perform well over the four days of the tournament. After all, the Bluejays were still in search of their first ever BIG EAST Tournament crown after reaching the title game in two of the last three years and coming away empty. But as for their road to the NCAA Tournament? The Bluejays were firmly in on the three seed line and little would change that between now and Sunday, regardless of how things went for them in the BIG EAST Tournament.
So opportunity was a-knockin for the Friars at the Garden Thursday night. The only question was: would Providence take advantage of this golden opportunity to bolster their tourney resume?
They did, but it certainly wasn’t easy.
Devin Carter left little doubt as to why he was selected BIG EAST Player of the Year as he poured in 22 points and pulled own 11 boards and Providence got major contributions from a bevy of Friars as it gave the selection committee lots to ponder as the Friars knocked off the second-seeded Bluejays,78-73, last night before a sold-out crowd of 19,812 at the Garden.
The Friars are the first No. 7 seed to reach the semifinals since Xavier did it in 2017. It’s also the sixth time Providence has reached the semifinals since the BIG EAST reconfigured in 2013-14.
“We’re tough. You have to be,” Providence coach Kim English said. “We talked about if you’re not prepared in this league, focused, it’s like a cannonball going through your chest. If you’re not tough in this league, don’t even field a team. We’ve been tough. You have to be tough to play in this conference.”
The Friars actually made things tougher on themselves than they needed to. With Creighton experiencing a dreadful shooting night through the game’s first 25 minutes, Providence was able to build a double-digit lead after a three-pointer by Carter - who else? - gave the Friars a 46-36 lead with 15:27 to play. At that point in the game the Bluejays were having a hard time getting a bucket, whether from in close or from long range. They were shooting just 27% from the floor (10-of-37) and a paltry 16.7% (3-of-18) on three-balls.
A minute later the Friars managed to nudge their lead to a game-high 13 points (51-38) after a three-point play by Josh Oduro. And with the “Let’s Go Friars” chants serenading the Garden crowd, a victory seemed to be at hand for Providence.
But there was a reason Creighton is ranked eighth in the nation and seeded second in this tournament and the Bluejays shots finally started to drop. Over the next eight minutes the Jays looked more like themselves, knocking down threes and feeding 7-1 Ryan Kalkbrenner down low. Kalkbrenner scored nine of his 19 points in the spurt, and Trey Alexander (19 points) also caught fire, scoring 11 of his 19 in the same run and when the dust settled the Jays were holding a 68-67 lead with 3:59 to play.
But with their postseason picture fuzzy at best coming into the game, the Friars knew they needed to make a final stand and Carter took over - again. He scored six points as Providence outscored Creighton 11-5 down the stretch to seal the deal for the Friars. And it was fitting that chants of “MVP” echoed through the Garden as Carter went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 44 seconds to close things out. Carter’s 22-point, 11-rebound effort was his 13th double-double of the season.
“I think it was a must-win game,” Carter said. “We want to keep our tournament dreams alive and we also want to get a BIG EAST championship. So we knew coming into the game that we had another 40 minutes. And that was just the mindset. Just everybody have great energy and discipline and see where it takes us.”
It’s taking them at least as far as the conference semifinals.
It was the second time Providence, which also got 17 points from Josh Oduro and 15 from Jayden Pierre, defeated Creighton this season and they also have a victory over then-No. 6 Marquette as well. Just something else the committee can chew on this weekend when considering the Friars’ postseason fortunes.
Creighton coach Greg McDermott said he can take some solace in knowing he and his Bluejays will be playing in the tournament next week. Nothing to sweat there. But the goal of winning the program’s first BIG EAST Tournament title will have to wait another year.
“It’s a setback as we came here to win a championship,” McDermott said. “We didn’t have the pressure on our shoulders that maybe some of the other teams that are still playing have. We know we’re going to be playing next week and that’s a comforting feeling. But we’ve been to the championship game four times. We want to get there again and see if we can knock that door (in).”