Big East play is officially in full swing with all 10 teams in action on New Year’s Eve and Providence and Creighton were game 4 of 5 on the day. Providence got off to a hot start and was able to get whatever they wanted early in the first half. Creighton would catch back up and ultimately take the lead for 23 seconds in the first stanza.

One surprise in the first half was Creighton’s ability to score in the paint. Geoffrey Groselle came off the bench for the Bluejays to score 12 points in the first half on 5/5 from the field. Groselle would finish the game with 14 points to lead Creighton but was a non-factor in the second half.

Providence ultimately took a 32-28 lead into the locker room.

Kris Dunn had a few highlight reel dunks in the second half including this one:

But the story in this one was LaDontae Henton taking control of the game and leading the Friars with 35 points. This is Henton’s 8th game with 20 or more points on the season and the 2nd time he has gone for 35 or more points in a game. Henton scored a career high 38 points against Notre Dame earlier this season.

Providence shot 44% from the field and was able to hold Creighton to just 36% including 5/21 from beyond the arc which has been their biggest source of points this season.

The final score was 65-53 in favor of the Friars. The 53 points scored marks a season low for Creighton.

Providence improves to 11-3 (1-0) on the season and will travel to Milwaukee to take on Marquette on Saturday at 2pm.

Notes:

• Tyler Harris came off the bench for the 3rd straight game and contributed 7 rebounds but was only 2/9 from the field for 5 points in 25 minutes. He also had 2 turnovers.
• No other Friar scored more than 6 points with only 6 of the 9 players that got minutes actually scoring.
• 17 of Providence’s 24 made field goals were assisted.
• This is Providence’s first win in their Big East opener since 2008.