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Video: Follow the Friars in the NCAA Tournament – Thursday 3/20/14 #pcbb
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Cooley, Cotton, Batts, Henton, Harris, Fortune, Desrosiers Press Conference and Quotes from 3/20/14 #pcbb
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined now by Providence College student athletes, Bryce Cotton, Kadeem Batts, and LaDontae Henton:
Q. Hi, Bryce. How much is your ability to stay on the court for so long and be so productive have to do with your mental makeup and just putting your mind that I’m going to do it and never backing down from getting tired or losing your stamina?
BRYCE COTTON: Basically, our team has had to endure this for three straight years, and we’ve always had a short roster. So it’s something that our team hasn’t had to grow accustomed to.
We’re used to it, so we do a good job training our bodies throughout the preseason, and we hope for the best when the real season comes.
Q. Can you talk a little, LaDontae, about the experience of being at the NCAAs? I know it’s a realization of a dream for all of you guys to be here, and you’ve only been here a little over 24 hours, but does this feel different yet?
LaDONTAE HENTON: It has a great feel to it, bonding with my brothers and having a good time with them. Things like this, going into an interview with these guys. It’s just a great experience. We believe we’ll be able to do this during the season. But now that it came true, I’m just happy to be here.
Q. For any of you or all of you, going back to the first half practice, what are the odds that you would be sitting here at this moment and in this tournament?
LaDONTAE HENTON: Like I said before, me and the guys we talk about it all the time during the summer and during the training season, preseason, we knew we’d be able to be here if we just put our mind to it, and we bonded as a team, and we did that. We had great leaders in Bryce Cotton and Kadeem Batts, and they led us to this point.
BRYCE COTTON: Just feeding off of what LaDontae said, we’ve had the same vision from day one, and even though we’ve had a lot of ups and downs and faced a lot of adversity, our team is full of fighters and we never give up. We always believe at the end of the day that we’d get to the top of that mountain.
KADEEM BATTS: Just to add to what they’ve said. We’ve stuck together as a group and preached family all season, and we’ve been a family.
Q. Guys, was there a moment in the season that you thought, wow, we could really do this? Was there a seminal moment in there where you started thinking what you were going through today was completely possible? Kadeem, start with you, if you want?
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Cox Sports: Friar Carson Desrosiers’ scare factor #pcbb
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Game Notes & Preview: PC vs. St. John’s 2/4/14 #pcbb
Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI
When: 7:00pm
How: Fox Sports 1/WEEI 103.7 FM
Game Notes
- Providence comes into this game having won 6 of their last 7 games including the impressive 5 game winning streak that included a double OT win against this Red Storm team on January 16th at Carnesseca Arena.
- St. John’s has won 4 of 5 including a dismantling of Marquette by 15 at MSG on Saturday.
- The Friars have won 14 of the last 18 contests between these two teams dating back to 2001.
- Providence and St. John’s have played every year since the 1969-1970 season.
- Bryce Cotton ranks 2nd (20.8 ppg) in the Big East in points per game and D’Angelo Harrison is 3rd (18.1 ppg).
- Chris Obekpa leads the Big East in blocks per game (3.5 bpg) and Carson Desrosiers is ranked 2nd (2.7 bpg).
- Watch this video from Red Storm Sports Blog of D’Angelo Harrison giving the state of the Johnnies heading to Providence
- The line opened at PC -4.5.
Stat Review
In conference games this season, St. John’s is last in the Big East in FT Rate on offense (29.0) , likely because they seem to shoot so many jumpshots and “tough 2’s”. Also, the Johnnies give up the highest % of offensive rebounds in the conference (33.8%). They are the best at Turnover rate (20.2%), Block % (17.6% – nearly double the national avg), and Steal % (10.8%) though.
On the flipside, in conference games this season, Providence is leading the Big East in FT Rate on offense (47.3). The Friar offense pulls down the highest % of offensive rebounds in the conference (34.8%) and has the best Block rate (6.4%) and FT % (74.9%) in the Big East.
Game Preview
In the last matchup between these two teams on January 16th in Queens, PC got out to a fast start and then let St. John’s back into the game as the first half wore on. Ultimately, this would be a gutty performance by the entire squad but especially the man, the myth, the legend – Bryce Cotton. Cotton played all 50 minutes of that game including sinking the game winner in the 2nd overtime. Kadeem Batts played one of his better games of the year. He and Cotton worked the pick and roll nicely. Batts did most of his work on offense from the free throw line where he went 11/12. Hopefully Batts gets back to being aggressive and taking it hard to the rim because if he has another rough game, PC could very easily let this crucial home win slip away. There isn’t a ton of margin for error at this point in the season. The Friars need to take care of business at home, especially when they are nearly 5 point favorites.
Last game the group of Cotton, Batts, Henton and Harris accounted for 73 of PC’s 84 points or 87% of the scoring. Fortune and Desrosiers were the only other Friars to even score. Fortune’s only bucket, despite playing all 50 minutes, came just over 1 minute into the 1st overtime to tie the game at 72 and Desrosiers scored his 8 points in the first 35 minutes of the game but didn’t play much at all in either overtime session. It will be critical for the Friars to get production from at least 4 guys again tomorrow. I expect Cotton to put up around 20 points and Henton to put up around 15 points. After that, it’s kind of a mystery game to game. Harris played very well against DePaul on Saturday to rebound from a brutal game at Marquette on Thursday night. I think Harris will have another good game tomorrow and put up around 16 points. That gets PC to 51 points between those 3 players. Can Batts deliver 12-15 points? I believe he can and will. Fortune will try to do his best to slow down D’Angelo Harrison again but Harrison is playing much better lately as is the entire SJU team. Harrison led all scorers on Saturday with 27 points against Marquette. Chris Obekpa had 7 blocks against the Golden Eagles as well. This will be a different team than Providence saw less than 3 weeks ago. But it’s still a team coached by Steve Lavin and they haven’t really seemed to be able to get into any kind of rhythm on offense. They dribble the ball way too much and rely on guys like Harrison to create and hit tough shots. Many SJU fans complained about Lavin’s coaching during and after our game at Carnesseca and they had nothing but high praise for Ed Cooley.
The key to this game for the Friars will be to get Kadeem Batts involved early. In Providence’s 6 losses, Batts has averaged 7.5 ppg and only reached double digits once – the blowout loss against Villanova – when he scored 10 points in 27 minutes. In Providence’s 16 wins, Batts has averaged 13.8 ppg.
Prediction: St. John’s 65 Providence 67
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Game Notes & Preview: PC @ Marquette 1/30/14
Where: BMO Harris Bradley Center – Milwaukee, WI
When: 7:00pm
How: Fox Sports 1/WEEI 103.7 FM
Game Notes
- PC is 4-12 all time against Marquette and has lost 10 of their 11 matchups as members of the Big East
- Marquette has now played in 3 straight OT games after not playing any extra basketball in their first 17 games. They are 1-2 in those 3 contests
- Todd Mayo has been stepping up his scoring of late and he’s been doing it in clutch situations. Of the 28 points he has scored in Marquette’s last 3 games, 17 have come in the final minute of regulation or overtime
- Providence is looking for their 6th straight conference win for the first time since the 2003-2004 season. 6 is also the current record for longest Big East win streak in PC history
- Line opened at PC +5.5
Game Preview
Based on my numbers this game should be a pick ’em but my numbers don’t take into account home court advantage, etc. The line has since moved down a bit to 4.5 or 5 depending on where you look but about 2/3 of the money is coming in on the Friars from what I’ve seen.
It’s been well documented and discussed during the 4 day layoff between games that PC has struggled against Marquette over the years, especially in Milwaukee. The Friars last win against Marquette came in January 2007 at the Dunk. PC hasn’t won at Marquette – ever. This is a Friar team that is focused and playing their game right now though. Marquette is a team that has been very up and down all year and has gotten inconsistent production from just about everyone on their roster. Some of their fans see this season as a lost year and think Buzz Williams should be focusing on the future already.
PC has only played 4 road games this year and has split the contest 2-2. The Friar’s biggest issue on the road has been their shooting. Granted their shooting hasn’t been all that spectacular at the Dunk either but they cannot afford to get into an early hole a la @ Villanova. They enter tonight’s game with an eFG% of 46.9 which is good for 282nd in the nation according to Kenpom. Not surprisingly, PC’s offense has had better efficiency numbers in their road wins than their road losses but a lot of the other stats don’t really present any patterns. Maybe that’s because of the small sample size or maybe it’s because this team hadn’t established their identity until recently.
The key to the game will be for Providence to play their game (duh). Cotton and Batts should continue to work the pick and roll and they should be getting into the lane and looking to score in the paint or get fouled (or both, preferably). Fortune will have to shut down Todd Mayo who has played pretty well at home this season. I think the X factor for tonight’s game will be Tyler Harris. He can provide another scoring threat for PC who may need that “other” person to step up and help out Cotton and Henton/Batts if those guys get off to a slow start and he may present some matchup problems/force Marquette to adjust their lineups. I think Henton will continue his strong rebounding numbers from Saturday when he registered his 22nd career double double (only 2nd of this season). This will likely be a grind it out game (Marquette is ranked as the best scoring defense in the Big East at 65.5 ppg) that is won on the glass and at the free throw line. That favors Providence.
Prediction: Providence 62 Marquette 60
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