Providence College Friars (19-9) 52

That certainly was unpleasant to watch.  

Seton Hall bullied the Friars around the entire game, everyone except for Ben Bentil that is. Unfortunately, Ben got ejected from the game on a Flagrant 2 call when he came across Desi Rodriguez’s face on a drive to the hoop during a Friars comeback…but really just a Ben Bentil comeback since he was carrying the entire team on his shoulders.  From the point on, there was really no hope of PC getting anywhere close to winning the game based on how everyone else was playing.

Bentil had scored 31 of the Friars 52 points at the point in the game when he was ejected.  Three starters were dealing with an illness (Dunn, Bullock, and Lomomba) that was very evident in the way that they were playing.

• Starters Ryan Fazekas, Junior Lomomba, and Rodeny Bullock combined to go 0-9 from the floor, the only points between them coming on 2 Bullock free throws.
• The Friars shot 28.4% from the field, went an abysmal 4-24 from three (16.7%), and struggled from the free throw line, going 10-17 (58.9%).
  • Ben Bentil made all 4 of the three point shots, the rest of the team went 0-14.
  • Bentil uncharacteristcally missed some free throws, going 7-12 from the stripe.
• Dunn looked like a shell of himself in this one.  He was coming in and out of the game much more often than he usually does and as rarely attacking the basket.  A few of his shots came up a good 2 feet short of the rim and he was just sluggish the entire game.
• Dunn finished 4-12 from the floor with 8 points, 3 steals, 1 rebound, and ZERO assists. That assist number really tells the story.
• The Friars turned the Pirates over 15 times in the contest in what could have been a much uglier final score without those turnovers.
• Isaiah Whitehead is a stud.  Not only does he love the spotlight, but he really seems to excel against Dunn.  This matchup may have been hindered by Dunn’s illness, but he won the first matchup of the year as well.
• Whitehead finished with some really, really good stats and seemingly made every big shot when Seton Hall needed it.
• Whitehead finished an efficient 8-12 from the floor, 5-8 from three, and 4-4 from the line, ending up with a team-high 25 points.  He also grabbed 9 boards and dished out 6 assists.  Maybe most impressive of all, the 6’4” sophomore blocked 4 shots.
• I said it after the last game, but Seton Hall is going to be very dangerous next year with this group of Sophomores on the team.  The way things are going, they’re going to get a taste of the NCAA tournament this year as well.  They are now 10-5 in conference play and just eclipsed 20 wins on the season.  They have a HUGE opportunity against Xavier coming up in their next game as well.  If Providence keeps this free fall going, they’re in very real trouble of missing out on the NCAA tournament, with 2 First Team Big East players on their roster.
• The Friars have now lost 6 of their last 8 games.
• PC NEEDS to appeal Ben Bentil being able to play next game after being ejected from this one.  That DePaul game is HUGE now.  PC needs to beat DePaul, beat St. John’s, and probably beat Creighton now.  That will get them to a 22-10 record going into the Big East tournament with some opportunities to get some gravy wins (and hopefully stay away from any bad losses).  I personally thought it was a Flagrant 1 and didn’t deserve an ejection.

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Next Up, the Friars get DePaul at the Dunk on Saturday at 4 PM on CBS Sports Network.