Providence Friars (10-6) 96

Georgetown Hoyas (12-5) 90 2OT

How many times can you lose the same game.  Apparently it’s three times.  The Friars should have won in regulation, the first overtime, and since they should have won both of those times, I’ll argue that they should have won in the second overtime even though they were outplayed…finally…by Georgetown.

According to Ed Cooley, the instructions were to foul when they were up 3 points at the end of regulation but from the looks of the final play, it didn’t look like anyone was trying to foul Mac McClung.

Mac McClung AT THE BUZZER 💰

James Akinjo with 3 seconds left in OT 💰

Hoyas win in Double OT, 96-90 pic.twitter.com/Pn1q2ewCY2

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 12, 2019

That’s an extremely tough shot to make no matter how you cut it but the fact that the Friars didn’t foul is a little baffling.  I saw this somewhere but I can’t remember where, so, oh well for the credit.  Up three at the end of the game, if you don’t foul, one thing needs to happen.  The opponent needs to make a three pointer.  If you do foul, however, then four things need to happen.  Your opponent needs to make one free throw, purposely miss a second, get the rebound, and make a put-back basket.

Either way, the Friars should have absolutely won this game.

Game Notes:

• Alpha Diallo led the Friars with 24 points, although it took him 24 shots to get there (9-24).  Diallo also led the team with 13 rebounds, recording his 6th double-double of the year, matching his last year’s total of 6 double-doubles on the season in just the 16th game of the year.  That makes for 12 career double-doubles for the Friar Junior who also dropped 6 assists for a 24/13/6 stat line that looks quite nice when all is said and done.
• Diallo played a team-high 46 minutes out of possible 50.
• Diallo was 4-9 from deep but was the only Friars starter who connected on a three-point attempt.  Maliek White (0-3) and Jimmy Nichols Jr. (0-2) were the only other two starters to attempt a three but neither of them saw the bottom of the net.
• The Friars were just 8-24 from distance (33.3%).
• Nate Watson couldn’t be stopped in the post and had his way with however was unlucky enough to draw him as a defensive assignment.  Watson was a supremely economically 9-11 from the floor en route to a career-high 21 points.  Watson also played a career-high 39 minutes after playing 30 minutes in a game only once before this (this year vs. Boston College).
• Speaking of career-highs, how about Drew Edwards, huh?
• Edwards was just plain awesome, scoring a career-high 19 points on 5-7 shooting from the floor and doing everything within his power to will this team to a victory.
• Edwards was a team-best 3-4 from three and 6-7 from the free throw line.  The Friars may have just found a 3-and-D guy off the bench that they’ve been looking for.  Edwards has at the very least played himself into a larger role for the time being.
• Drew also had 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 1 lone turnover.
• It’s hard to pick a player of the game between Watson and Edwards for the Friars, but unfortunately, both of their career nights were wasted with a loss for Providence.
• Maliek White saw his second consecutive very tough outing after busting out since being inserted into the Friars starting lineup.  Following a 1-6 game against Villanova, White went 0-7 for just 1 point.  Over his last 2 games, White is 1-13, including 0-7 from three.  He’s averaging 2.5 ppg, 2.5 apg, 1.5 rpg, and 1.5 TOs.
• Following Makai Ashton-Langford’s best game of the season against Villanova, MAL had a hard fall back down to earth.  Although he went scoreless on 0-6 shooting, Makai did tie a career-high by dishing out 8 assists to just 1 turnover to make up for most of it.
• Kris Monroe saw some limited action off the bench and went 2-3 in the 6 minutes of game time, to go along with 3 rebounds.
• Isaiah Jackson shot 4-11 from the field but filled up the stat sheet as you knew he would anyway.  Jackson finished with 13 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and a pair of steals.
• The Friars did shoot pretty well from the free throw line, going 16-21 as a team for a 76.2% clip.
• The trio of Jessie Govan, Mac McClung, and James Akinjo did the majority of the damage for the Hoyas.  They combined to score 69 of the 96 points, accounting 72% of the team’s scoring output.
• The Senior Govan led the way for the Hoyas as he has done all season, scoring a game-high 33 points, taking down a game-high 14 rebounds, and blocking a game-high 4 shots.  He also went 8-11 from the free throw line so it’s not like you can just foul him when trying to stop him from scoring.  He a tough match-up for any team.
• The Freshman backcourt duo of McClung and Akinjo both had their hero moments, hitting game tying shots to send the game into extra time.
• The rest of the Hoyas were efficient, shooting 10-17 from the floor amongst the other 7 players who saw action but none of the 7 jumped off the screen as a player that needed extra focus on the defensive side.  They all did their jobs however and that’s what you’re asking for after you get down the depth chart.

Up Next, the Friars travel over to Seton Hall and needs to desperately get on the winning side of things in Big East play.