Friars Fall in Embarrassing Fashion

Mason Jones led Arkansas with 18 points in the
Razorbacks' 84-72 win over the Friars in the first
round of the NIT Tuesday Night.

By Bob Phillips

PROVIDENCE—We’ll start with the obvious. Last night’s performance (or more specifically, lack thereof) by

the Providence College Friars before a paltry audience at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center was an embarrassment. Indeed, that term seems far too insignificant. Perhaps unmitigated disaster would be a bettor descriptor for the comedy of errors that transpired last night.

The short story is that behind an 18-point effort by Mason Jones, the No. 5 seeded Arkansas Razorbacks wiped out an uninspired Providence team by an 84-72 margin in National Invitation Tournament first-round action before a miniscule crowd of 3,057 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center last night.

And don’t be fooled by the final score. It wasn’t that close. Arkansas led by as many as 18 points in the second half.

To make matters even more disappointing from the Friars’ perspective, the Razorbacks were playing without their best player—Daniel Gafford, a likely first-round NBA pick in the upcoming draft. The 6-11 sophomore center averaged 16.9 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots per game during the season.

Reggie Chaney added 14 points and seven blocked shots to the Razorbacks’ bottom line, while Isaiah Joe added 12 points and Gabe Osabuohien added 11 points and grabbed eight boards for Arkansas, which improved to 18-15.

PC’s Maliek White led all scorers with 19 points. Nate Watson added 15 points, while Alpha Diallo had his consistently solid game with a 12-point, 11-rebound performance to go along with six steals.

Make no mistake: This game was won beyond the arc. Jones converted four of six shots from downtownc. As a team, the Razorbacks shot 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from downtown, and connected on 51 percent of their shots from the field overall. The Friars, meanwhile, shot a paltry 3-for-21 from three-point land (13.0 percent), including an 0-for-first half.

Playing without their big guy, Arkansas outraced Providence all game, consistently beating the Friars to the ball.

“I think their ball pressure bothered us,” said Providence head coach Ed Cooley in an understatement. “To their credit, I think they were more excited to play than my guys. They had a little more pop in their step. Hopefully, in this situation again, we’ll have a little more energy and a little more pride.”

Ed Cooley and his Friars had no answers for the smaller, quicker Razorbacks.

Wishful thinking, but hardly a sure thing. During the Cooley era, while it’s true that the Friars have reached the postseason for seven straight years, their postseason record during this period is just 3-7. And that includes a 1-5 record in the NCAA Tournament. At The Dance, the Friars have done the one-and-out shuffle four times, with their only victory coming over USC by the slimmest of margins, 70-69, in the first round in 2016. They then proceeded to have their butts handed to them in a 19-point thrashing by UNC, the region’s No. 1 seed. “But that game was played in North Carolina,” the apologists will say. True. Just as last night’s game was played in Providence. With their opponent playing without its best player.

So what’s next for the Friars, who end the season at 18-16? That’s a good question. The only thing for sure is that Cooley and his still young team will have a long, hot summer to ponder their poor performance in this game. 

Can they recover? Of course they can.

Only time will tell if they will.

—Bob Murphy contributed to this report