UPDATED: Court Condensation, Poor Shooting Costs PC in 64-60 Loss to #9 Villanova
Saturday, January 25, 2020
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PC falls to Villanova PHOTO: PC Athletics
The Providence College Friars men’s basketball team shot just 13% from three and fell to the #9 Villanova Wildcats 64-60 on Saturday afternoon at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
PC knocked down just three shots from deep the entire game and they all came in the first half.
“This is back to back games where we are just having a tough time making open and uncontested shots. We have to keep taking them, eventually, they will fall. It has been really disturbing seeing that because in practice they are going down,” said PC head coach Ed Cooley after the game.
After starting Big East play 3-0, Providence has now dropped three straight games and four of their last five.
PC is just 11-10 overall and 4-4 in the Big East.
“I thought we had opportunity after opportunity under the four-minute time out, we just couldn’t capitalize. I thought the game was there to be had, collectively the players and the coaches, we have to find a way to win," added Cooley.
Things don’t get easier for the Friars, who now have a week off before traveling to #13 Butler next Saturday.
Villanova improves to 16-3 overall and 6-1 in the Big East.
Court Condensation Costs PC Late
With PC down five, 57-52, with just under five minutes to play, Providence players slipped on the court in the corner opposite the PC bench on two separate occasions.
The slips resulted in two turnovers for the Friars, the first one coming from Luwane Pipkins and the last one coming from Maliek White.
"It's tough, there may be some condensation on the court, just try to get a shot off. But both teams had to play on the same floor, I’m not going to blame that," said Cooley after the game.
Cooley added, "I don't know how to answer that question."
The Dunkin' Donuts Center has had condensation issues in each of the last two seasons.
In 2018, the issue resulted in PC's game against Seton Hall being suspended and moved to Alumni Hall the next day.
That resulted in tickets for the continuation being very limited and PC losing the game.
End of Game Struggles
Providence trailed by three, 59-56 after two Nate Watson free throws with 3:34 to play in the game.
Watson led the Friars with 18 points in the game on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.
Villanova would go scoreless on their next four possessions, but the Friars were not able to cut into the lead.
During that stretch, David Duke missed two three-pointers and Luwane Pipkins also missed a three.
Following the Pipkins miss, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl got a dunk to go to push Villanova’s lead to 61-56 with 53 seconds left.
A dunk by Duke would get PC back within three, 61-58, with 48 seconds to play in the game, but Villanova would again respond, pushing their lead to 63-58 on two free throws from Collin Gillespie with 27 seconds left.
Two A.J. Reeves free throws would see the Friars back within three again, 63-60, but a Robinson-Earl free throw with 12 seconds left would seal the 64-60 win for Villanova.
Overall, PC shot 31% from the field in the game.
Diallo Sits in 2nd Half
Senior forward Alpha Diallo played just 14 minutes in the game, and sat on the bench for nearly the entire second half.
“It just wasn’t his day. We all have those, we have them as coaches, players, you guys have them as writers. Days where it is just not your day. You have to make decisions and I thought we made the right decision to go with the guys that we had there," said Cooley.
In his time on the court, Diallo went 0-for-6 from the field, grabbed four rebounds, committed three fouls and turned the ball over three times.
Two of his three fouls came in the first four minutes of the game.
PC Down at Half
After holding brief one-point leads early in the half, the Friars trailed 21-18 with seven minutes left in the opening frame.
From there, Villanova went on a 6-2 run to take a 27-20 lead on a three from Justin Moore with 5:17 to play in the half.
Providence would get back within four, 29-25, on a three from A.J. Reeves with 3:14 to go before the break.
The Wildcats would then go on an 8-2 run to build a 37-27 lead on a dunk by Rhode Island native Cole Swider with one minute to play in the half.
PC would cut their deficit to seven, 37-30, just before the half on a tip-in by Nate Watson and a free throw from Maliek White.
The Friars shot 39% from the field in the first half, but just 23% from beyond the arc.
They also didn't get themselves to the free-throw line, making down just 1-of-3 shots.
Meanwhile, Villanova knocked down 52% of their field goals and got to the line eight times, making seven shots.
Next Up
The Friars now have a week off before traveling to #13 Butler next Saturday, February 1.
Game time is set for 2 p.m.
Watch SpaceX launch 60 more Starlink broadband satellites live
SpaceX is set to launch another batch of its Starlink broadband internet satellites this morning, after weather conditions shut down its last two attempts earlier this week. SpaceX is being especially picky about not just launch conditions – but also weather in the recovery area where it hopes to catch the fairing protecting the satellite cargo aboard this Falcon 9 launch.
That secondary mission of fairing recovery will see SpaceX try to catch the two large halves of the protective sheath that covers the rocket's payload on its way through Earth's atmosphere to its orbital destination. It uses ships with custom modifications (which essentially amount to large nets suspended above form their deck) designed specifically for this purpose called 'Ms. Tree' and 'Ms. Chief' to get this done.
SpaceX has successfully caught one fairing half before, but it hasn't been able to catch any others yet, and has also never caught both halves at the the same time. This is a goal for the company because it would save them having to rebuild a costly part for each launch, saving as much as $6 million per launch according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk .
Because Starlink is SpaceX's own payload, to add to its growing constellation of broadband internet small satellites ahead of that service's launch sometime later this year, SpaceX has more flexibility with the launch timing than it would for a third-party client. That means it can wait a bit to try to optimize recovery conditions to hopefully improve its chances of having a good fairing recovery, with better conditions at sea.
This launch will also include a Falcon 9 booster landing, using SpaceX's seafaring 'Of Course I Still Love You' drone ship. SpaceX is of course pretty consistency able to recover these, with a record of success that continues to grown.
Meanwhile, the primary mission will see yet another batch of 60 satellites join two prior groups (plus a first demonstration flock of 60) already in orbit for Starlink. SpaceX eventually hopes to launch many more (as many as 10,000) which will coordinate to provide affordable, high-speed internet to customers around the world, with a service rollout for the U.S. and Canada planned for later this year.
The launch is scheduled for 9:06 AM EST (6:06 AM PST) and the broadcast above will start at 15 minutes prior to that time. If SpaceX needs to shift the mission again, there's a backup opportunity on January 30 at 8:45 AM EST (5:45 AM PST).
Giants Head Coach Joe Judge: Team Will 'Punch You in the Nose for 60 Minutes'
Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
New York Giants head coach Joe Judge held his first-ever press conference as an NFL head coach on Thursday.
Judge, who is replacing Pat Shurmur and his 9-23 record over the past two seasons, came to the Giants after spending eight years with Bill Belichick's New England Patriots. He was a special teams assistant before working his way up to special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach this past season.
He was also an assistant under Nick Saban at Alabama prior to joining the Patriots and surely learned his approach from two of the all-time greats.
Giants fans can expect a physical approach to the 2020 season if Thursday's most notable comment was any indication. Judge told reporters the NFC East team will "punch you in the nose for 60 minutes" under his watch:
The 38-year-old also said the players must "earn" their spot on the starting lineup because the best ones are going to play.
Judge wasted little time making an impression.
Judy Battista of NFL.com noted he arrived at the press conference early and shook hands with reporters, while Ian Rapoport and Kimberly Jones of NFL Network reflected on the press conference and his insistence the Giants will be a "blue-collar" and "old school" team:
Despite the lack of any head coaching experience at the collegiate or NFL level, Judge appeared ready to embrace the challenge under the microscope that is professional sports in the Big Apple. He pointed to the "full education" he received under Belichick and Saban as reasons he will be ready for his new role.
While there are building blocks in place for the Giants with arguably the best running back in the league in Saquon Barkley and a young quarterback in Daniel Jones, they are still coming off a 4-12 season and losing records in each of the last three campaigns.
What's more, they have made the playoffs just once in the eight years since they won the Super Bowl in the 2011 season.
Judge is facing a daunting challenge, and he took the first step Thursday with his introductory press conference.
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