Experience Lifts Friars in Roller Coaster Game
BOSTON – The key to Providence’s 98-89 overtime win over Boston College on Saturday was experience. That might be an obvious guess if one looked at the teams’ rosters – Boston College is inexperienced, while Providence has just one senior but a group of juniors that has played many minutes together since they were freshmen – but it’s not that simple.
This was a game Providence might not win last season. The Friars seemed to be in command in this roller coaster game, holding a 62-38 lead with 14:23 left to play. The Eagles had plenty working against them, in that they had done nothing to suggest that a comeback was in them and foul trouble only added to it. But they rallied back with 17 unanswered points as part of a 21-1 run, and then had a six-point lead with 1:12 left.
That’s when a new Friar, hometown kid Jeff Xavier, came up big. He hit a clutch three-pointer, and Weyinmi Efejuku added another, and overtime was coming up. Xavier had the idea all along.
“I knew, once I catch it, I’m going to shoot it and try to get our team going,” said Xavier, who finished with 20 points.
The shot did just that. Providence took over in the extra session and was never seriously challenged despite having to go without starters Geoff McDermott and Brian McKenzie, each of whom fouled out.
In reflecting on this game, the Friars talked about experience, but not simply the games they have played. Head coach Tim Welsh and players talked about the experience they have together, especially from their trip to Italy in August, in looking at how they won this game. This team struggled with youth two years ago, had growing pains last year, and now looks like they’ve just about grown up.
“Last year, I don’t think we could have pulled this off,” said McDermott, who put on a passing clinic with 10 assists. “This year, this team has experience, we grew in Italy and Puerto Rico. We all bonded together, and there’s 40 minutes to a game.”
The Friars have had a different look to their starting lineup, which has come partly out of necessity and partly out of a new added focus on defense. The backcourt has a complete change, as sophomores Dwain Williams and McKenzie now start. Junior Sharaud Curry, a two-year starter at the point, is expected to be out at least another two weeks with a stress fracture in his foot. Efejuku now comes off the bench after starting last season, and both he and McKenzie have done well in their roles. It doesn’t hurt that when Curry was suspended last year, Efejuku wasn’t the same player, so there may be something to that in Efejuku now coming off the bench as well. McKenzie has become the team’s leading scorer and is shooting over 48 percent from long range.
Efejuku emerged as a star last season, becoming one of the best wings in the Big East. He’s always had the tools, being very athletic and skilled enough to play both guard spots. Last season, he developed into an excellent shooter, which only made him more dangerous. On Saturday, he scored 20 points and had nine rebounds, the latter of which jumped out at McDermott in talking about him, and a lot of those points came in the clutch. Even as he came alive last year, Efejuku didn’t change how he played or approached things, so it’s not surprising that he’s taken to the change as well as he has.
When Curry comes back, this team only gets deeper. The Friars will have a pleasant problem at the point, as they get back a two-year starter while Williams is second on the team in scoring and also defended Boston College star Tyrese Rice well on Saturday. It will make an already deep backcourt even deeper, not only in terms of numbers but also in scoring threats.
And because the Friars feel good about their chemistry and camaraderie, there shouldn’t be any issues when Curry comes back no matter what Welsh does with the lineup. The players truly buy into the team concept, and they know the value of each other in the long run.
“We knew before the season that depth was going to be huge for our success this year,” said McDermott. “That’s what will make our team great this year, our depth.”
That surely showed up late in Saturday’s game as well, when that 24-point lead had turned into a six-point deficit. The Friars knew the game wasn’t over and supported each other all the way through. Even Randall Hanke, who has gone from leading the nation in field goal percentage two seasons ago to barely getting off the bench this season, is right there supporting his team every step of the way.
Although they blew a big lead, the Friars came away from this game very satisfied on several levels. They could see the value of their experience, they were happy with the way their man-to-man defense played as a team that typically hangs its hat on a zone, and it showed how deep they already are and will become. Down the road, this is game they could look back on as one that gave them a sizeable boost. The experience they gained from this game, on top of what they already have, is only going to help more.
