Recap: Providence
Jan. 18, 2009 5:00 a.m.
Providence, R.I. -- One game after making virtually no impact, MU's bench came through in a big way in the Golden Eagles' 91-82 comeback victory over Providence on Saturday night.
Sure, The Big Four all played big minutes once again -- Wesley Matthews 38, Lazar Hayward and Dominic James 37 and Jerel McNeal 36 -- but Maurice Acker chipped in with 17 huge minutes and Joe Fulce a surprising 11 as coach Buzz Williams displayed a level of trust in his reserves as well as an ability to adjust on the fly.
Fulce played eight of his minutes in the first half, when the Friars were running roughshod on the boards and causing MU all kinds of headaches in the half court with their 3-2 zone defense.
Showing no rust despite the fact he'd played just five minutes in one of the Golden Eagles' previous four Big East games, Fulce entered and calmly knocked down a soft jumper just 18 seconds into his appearance.
He also gave big Geoff McDermott at least a little bit more to think about defensively and on the glass with his length, and then scored two of MU's final four baskets in the first half on a dunk and a layup while displaying a nice feel as the baseline runner against the zone.
"He had his best practice of the year on Thursday. He’s coming around," said Williams. "He missed the first 40 practices and 10 games, as did Chris, so as it relates to their playing time and their experience, it’s like Thanksgiving to them. You have to work every day and coach every player on your team because you can never predict what’s going to happen in a game, home or on the road.
"Dwight and Pat were hurting us on transition. Joe’s able to run – that may be the best thing he does – and he’s able to finish. When we’ve got guys who can penetrate and create, now Joe is able to help us."
Williams said his main concern with both Fulce and Chris Otule has been putting them into situations where they can succeed initially.
"It wasn’t a last-ditch effort; he had earned the opportunity (to play)," Williams said of Fulce. "He’s probably earned the opportunity to play before now, but every possession is so critical in every game that we’ve played I’m skeptical to put him in because of this – as the steward of the program I think it’s important that the confidence that those guys build every day in practice because of how we work, they gain practice from that work. And I don’t want to put them on a national stage and that confidence is stripped from them.
"Joe will be better the next time he plays, whenever that is, because he gained confidence in practice, and then that confidence was able to grow tonight. We’re thankful for all those guys, because we needed every one of them."
Fulce started the second half in place of Dwight Burke but picked up two quick fouls, pretty much ending his night. But instead of coming back with either Burke or Pat Hazel, Williams next gave Maurice Acker a shot to impact the game.
Just one game after picking up the first DNP-CD in his two seasons at MU, Acker played 14 of his 17 minutes in the decisive second half. Normally playing only in relief of James at the point, Acker this time played alongside James and created plenty of havoc on the defensive end.
While he didn't score, Acker still impacted the game in a big way, collecting three assists, a game-high three steals and two rebounds without a turnover.
"Unbelievable," said McNeal when asked about the bench. "I think (Fulce) and Mo were keys to our game tonight, even though Mo didn’t score a point and Joe didn’t do an ideal job defensively. Those are two guys that haven’t really played much at all in conference, and for them to come off the bench and have that mind set to be ready like that in a game where Dwight and Pat didn’t give us much…I’m proud of those guys."
-- The scene early in the second half when a fan walked onto the court was one of the most surreal I've seen in my seven years on the beat.
To set the scene, Providence's Jeff Xavier had been hit under his right eye (unintentionally by Fulce) and was sent sprawling. McDermott was fouled shortly thereafter, and the game paused as Xavier was tended to by the Friars' medical staff. From my vantage point, about 50 feet away down the baseline, Xavier was in a tremendous amount of pain, and even appeared to be crying.
After a short delay, play resumed and the teams stepped into the lane for McDermott's two free throws. While the first was in the air, the fan hopped over the Providence bench and walked into the lane, where he appeared to be going after one of the officials.
What needs to be noted is there was no strong, immediate reaction by security, which was ridiculous. He had a good 10-second head start and got to one official before any arena worker even got close to him, and even when they got there they simply escorted him off the floor almost as if it was OK he was there, while everyone else on the court was seemingly in shock at what was occurring.
Eventually McDermott knocked down the second free throw and the game resumed. Word came later that it wasn't some random fan, but instead Xavier's brother, and The Associated Press later identified him as Jonathan Xavier.
Lawrence Lepore, executive director of the arena, told the AP he would be taken to the Providence police station and charged with disorderly conduct.
Afterward, MU players seemed amused by the situation.
"I guess Buzz was more scared than anybody. I was just standing there kind of like, ‘Dang, I guess he really wanted a foul, huh?’" said McNeal with a laugh. "I don’t know; I really wasn’t thinking anything. I just saw him come out onto the floor and I was like, ‘I don’t think he’s supposed to be out here.’ I was just sitting there looking at him. He was walking up, approaching the ref, and then security grabbed him and everything.
"That was a first for me in college, though. Seen it all the time in AAU. A couple times in high school back home in Chicago. I’ve seen games stopped because a fight’s broken out and there’s guys running out onto the court. Something where they think their friend gets fouled too hard and they attack the other player on the other team. So it wasn’t that shocking, but it’s a big deal at this level of basketball."
Williams, on the other hand, was vocal with his concern, and he was right. It was a ridiculous lack of control by the Dunkin' Donuts Center staff in a situation where somebody could have truly been hurt.
"Regardless of my position, my employment at Marquette, I’m going to protect those guys no matter what," he said. "We can go home. We can forget the game. I don’t know what the security’s like here, but I saw the guy coming out of the stands. I saw him coming out of the stands, and as he was coming out of the stands I was walking out on the court. I told those officials, ‘Look we’ll leave, because that’s extremely dangerous.’
"Forget the game; I’m going to protect these guys. Not like I could do anything, but I was telling them to get out of there, and telling the bench to stay there…I’ve never seen that. You never know what will happen. Scary. Scary."
It's a shame that scene will be what most people remember from the game.
-- MU really clamped down on Providence down the stretch, holding the Friars to just 10 points over the final 10:17, and just four field goals.
They also went 1 for 5 from the free-throw line.
"It was all defensive," McNeal said of the comeback. "We weren’t able to get stops like we wanted to, we were sending them to the line too much, we weren’t getting back in transition and giving them too many second-chance points off offensive rebounds. Things didn’t go well for us all night until the last seven minutes of the game, and I think that’s when we got locked in, everybody focused in got stops, we were getting rebounds and turning those into easy baskets on the other end."
-- On the other end, the Golden Eagles couldn't be stopped, hitting 8 of their last 14 shots and going 7 for 10 from the free-throw line.
Hayward in particular helped shift the momentum, hitting a pair of threes from the right corner just 35 seconds apart that pulled MU to within 74-72 with 7:24 left.
After a breakaway dunk by James tied it at 76-76, Hayward's fifth and final three of the game from the right wing gave MU its first lead since early in the first half at 79-76 with 3:24 left.
"He’s one of the hardest guards on the team," said McNeal, who shared scoring honors with Hayward at 25 points. "He’s inside-out, so versatile, and he really helped us tonight. He came up with a number of big shots that got us back into the game. He did an unbelievable job, and I’m proud of him."
Hayward, who fell just two points shy of tying his collegiate high in scoring, also tied his high with the 5 threes, and chipped in with a team-high seven boards as well. His 10 field goals set a new personal high.
-- This was the second straight game that MU just sucked the life out of its opponent with a big second-half performance.
While the Friars didn't out-and-out quit like West Virginia did down the stretch, they were noticably rattled by choking away such a big lead.
"Their demeanor changed a little bit once the game got tight," McNeal said. "It’s something we noticed on the court. It’s a game that I know they felt they should have won, that they felt they had control over. But it’s just a testament to our team, just to stay in there and keep battling and keep fighting through it all."
-- Even despite the emotional nature of the victory, the Golden Eagles continue to preach Williams' one-game-at-a-time mentality.
"It’s going to be real big, but we ain’t real concerned with that right now," said McNeal when asked if the victory could serve as a springboard. "We’re going to enjoy it for a couple hours right now and when next week starts, we’ll focus on our next opponent. It’s a big win for us tonight, but tomorrow it means nothing."
-- MU is now 5-0 in conference play for the first time since the 1992-'93 season, when it was in the Great Midwest...Neither Burke nor Hazel played in the second half...MU is now 3-0 on the road. It didn't win its third road game last season until Feb. 12, and finished 5-5 overall in opponents' gyms...The Golden Eagles' eight-game winning streak is their longest since rattling off eight in a row from Jan. 10 to Feb. 7 in the 2006-'07 season...MU won't be sorry to see McDermott graduate. Check out this line: 15 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block in 34 minutes. He did miss six free throws, but that's a heck of a night...MU is now 4-1 when trailing at halftime, 13-1 when scoring 70 or more points, 3-2 when allowing 80 or more points, 2-1 when opponents shoot 50% or better and 4-2 when out-rebounded by an opponent...The Golden Eagles continue to take great care of the basketball -- they've committed eight, 10, eight and 10 turnovers in their last four games...Saturday was the fourth time this season an opponent shot more free throws than MU. The Golden Eagles are 2-2 in such games...MU scored 23 points off 18 Providence turnovers.
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http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/37788849.html
Great job by Todd.