Jaylin Sellers (27 points, four 3-pointers) continued his strong season vs. Xavier
By KEVIN McNAMARA
PROVIDENCE – Kim English grew up a Baltimore Orioles fan, cheering for Cal Ripken, Jr., Robbie Alomar and Eric Davis. Speaking ill about the O’s was never contemplated.
He knows today’s social media world isn’t as nice. Example A is his Providence Friar program which has persevered through months of downs and ups, twists and turns. He says he blocks out the negativity – and the positivity – and actually only hears encouragement when he’s on campus or walking to dinner in downtown Providence.
The same isn’t true for his players. They are addicted to social media. Instagram, X, SnapChat. You name it, the players see it.
Blocking the negativity out when your team blows a 13-point lead to UConn isn’t easy. Doing the same after melting down in overtime at Marquette is next to impossible. As the Friars rolled out to a 2-9 Big East start the waves of cat-calls against players, playing style and the coach’s job only grew louder.
That’s why English is so encouraged by his team as the months fall off the basketball calendar. The Friars have stuck together and won for the fourth time in the last six games after a 94-84 win over Xavier Wednesday night at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Xavier had pounded the Friars (97-84) back on Jan. 10 so the chance to avenge that loss and keep the train rolling towards March brought plenty of smiles after this win.
“What someone says on the outside doesn’t matter,” English said. “If someone says you’re going to win the national championship, it doesn’t matter. If someone says you’re awful, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is when the ball is thrown up. Our guys haven’t let go of the rope and they won’t.”‘
Of course a 37-year old coach who spent time in the NBA is a mature basketball person, a professional. His college-age players are not. English said leading scorer Jaylin Sellers came to him a week or so ago and expressed frustration at the negativity he’d see and read on-line from so-called Providence fans.
“It’s definitely louder and it’s more,” English said of the on-line noise, “but it’s equally irrelevant as it was when I was a player.”
So what did he say to Sellers, his leading scorer and most important player?
“Jaylin a few weeks ago was struggling with the noise,” English said, “and I said, bro, just delete it! And he said, ‘I did, but I already saw it. It’s everywhere.’ They are addicted to their phones. The App developers? They got them. They got them good.”
Sellers, Jamier Jones and Jason Edwards certainly played free against Xavier. The prescription for the Friars in this victory was quite simple: more of the heavy offensive punch that’s knocked its way through the Big East all winter and just enough defense. The offense was extremely crisp with four double figure scorers, 54 percent shooting, 50 percent from the 3-point line and just four turnovers in 65 possessions. Sellers led the way with 27 points and four 3-pointers. Edwards chipped in with 24 and four threes and Jones went to the rim strong all night and finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds. That the Friars were able to put up those numbers without Stefan Vaaks (the flu, high temperature) says something.
“We just had an inability to guard the ball,” Xavier coach Richard Pitino said. “Sellers and Edwards were just terrific off the bounce and we couldn’t stop them. We did a great job in cutting it to seven (in the second half) but it came down to we could not stop them to save our lives. They’re a really good offensive team. Kim puts them in really good spots. We can’t rely on just trying to outscore teams and that’s where we are right now.”
That offensive firepower was legitimate early on as PC’s scoring trio dominated in a first half that saw the Friars lead by as many as 23 points and lead 47-34 at the break. PC shot 58 percent in the half and Xavier struggled for long stretches, especially from downtown when the Musketeers made just 2-of-14 attempts.
Xavier rallied as PC cooled off a bit and cut the deficit to 80-73 with 5:57 to play. At that point the Friar defense began allowing a parade to the rim while the offense had started to bog down a bit with Edwards dominating the ball.
That’s when Sellers got going again. The lefty drained a 3-pointer, got to the free throw line for two points and then nailed another trey to push Providence’s lead back to a comfortable 90-74 with 3:25 to play.
In a moment of self-reflection, English was asked about his team’s growth after many injuries, illnesses and other absences not only this season but through his three-year tenure in Friartown. He conceded that’s been a huge challenge but also talked about his own, personal coaching challenges.
“I don’t know other coaches, older coaches, maybe they’ve got it more figured out,” English began, “but I’m learning about myself every day, and these guys. Decisions we make in the off-season, the flow we play (at), the way we maybe missed mark with our pace on offense, maybe that’s effected our defense. There’s so much learning, especially with me. I don’t have all the answers.”
English stated that that “no team in the Big East has missed more players than us the last two, three years,” and that’s made him feel ‘more like a G League coach. Like, who’ve we got tonight? Whose down from the big club, who got sent up?”
With three games left, the Friars could finish anywhere between fifth and 11th in the Big East. That’s a huge swing but the schedule is tilted towards a fast finish. A tough test at Creighton is up next but the Friars have beaten the Jays and they’re coming off a home loss to DePaul. Providence (6-11) then ends the season against two teams (vs. Marquette, at Georgetown) that sit one game below in the standings.
