The new-look Big East produced an old school champion with a group of Ironmen.
Providence College, one of the conference’s founding members before the league became a behemoth and was later stripped down amid realignment, won its first tournament title since 1994, denying Doug McDermott and second-seeded Creighton, 65-58, Saturday night at the Garden.
Despite their six-man rotation, the fourth-seeded Friars won three games in as many nights, one more Big East Tournament game than they had managed in the previous 14 years. They took themselves off the NCAA Tournament bubble, punching their ticket to The Big Dance for the first time in a decade.
“It’s just a vindicating feeling to know that the Providence Friars are Big East champions,” Providence star Bryce Cotton said. “This is something our school and our city hasn’t seen in a long time.”
McDermott, the National Player of the Year favorite and NBA prospect, scored 27 points, but Cotton had by far his best game of the tournament, earning Most Outstanding Player honors.
The shifty senior guard scored 23 points, playing like he felt he was deserving of the Big East Player of the Year award that went to McDermott.
Teammate LaDontae Henton added nine points, 13 rebounds and three assists, and hit the biggest shot of the game, a left wing jump shot with the shot clock winding down to push a two-point lead to four with 45.6 seconds left.
“I mean, when you score the ball and your teammates believe in you, and they put you in spots to score the ball, you just want to come through for them,” said Henton, a force at both ends of the floor the entire tournament.
Cotton scored 10 straight Friars points early in the second half, including a four-point play, as Providence built a 40-29 lead with 14:17 left. McDermott led a furious comeback, but Henton’s jumper followed by two free throws iced the title.
Providence defeated Creighton for the second time in three meetings, and just a week after it lost by 15 in Omaha, Neb., when McDermott scored a career-high 45 points on Senior Night.
Providence played a masterful first half, keyed by its active zone. It was 26-17 at the break, the Bluejays (26-7) flummoxed by the surprising zone, with its worst first-half output of the season by seven points. It made two more field goals (eight) than turnovers it committed (six).
“I don’t think we were really expecting zone,” McDermott said. “We were kind of panicking almost to start the game.”
The championship capped a memorable — and at times trying — regular season for the Friars. Providence began the year 0-2 in the new league, never had the services of standout freshman Brandon Austin and Rodney Bullock, who were suspended by Cooley in November for undisclosed disciplinary reasons. Dynamic sophomore guard Kris Dunn played in just four games, after a recurring right shoulder injury needed surgery.
Nevertheless, the Friars (23-11) finished tied for third in the league anyway, despite a rotation of six players — all five starters average at least 30.9 minutes per game — and are headed back to the tournament.
“Given everything that this team has gone through, all the adversity, obstacles we faced, for us to reach this moment now, we’re just going to cherish this moment for the time being,” said Cotton, wearing the Garden net around his neck.
The depleted roster hasn’t been problematic lately. Neither has fatigue. Henton played every minute of the tournament and Cotton didn’t miss a second in the last two games.
“We just believe in each other,” Henton, the junior forward, said. “Can’t nobody stop us but us. That’s the motto we came into the season believing [in].”