Henton's 35 Points Leads PC Past Creighton, 65-53
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Henton's 35 Points Leads PC Past Creighton, 65-53
See the five takeaways slideshow below.
"I didn't think we played great offensively, i thought we played great defensively and made clutch plays," Friars head coach Ed Cooley said after the game.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTProvidence led 32-28 at the half but opened the second half half on a 12-3 run to go up 42-31 in the game. Creighton got as close as five,44-39, with just over 12 minutes left before a LaDontae Henton three-pointer put them right back up by eight.
Creighton would not get closer then eight points the rest of the way as Providence took complete control.
Senior Leader
LaDontae Henton led the Friars with 35 points in the game on 12 of 21 shooting from the field. Henton also pulled down eight rebounds and had one block and one steal to lead the Friars. No other Friar player was in double figures.
"LaDontae continues to be the most underrated player in the country, he put us on his back," Cooley said of Henton.
Young and still growing.
Kris Dunn had a tremendous night for Providence, posting a near triple-double with eight rebounds, six points and 12 assists. Dunn ignited the Friar crowd with two steals that led to two big time dunks in the second half.
"His ceiling is so high, the best is yet to come and he is gonna electrify this place," said Cooley of Dunn's play.
Geoffrey Groselle led Creighton with 14 points off the bench.
Big East play in full swing
The Friars return to action on on Saturday, January 3 when they visit Marquette. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
For a further look at the Friars win, see the five takeaways slideshow below.
Five Takeaways From the Friars 65-53 Win Over Creighton
Hitting the road
Providence got their first Big East win of the season under their belt and now hit the road for two straight games against Marquette and Butler. In these two game we will see what this young team is made of and how will the freshman react.
Providence only play two true road games during the non-conference schedule and lost both of them so these next two games will be a good challenge for the Friars.
LaDontae Henton
Once again, LaDontae Henton led the Friars, netting 35 points on 12 of 21 shooting from the floor, including 3 of 7 from beyond the arc.
Henton also pulled down eight rebounds and had one block and one steal to finish off his night.
When Ed Cooley was asked after the game if he thought his team was to reliant on Henton, Cooley's response was "no, I thought we should have gone to him more."
Kris Dunn
Kris Dunn had another solid performance for the Friars, posting a near triple-double. Dunn had six points on 3 of 5 shooting from the floor, eight rebounds and 12 assists. Dunn even added two steals that led to two big dunks that electrified the crowd.
"I don't think Kris played great with regards to his stat line, but I thought he played a good basketball game," Ed Cooley said in his post game press conference.
Kris Dunn had four turnovers in the game, but only one in the second half when Providence closed the game out.
29-5
One of the only negatives for the Friars in the game was their bench production, or lack of bench production. PC lost the battle of the benches 29-5 and those five points came from Tyler Harris in the 24 minutes of play time that he got.
Kyron Cartwright didn't have a point in 13 minutes of action and Paschal Chukwu and Ted Bancroft had no points in their combined six minutes of play time.
The Friars will need someone to step up from the bench and that person needs to be Tyler Harris who continues his inconsistent play this season.
Defense wins games
The Friars held Creighton to only 36 percent shooting from the field and 24 percent from three point land in the game. Providence forced 13 turnovers, six of which were steals, and also had six blocked shots.
Carson Desrosiers led the way in that category with three rejections of his own.
The size of Providence really caused problems for Creighton.
"I think our size is going to cause problems for a lot of teams this year" Ed Cooley said in the post game.
"I watched Kansas play Kentucky and Kansas looked like a JV team in terms of size, Providence didn't," Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said after the game.
