Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Late Night Madness on October 4, 2025 at TBA
Men's Basketball
vs Late Night Madness
TBA
Providence College Athletics
Friday, March 17
Greensboro, N.C. / Greensboro Coliseum
7:10 PM
Providence College
21-12,13-7Big East
53
vs
61
Kentucky
22-11,12-6SEC
1
2
F
Providence
31
22
53
Kentucky
38
23
61
No. 11-seed Men’s Basketball Falls to No. 6-seed Kentucky In NCAA Tournament First Round, 61-53
3/17/2023 10:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Ed Croswell finished with 16 points for the Friars.
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The No. 11-seed Providence College men's basketball team (21-12, 13-7 BIG EAST) was defeated by the No. 6-seed Kentucky Wildcats (22-11, 12-6 SEC), 61-53, on Friday, Mar. 17 in the First Round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C. Graduate student Ed Croswell (Philadelphia, Pa.) led the way for the Friars with 16 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Devin Carter (Miami, Fla.) finished with 10 points.
FIRST HALF:
- Croswell scored the first basket of the game in the paint. After the first basket, the Friars endured an early three-minute scoring drought.
- Carter scored two transition dunks before the first media timeout.
- The Friars held an 11-10 lead at the 11:39 media timeout. Kentucky center Oscar Tshiebwe had already notched 10 rebounds in the game, including six offensive boards.
- Carter knocked down the Friars' first three-ball at the 10:21 mark. The Friars had made each of their last three shots.
- At the 7:34 mark, Kentucky's Antonio Reeves drained his second three-pointer of the game. The Wildcats had made each of their last five and led 22-19.
- With 4:33 remaining in the half, Carter made his second steal, picking off a Kentucky pass and feeding Corey Floyd, Jr. (Franklin, N.J.) for the alley-oop slam. PC trailed 26-25.
- With less than two minutes left, Reeves hit two more triples to extend Kentucky's lead to double digits, 36-25. The Wildcats were on a 10-0 run. The Friars had missed eight of their last 10 shots and had not scored in nearly three minutes.
- Jared Bynum (Largo, Md.) responded with two three-pointers of his own to end the half.
- PC trailed by seven at halftime, 38-31.
- Kentucky out-rebounded the Friars by a margin of 25-13 in the first half.
- Providence shot 13-31 (41.9%) from the field, 3-11 (27.3%) from three and 2-3 (66.7%) from the free throw line.
- Kentucky shot 16-35 (45.7%) from the field, 4-10 (40.0%) from three and 2-4 (50.0%) from the free throw line.
SECOND HALF:
- Carter was the first Friar to reach double figures.
- At the 17:16 mark, Noah Locke (Baltimore, Md.) knocked down his first triple of the game. The Friars cut the deficit to one possession, trailing 38-35.
- The Friars suffered a nearly three-minute scoring drought as the second half progressed. Meanwhile, Reeves converted his fifth three-pointer for the Wildcats. PC trailed 46-37.
- Each team went cold and endured multi-minute scoring droughts midway through the half. With eight minutes remaining, the Friars had missed eight of their last nine shot attempts, and Kentucky had missed nine of their last 10.
- At the 7:18 mark, Locke drained another triple. It was the Friars' first field goal in six minutes. PC faced a five-point deficit, 46-41.
- Croswell finished back-to-back dunks to cut the deficit to four with over four minutes remaining.
- With 1:16 remaining, the Friars used a timeout, trailing by six. Kentucky extended the lead to double digits in the final minute.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Providence finished 21-58 (36.2%) from the field, 5-24 (20.8%) from three and 6-11 (54.5%) from the free throw line.
- Kentucky finished 23-63 (36.5%) from the field, 5-16 (31.3%) from three and 10-13 (76.9%) from the free throw line.
- Two players finished in double figures for the Friars: Croswell (16) and Carter (10).
- Antonio Reeves led the way for the Wildcats with 22 points. Jacob Toppin added 18 points. Oscar Tshiebwe finished with eight points and a game-high 25 rebounds (11 offensive).
- Kentucky out-rebounded the Friars by a margin of 48-31, including 18-8 in offensive boards. The Wildcats scored 16 more second-chance points (18-2).
NOTES:
- The Friars finished with their lowest point total in a game this season.
- The Friars are making their 22nd NCAA Tournament appearance and seventh since 2014.
- Tonight marked the first ever meeting between PC and Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament. The Friars have posted an 0-4 mark all-time versus Kentucky.
- The Friars are 17-23 all time in the NCAA Tournament with two trips to the Final Four (1973 and 1987).
- Cooley has led the Friars to seven NCAA Tournaments in 12 years, which is more than any other coach at PC.
- Cooley has registered a 3-8 mark all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- Hopkins is the first Friar to earn All-BIG EAST First Team honors since Ben Bentil and Kris Dunn (2016).
- The Friars registered 13 BIG EAST wins for the second consecutive season and the second time in team history.
- The Friars have registered 20 or more wins in 30 of the team's 96 seasons.
-GO FRIARS!-
Team Stats
PROV
UK
FG%
.362
.365
3FG%
.208
.313
FT%
.545
.769
RB
31
48
TO
10
11
STL
5
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball2018-2019 Men's Basketball Highlight Video
Saturday, April 13
