[Trending News] Providence men’s basketball suffers a shocking home collapse. Who beat the Friars?

Despite leading by as many as 16 points, Providence College suffered a shocking 80-77 home loss to DePaul University.
The Friars shot poorly in the second half, allowing the Blue Demons to shoot over 60% and connect on 8 three-pointers.
Providence had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds but Bensley Joseph missed three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt.

PROVIDENCE — Wednesday night certainly didn’t unfold in the fashion most might have expected while concluding this men’s basketball regular season at Amica Mutual Pavilion.

DePaul had lost six straight games and nine of its last 10. The Blue Demons counted just one road win in 11 tries to date in this 2024-25 campaign and only two victories overall since the calendar flipped to the new year.

Providence needed barely 12 minutes to build a 16-point lead and looked set to snap out of its own malaise. Certainly the Friars would push this Big East matchup over the finish line and lay the groundwork to avoid just the second 20-loss season since the program was founded.

The stretch run had something else in store for the hosts, who suffered a shocking collapse. DePaul just about hung on thanks to some key free throws, an inadvertent whistle and the direction of the possession arrow. Providence suffered a bitter 80-77 defeat and now looks in real jeopardy of matching the wrong kind of school history.

The Blue Demons didn’t lead until an 11-0 run in the second half and followed with another 26-11 burst, one that started in a 54-48 hole and finished with a 74-65 advantage. The Friars had just 1:57 to save themselves and couldn’t do it despite one last opportunity. Bensley Joseph was fouled in the backcourt attempting the tying 3-pointer with 7.5 seconds left but missed his first two free throws before intentionally misfiring on the third.

“A ton of missed opportunities on our end,” Providence coach Kim English said. “Unfortunate happening at the end. I don’t know if we got the offensive rebound, but the inadvertent whistle — tough rule. That leads to a jump ball.

“But a ton of stuff.”

Joseph caught backboard and rim with his third attempt, and referee Tony Chiazza blew his whistle prematurely while anticipating a clean miss off the glass. DePaul had the possession arrow in its favor and CJ Gunn was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass with 7 seconds left. His pair of free throws at the other end iced the worst home loss for Providence, according to KenPom, since falling to Penn in November 2019.

“Tony Chiazza thought the ball was going to fire off the backboard — the ball has to hit the rim,” English said. “It did hit the rim. I know he feels bad about it. But that’s not why we lost. I want to make that abundantly clear.

“We had plenty of opportunities — free throws, stops, finishes at the rim. A ton of opportunities to win the ballgame.”

Isaiah Rivera beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Blue Demons their largest lead at 74-65, part of a sizzling second half for the visitors. DePaul shot 63% and 8-for-14 from 3-point range over the final 20 minutes, and their 1.21 points per possession made them the fourth straight team to reach that mark against the Friars. That’s the equivalent of playing against a top-20 offense in the country every night, and Providence couldn’t keep pace while following a 13-for-17 start with a 15-for-39 finish.

“The defense was bad,” English said. “We guarded the three pretty well in the first half — not so much in the second.

“When you’re looking at them, again, it’s all discipline. It’s the word of our season. Discipline.”

The Friars (12-18, 6-13 Big East) couldn’t have started better offensively. Joseph connected on a deep 3-pointer out high and Providence owned a 31-15 lead with 7:39 left in the first half. It was still 39-28 at the break and 47-37 with 14:37 to play before the Blue Demons (12-18, 3-16) finally confounded the Friars with a zone look they mixed in more as the night progressed.

“I thought our ability to change defenses a little bit and wall up on their drives — they lost a couple [turnovers] on their drives,” DePaul coach Chris Holtmann said. “I thought that was really critical for us.”

Providence committed eight of its 12 giveaways in the second half and fell behind when Layden Blocker connected on the first of his two free throws with 11:04 to play. The Friars answered that deficit with a 7-0 run, but Joseph’s missed front end of a 1-and-1 with 7:13 to play opened the door again. Gunn and Troy D’Amico sandwiched 3-pointers around a dunk by JJ Traynor, and Providence never moved in front again after facing that 62-58 gap.

“It’s different every game,” English said. “It’s different. Some games it’s rebounding. Some games it’s transition defense. Some games it’s shot quality.”

The Friars close with Xavier on the road before beginning conference tournament play Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. Providence will visit the Musketeers on a third losing streak of the season stretching at least four games or more — the first time that’s happened since 2011-12. DePaul dropped the Friars to just 7-6 when leading at halftime and to 3-9 in games decided by six points or less.

“Disappointing,” English said. “I feel for our guys.”

DePAUL (80): Troy D’Amico 2-6 0-0 6, JJ Traynor 9-11 2-2 21, Isaiah Rivera 3-8 3-3 11, Layden Blocker 3-7 1-2 8, Jacob Meyer 0-1 0-0 0, CJ Gunn 8-13 4-4 23, David Thomas 3-7 0-1 6, Chris Riddle 0-0 0-0 0, Theo Pierre-Justin 2-3 0-0 5. Totals: 30-56 10-12 80.

PROVIDENCE (77): Ryan Mela 8-11 1-1 18, Oswin Erhunmwunse 3-6 2-2 8, Jayden Pierre 2-8 2-2 7, Bensley Joseph 3-11 4-8 11, Corey Floyd Jr. 9-12 4-4 25, Rich Barron 1-5 0-0 2, Christ Essandoko 2-3 2-2 6, Wesley Cardet Jr. 0-0 0-0 0, Justyn Fernandez 0-0 0-0 0, Anton Bonke 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 28-56 15-19 77.

Halftime — P, 39-28. 3-pointers — D 10-24 (D’Amico 2-4, Traynor 1-2, Rivera 2-5, Blocker 1-3, Gunn 3-6, Thomas 0-2, Pierre-Justin 1-2), P 6-18 (Mela 1-1, Pierre 1-4, Joseph 1-5, Floyd 3-5, Barron 0-3). Rebounds — D 25 (Gunn 7), P 31 (Floyd 8). Assists — D 14 (Thomas 7), P 15 (Joseph 6).

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On X: @BillKoch25