NEW YORK — On the opening day of the Big East tournament, Providence was done by dinner time.
The eighth-seeded Friars never led and fell behind by 14 in the second half of a 75-69 loss to No. 9 seed Butler late Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. Afterword, coach Kim English didn’t sugarcoat his comments.
“Disappointing effort. Disappointing outcome. But played true to the pitiful, embarrassing season we’ve had,” English said. “That falls on me and the work to correct it begets, and we will.”
Minus injured star Bryce Hopkins for all but three games, Providence dropped its last six and finished 12-20 in English’s second season — including 6-15 against Big East opponents.
It was a significant step backward for the Friars, who went 21-14 the previous year and reached the Big East tournament semifinals.
“We haven’t had a rotation all season,” English said. “The coach in me would love to have a set rotation, but in winning basketball there are certain things that, you don’t deserve to play. Giving up offensive rebounds consistently, playing off one foot at the rim when you don’t have an angle to score, not boxing out, not guarding the ball, allowing shooters to shoot 3s. Forget the rotation. You need to sit on the bench.”
Providence will miss the NCAA tournament for the second straight year following two consecutive appearances under coach Ed Cooley. Before leaving his hometown school for Georgetown, Cooley guided the Friars to seven NCAA berths from 2014-23, winning a Big East tournament title (2014) and a regular-season championship (2022) before reaching the 2022 Sweet 16.
“Again, identify the right people, players, and cultivate that and get our players up to that standard,” English said. “I have no quarrels with any of our players. We failed. We failed as a staff to get the level of shared purpose, to get the level of buy-in where you can go from film or practice to the court and do it.
“We’re teaching the right things. Our methods may need to change because it simply didn’t get through all season. … Our guys know it, but it hasn’t gone through to do it on the court. That’s squarely on my shoulders, and we’ll fix it.”
