Jared Bynum hit a go-ahead jumper just before the buzzer to lift the Friars over the Musketeers
1 min read
It wasn’t an exact replica of the famous Ryan Arcidiacono-to-Kris Jenkins pitch-back that allowed Villanova to win the 2016 NCAA Tournament. And the stakes weren’t nearly as high, obviously.
But it was still nice and great.
Providence’s Al Durham, in the final seconds of a tie game Wednesday night at Xavier, rushed the ball up the court and then pitched it back to Jared Bynum, who buried a jumper just before the last horn sounded.
Final score: Providence 65, Xavier 62.
The Friars are now 17-2.
“It was a high-level game,” Bynum said. “It was going to come down to one shot. I was able to make the last shot, and I’m grateful for that.”
As I noted Wednesday night on CBS Sports Network, Providence does not have great computer numbers. The Friars are 47th at KenPom, 39th in BPI, 36th in Sagarin and 33rd in the NET. That is worth noting. But the résumé, to this point, has to be respected. Providence is 4-1 in Quadrant 1 and 4-1 in Quadrant 2 — or 8-2 in the first two quadrants with zero additional losses. That’s strong, and it’s among the reasons I’ve advanced Ed Cooley’s team to No. 15 in Thursday’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
Providence’s win, combined with Marquette moving up to No. 18 following Wednesday’s 73-63 victory at Seton Hall, caused LSU, USC, Ohio State and BYU to be pushed down in the rankings though no fault of their own. Meantime, Davidson was removed from the Top 25 And 1 because of a 70-68 loss to VCU. The Wildcats have been replaced in the rankings by Illinois, which is 6-2 in its past eight games heading into Saturday’s contest at Northwestern.
