Most of the attention entering Monday’s game between the Massachusetts men’s basketball team and Providence College focused on the health status of Naismith Player of the Year Candidate and future NBA draft selection Kris Dunn.
The Friars guard’s status was unclear after missing his last two games with a stomach virus, but was healthy enough to return for No. 10 Providence and easily handled the Minutemen, who lost 90-66 at the Mullins Center.
Dunn – who was only 80-85 percent healthy according to Friars coach Ed Cooley – controlled all aspects of the game with his quickness and court vision as he finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and added six rebounds in his first game back since Dec. 9.
Providence (12-1) forward Ben Bentil scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Friars lead for the entirety of the game.
“Providence obviously handled business and controlled the game from the jump tonight,” Minutemen coach Derek Kellogg said. “I thought that (Bentil) set the tone on both ends of the floor. Between him and Dunn, anytime you have a one and a five as good as those guys, that’s a good combination to have.”
Providence outscored UMass (6-5) 46-22 in the paint and 14-2 in fast break points. The Friars assisted on 82.4 percent (28-34) of their baskets including 13-of-17 in the first half.
“I thought that we didn’t have the pop that I would have liked on the defensive end of the floor with some of their actions,” Kellogg said. “The one thing we can’t have are those bigger guys going for those kinds of numbers. We are going to have to get our big guys scrapping and fighting, making it a little more difficult.”
Jabarie Hinds led the Minutemen with 16 points while Trey Davis added 14 points with Antwan Space adding 11 points and nine rebounds in 31 minutes in his debut after missing the first 10 games of the season.
Space’s 31 minutes were the most among UMass forwards and tied with Davis for the most on UMass.
“I’m happy to have him back on the court,” Davis, who is a longtime friend of Space, said. “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
The closest the Minutemen came to PC in the second half was 13 after Zach Coleman scored a layup one minute, five seconds into the frame. The Friars lead by double-digits for the final 29:25 after Dunn made a 3-pointer at the top of UMass’ 2-3 zone.
“We just didn’t get enough stops, that’s what it came down to,” Davis said. “We got back on defense, they made easy buckets. We scored, they scored. The point differential never changed.”
Providence made 10-of-23 3-pointers despite missing it’s top deep threat, Ryan Fazekas, who has mononucleosis.
“That’s one of the most complete games that we’ve played,” Cooley said.
Despite the loss Kellogg said that there were some positives to take away and that moving forward into Atlantic 10 conference plans on mixing and matching different lineups now that Space has returned to the lineup.
“We’ll use this game as a learning experience,” Kellogg said.
Kellogg added: “When we start playing these higher level teams – and a team of this caliber – there are things you can’t get away with that you might be able to get away with against other teams.”
Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.
