PROVIDENCE, R.I. _ It's only two weeks into the Big East schedule but the Providence College Friars now know why Butler is the surprise of the conference.
The sixth-ranked Bulldogs (15-1) improved to 3-0 in the league with their aggressive, opportunistic defense handcuffing the Friars all night. Just as impressively the Dogs remained poised on offense in the second half when the Friars attempted to put on the squeeze.
The result was an impressive 70-58 victory that ended PC's four-game winning streak. Jordan Tucker led Butler with 17 points. Kamar Baldwin shook off foul woes to also finish with 17 and Bryce Golden added 14 and nine rebounds.
The Friars (10-7, 3-1) managed just 31% shooting and were 6 of 25 from behind the 3-point line. Alpha Diallo led PC with 21 points. David Duke added 15 and Maliek White had 11.
The Friars endured one of those offensive starts that you can rarely recover from. Despite some looks close to the basket, and some heavily-defended ones, the offense missed its first 13 shots. As the home crowd stood and waiting for a first score, the Friars missed 3-pointers, Kalif Young missed a chippee, A.J. Reeves missed while getting clubbed near the rim, and Diallo missed on an off-balance drive.
The good news is Butler wasn't a whole lot better. The Bulldogs went up 9-0 before PC's White drove for a score 6:35 into the game. Diallo added a quick 3-pointer and it was 9-5.
The good vibes didn't continue, however. PC's awful start continued at a 2-of-18 clip and the offense remained choppy the entire half. Butler turned the ball over nine times in the half, but it did go up 14-5 and 19-9. The Friars caught two hoops from Diallo and when Duke drained a 3-pointer with 3:42 to play the crowd enjoyed a bit of a spark and the Friars trailed by just 21-14.
But the final three minutes were disastrous for the Friars. A layup by White would be the only field goal in the final 3:42 and Butler's lead grew to 30-18 at the break. The 18 points were the fewest in a half by the Friars all season. The 20% shooting (6 of 30) evoked nightmares similar to the 18%, 22-point showing in the first half of the ugly 32-point loss to Florida.
Take out Diallo's three buckets and the remainder of the Friars combined to shoot 3 of 24 in the half. Those numbers needed to change _ dramatically _ in the second half.
That's exactly what happened out of the gate as the Friars dumped the ball into Nate Watson early and often and the big man delivered with two quick hoops. A technical foul call on Butler coach LaVall Jordan and two free throws from Duke led to a A.J. Reeves 3-pointer and the lead was down to 36-29.
But Butler was in no mood to crack. Nze and Baldwin answered with quick baskets and the lead was back to double digits at the under-12 timeout. When the Friars hit another cold spell, Butler's Tucker shook free for a layup, Baldwin toasted the Friars with a sweet move in the lane, Tucker drained a 22-footer and then Baldwin hit a 3 and the Bulldogs were home free with a 55-39 lead with just under seven minutes to play.
The Friars slapped a press on and cut it to 57-49 with 3:52 left but a tough foul call on Diallo with four seconds left on the shot clock led to two Baldwin free throws and another hoop that gave the Bulldogs plenty of room to breathe easy.
