Better, better

Let's get a couple of things out there before we get into the meat of this post: Providence isn't really any good. In fact, they are crappy. First, they had 10 loses coming into last nights game. Second, not only do they have loses to the good teams of the Big East, they also posted L's against fellow BE bottom feeders like Seton Hall (by 10 at Seton Hall), South Florida, and Rutgers, and have non-conference slip-ups against Boston College and La Salle. That's right, La Salle.
Finally, Providence seemed incapable to playing a tough zone last night and while I would like to think that Uconn's stellar attack against their defense forced them to play more man-to-man, the reality is Providence just doesn't have the horses to play a zone that makes you sweat.
All of that fed into the 75-57 win at Gampel last night.
But, as I have said in the past, the Big East is really about survive and advance. You don't get style points in a league where almost anyone can beat anyone else on any given night. You just win, and Uconn did.
Yet, there a lot of positives from last nights game, and I'm not even including the Lazarus act by Jamal Coombs-McDaniels. The reason I'm not including that is because I don't know how much of McUsuallsucks' play is transferable to another game, or the rest of the season. Maybe it is. Maybe Jamal has finally figured out  how to use his 6-7 frame for more than just hoisting up bad three pointers. If he can provide a spark, offensively, March looks like a much brighter month. It gives Uconn much more depth, and takes pressure off Jeremy Lamb and Roscoe Smith, both of whom proved last night that freshmen can still have freshmen games.
Even if we assume that Jamal Coombs-McAwesome goes back to be Jamal Coombs-McTakeabadshotthenturntheballover in the coming weeks, there is still a lot to like about this game.
It starts with Kemba Walker, who played perhaps his most complete game of the season. He scored 22 points on 7-10 shooting. He had seven assists and five steals, and everything felt under control. Somewhere between NYC and Gampel, Kemba found his mid-range jumper, the most important weapon in his arsenal, and he utilized it last night. He also played like a point guard, finding the open man instead of running headlong into the teeth of the defense, hoping for the best but usually producing the worst.
In the Seton Hall game, they showed a clip of Kemba running down the floor with Roscoe Smith to his right. As Kemba approached the three-point line, three defenders converged, yet Kemba didn't give up the ball, instead choosing to look for a seam in the defense like a running back looking for a lane. Of course, the move went no where, Kemba was forced to give up his dribble, and an easy scoring opportunity for a teammate was wasted.
That didn't happen last night. Instead, Kemba found the open man. When someone (McNasty usually) flashed to the open spots on the baseline, Kemba roped a laser pass in to take advantage. He was the leader in every facet, and the team was the better for it.
Then, there was a the defense. The offense with this young team has always been up and down, that's just the way it is. They miss open shots, they dribble too much, and they make poor decisions from time to time. The reason, however, that Uconn has 19 wins overall, 7 in the Big East, and an NCAA resume right now is because they played defense. That's what is probably so distressing about the last two weeks and, particularly, about their loss to St. Johns. Th defense was lacking.
It returned last night.
I have no idea if Uconn's offense would have been able to handle zone or man-to-man if the team across from them was Georgetown, not Providence last night. What I do know is, had it been Georgetown trying to score the ball, I don't think they would have had any more luck than the Friars in that second half. Uconn was lock-down. They were legit. They contested every shot. Charles Okwandu proved yet again that he is a solid option in the middle with his rebounds and blocks. Providence had no answer.
Again, offense, even on good teams, will come and go, but if the defense stays tight from tip to buzzer, Uconn will once again find themselves in every game with a chance to win.
I think it is also important to point out that while Providence might not be very good, they have also beaten some very good clubs (Louisville and Villanova) and lost by two to Georgetown at Georgetown, by four to Pittsburgh, and by six to Syracuse at the Dome in a game where Providence led much of the way. In other words, they haven't been a pushover.
Sure, the Friars were the appetizer to the main course meal on Wednesday when the Hoyas come calling, followed by a weird Friday night game at Louisville. If we look up this time next week and Uconn has two more loses, a 7-7 record in the Big East, and a 2-7 record in their last nine games, with March right around the corner, a win against Providence is going to seem meaningless. But every climb back to the top has to start at the bottom, and last night Uconn began the climb back up.
They got some unexpected help in the process, but it was needed and now, if they could just find a way to split the next two games, March dreams will once again begin to swirl.