Gray tops Hill in big post battle

Providence coach Tim Welsh sat at the press conference table trying to rationalize his… Providence coach Tim Welsh sat at the press conference table trying to rationalize his team’s 74-68 loss to No. 6 Pittsburgh. His team out-rebounded the Panthers, 41-33, shot 42 percent from the floor and led for much of the game. The Friars, in short, did everything that visiting teams dream of doing inside the Petersen Events Center.

The Friars very easily could have won this game.

He pointed, though, to one stretch in the second half where things started to go wrong.

“I thought we executed well, but I thought in the 10-to-five-minute stretch we got away from what we were trying to do,” he said in reference to a time where the Panthers went on a game-changing run. “I don’t know if it was fatigue or what. It happens, but they will make you pay.”

Part of it may have been fatigue, but the rest certainly had to be Aaron Gray.

Early foul trouble sent the preseason Big East Player of the Year to the bench for the remaining nine minutes of the first half. The Friars used the extra space inside to clear the way for Herbert Hill. The 6-foot-10, 240-pound senior proved to be unstoppable in the paint, scoring 10 points on five-for-seven shooting to lead Providence to a 34-33 halftime lead.

Hill did it in all sorts of ways: slashing to the basket, hitting the mid-range jumper or even navigating the baseline to create a shot. He shot over every defender who Jamie Dixon sent his way, often taking a hard dribble to his right before hitting a shot at the top of the key.

“Herb played a monster game,” Welsh said of his only senior starter afterwards. “I think that his performance tonight showed that he’s one of the best big men not only in the conference, but also in the country. He played tough tonight. He missed some bunnies, but he played through it and really helped us stay in the game. I’m proud of him.”

“I think Hill is an NBA player, which is something I told my players before the game,” Dixon said. “He really speaks well for their program, since he wasn’t a very highly recruited guy coming out of high school. He’s worked very hard to get where he is and has been very well-coached, too, and he really succeeds in all facets of the game.”

His success carried over into the second half where he scored four more points in the first three and a half minutes. While Pitt only trailed 42-38, things looked even more bleak when Gray picked up his third foul while stepping out on the Friars’ Sharaud Curry with 16:03 to go. Putting Gray on the bench here would surely lead to even more scoring opportunities for an already hot Hill, so the Panthers appeared to be in trouble.

Both Gray and Dixon sensed it, and both had the same idea in mind.

Gray motioned to Dixon that he wanted to stay in, mouthing to him, “I’ll be smart,” and the fourth-year head coach decided to leave the tallest player on the court out there.

“Really, we needed him in there,” Dixon said afterward. “That’s what it got down to. It’s always a tough call for a coach. Sometimes you have a tendency to sit a guy too long with the worry that he’s going to pick up his third or fourth foul. I was very tempted to put Aaron back in the first half when he had two fouls, but I thought if we could get to halftime with the score closer, we’d be in good shape.

“When he got the third foul, I thought we were at a point where we really needed him in there, and he came through.”

He scored 11 of his game-high 22 points after that point, including several critical buckets during a 15-3 run that brought the Panthers from a 42-36 deficit to a 51-45 lead with 11:48 remaining. Every time the Friars would creep within one possession, Gray would go to work. He got open for a reverse layup before getting a wide-open jam on a lob pass. Even when Hill, who would score 10 more points in the second frame to end with an even 20, hit a layup to pull his team within three with 5:20 to go, Gray responded, this time with his passing.

He received a pass at the high post before three Friars collapsed on him from all sides. He turned his head, holding the ball high, before firing the ball to a wide-open Sam Young underneath the basket. The sophomore slammed the ball home with one hand to push the lead back to five.

“When he’s on the floor, they have that weapon,” Welsh said. “You can help more off screens. You can do a lot of different things when he’s not in the game. We could have gone to a little quicker lineup and maybe go with three guards, and maybe that helps out offense a little more.”

Gray even provided the nail in the coffin without even putting his hands on the ball. With his team clinging to a 66-61 lead rounding the two-minute mark, he planted his huge frame near the right elbow, providing a mammoth screen for Antonio Graves. The senior sprung free, got to the wing and set himself up for a wide-open 3-pointer. Graves collected the ball, set his feet and let it fly. The ball grazed the rim, rolled around once and then dropped in, effectively ending the Friars’ hopes for a comeback.

“Aaron did some really good things, particularly when the game was on the line,” Dixon said. “He had some early foul trouble, but he fought through it, and when he caught the ball inside he was still able to finish strong.”