GREAT FALLS — After a scorching 15-0 start to the season, the Providence men’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season last Saturday on the road at Carroll College.
The Argos entered Saturday’s contest coming off a huge 100-65 win over Montana State-Northern where Zaccheus Darko-Kelly and Brandon Cotton each scored 23 points. Darko-Kelly followed that up with a 33-point performance against Carroll, and UP head coach Steve Keller said he wouldn’t expect to lose many games where his top player scores that much.
But the Argos know they came out flat, both on defense and taking care of the ball. The Saints scored 17 second-chance points and 21 points off turnovers. Defense has been an area of concern for the team all year, so Keller says although he would like to never lose, there’s lots to learn from the Carroll game.
"I don’t think you’ll ever hear me say it’s a relief to get a loss, but sometimes winning hides the things that you’re not doing well, and so we got film and we know what we need to work on," Keller said. "So yeah, you can look at it as helping us get better."
Redshirt freshman Dawson Fowler said the biggest difference between the Northern game and the Carroll game was the team's ability to take care of the little things.
"Mainly our turnovers and our defense is what’s going to win us games. I don’t think we have a lot to worry about on our offensive end, we just need to take care of the ball and defensive rebound and not let them get those points," Fowler said.
The Argos travel to Montana Tech on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Butte.
