No. 4 Providence Routs No. 12 Richmond, Will Face Top-Seed Kansas in Men's Sweet 16

Providence punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament thanks to a 79-51 win over No. 12 Richmond.

This is the sixth time the fourth-seeded Friars have reached the regional semifinals and the first time since 1997. It will be an especially satisfying result for head coach Ed Cooley, who has turned the program into a consistent winner again but couldn't get over the hump in March.

The Big East regular-season champions went wire-to-wire, opening the game on a 10-2 run and didn't look back from there.

The margin of victory was the biggest ever for the Friars in the NCAA tournament.

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Notable Performers

Noah Horchler, F, Providence: 16 points, 13 rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block

Al Durham, G, Providence: 13 points, four rebounds, three assists, one steal

Nathan Cayo, F, Richmond: 18 points, five rebounds, one assist, one block

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Friars Dominate on Both Ends

Providence hasn't been an elite three-point outfit this season. The Friars were tied for 148th in three-point percentage (34.3) and 183rd in made threes (7.3 per game).

They found their stroke to open Saturday's contest. Cooley's squad was 8-of-15 from the perimeter in the first half. Those 24 points were enough to match Richmond's entire offensive output in the opening 20 minutes.

Fresh off holding South Dakota State to 57 points—nearly 30 points fewer than the Jackrabbits' season average—Providence also carried its smothering defense over from the first round.

A 15-point halftime lead for the Friars felt much larger because of the way they were slowing the game down and dictating the tempo. The second half bore that out as the gulf between the teams widened.

Before the NCAA tournament got underway, Providence was the most overseeded team in the field based on their position in the bracket and where they ranked on KenPom.com, per FiveThirtyEight's Santul Nerkar and Neil Paine.

The selection committee might have seen something in the Friars the analytics didn't.

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Richmond Runs out of Gas

Beyond the talent gap, one problem for mid-majors in the NCAA tournament is often the accumulating effect of playing multiple games in which your season hangs in the balance. It can be mentally and physically exhausting when you go from the end of the regular season to the conference tournament to the Big Dance, knowing one loss could upend everything.

As the second half wore on, Richmond looked spent.

The Atlantic 10 champion shot 39.6 percent from the field due in large part to going 1-of-21 from long range. While the Friars' defense played a role in that, missing the mark on 20 three-point attempts is typically a sign of fatigue.

Nathan Cayo at least had himself a game. The Spiders offense was a one-man show, with Grant Golden the only other player to score in double figures.

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What's Next?

Providence will meet top-seeded Kansas in the next round in Chicago. The Jayhawks were tested by No. 9 Creighton in the second round, escaping 79-72.