Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI

When: 9:00PM

How: Fox Sports 1 (Brian Custer & Steve Donahue)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Game Notes

• Providence and Brown have met 120 times all time making this rivalry the 2nd most played game in Providence history behind Rhode Island (124). The Friars hold a 93-27 edge in the series with those 93 wins being the most wins against a single opponent in Providence history. The first meeting was December 16, 1921 with Brown beating the Friars, 48-12, in an exhibition game in Lyman Gym. The first regular season meeting would be 7 years later on March 3, 1928 with Providence taking that game in Marvel Gymnasium, 31-19. Providence beat the Bears, 73-69, the last time the teams met at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center last season.
• Brown is 4-6 on the season coming into Monday’s game after beating Bryant, 69-62 on December 6th. Sophomore forward Leland King leads the Bears in scoring and rebounding with averages of 15.8 ppg and 8.0 rpg.
• Providence is 128-48 against the Ivy League all time including the Friars’ earlier win this season against Yale on November 28th.
• Providence takes a 39 game non-conference home winning streak into the action on Saturday. This marks the 2nd longest active streak in the nation behind Duke’s 113 game winning streak at Cameron Indoor. The Friars have won all of their non-conference home games in each of the last four seasons and are 4-0 so far this season. The last home non-conference loss came on December 12, 2009 against Iona, 82-73. The longest non-conference home win streak in school history is 56 games which was from February 13, 1973 to December 27, 1974.
• The line opened with Providence as a 15 point favorite. There has been some movement with the line getting up to as high as Providence -16.5.

Game Preview

Providence will be looking to rebound from back to back road losses with a home contest against crosstown rival Brown. The Bears were picked to finish 5th out of 8 teams in the preseason coaches poll of the Ivy League and Vegas believes Providence should win by double-digits so perhaps this is the kind of game that Ed Cooley’s bunch can take out some anger on their opponent. Having said that, this is still a rivalry game and Brown got the best of the Friars 2 seasons ago at their home arena so the Friars will have to be careful. This team is not nearly as talented or experienced as the Yale bunch that gave Providence a scare at the end of that game so I would expect Providence to take care of business.

The Friars had a few days between this game and their loss Friday night at Boston College to gather their thoughts and practice and I think they will come out fired up and ready to play Monday night. The 9pm tip time is a bit unorthodox but the Friars are at the mercy of the Big East’s television partner, Fox Sports 1.

Brown opened the season 1-5 with losses to Northwestern, Holy Cross, Indiana State, Illinois and Austin Peay before getting their second win against Prairie View A&M. Last week the Bears went 1-1 with the loss being to American University and the win coming against Bryant. Their other two wins are against St. Peter’s and Division III Johnson & Wales (RI). After this game against the Friars Brown has a 14 day gap between games.

I look for LaDontae Henton to have a big game and get back to his pre-Kentucky form on the offensive end. Carson Desrosiers will be looking to build off his most productive offensive game in a Friar uniform with his 15 points against Boston College and Kris Dunn is coming off a career high of 24 points. This should be a game that Providence controls early and allows their freshman to get some good minutes in the second half.

Prediction: Providence 71 Brown 59

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