Providence was without Kris Dunn and Ryan Fazekas for this game and Ben Bentil started the game off as questionable but dressed. Ed Cooley was hoping now to use the big man but that all changed with the Friars looking sluggish. Cooley inserted Bentil with 5:15 left in the first half and the sophomore played every second the rest of the way until the final few seconds of the game. He finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds in 25 minutes.
Drew Edwards had a breakout effort in the second half. Edwards started the game 0/2 but got hot and went off for 17 points on 6/10 shooting, including 5/9 from 3-point range. Edwards came into this game averaging under 7 minutes/game and 1.1 points/game.
Rodney Bullock had a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Bullock got better once Bentil entered the fray, but he didn’t do much scoring in the second half. He did a good job cleaning the glass though. Providence outrebounded Bryant,
Jalen Lindsey got off to a horrendous shooting start but he managed to get it going and finished with 15 points on 5/12 shooting. Lindsey was active on the glass with 7 rebounds.
The key for Providence — aside from Bentil being able to give it a go — was balance on offense. Four Providence players scored in double figures. It was also a tale of two halves for the Friars. Cooley’s crew shot just 35.3% from the field, including 1/14 from 3-point range in the first half. The second half numbers look a lot better: 53.8 % and 7/14 from downtown.
Bryant hurt themselves in the second half with turnovers. After turning it over 8 times in the first 20 minutes, Bryant coughed the ball up 10 times in the second half. Providence scored 24 points off those 18 Bulldog turnovers.
The 10-1 and 15th ranked Friars return to action next Saturday after the final exam break and will take on Rider at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. That game tips at 8pm EST and is on FSN.
This Thoughts from the Road: Desk Edition is brought to you from my brand-spanking new home office, complete with my chair that arrived Wednesday just in time for me to be sweating from putting it together at the tip-off.
This game harkened some memories of the 2014-15 Friar season. By the end of the game, I was reminded of Providence’s first Big East road win last season at Hinkle Fieldhouse where Ed Cooley relied on the “all-grit team” lineup of Kris Dunn, Ted Bancroft, Junior Lomomba, LaDontae Henton and Paschal Chukwu. Cooley ran 4 of those 5 guys for the entire 20 minute second half, en route to an impressive Providence road win. That was the good part, the ending. The beginning of the second half reminded me of another of Providence’s Big East road contests from last season: Xavier. Right as the second half was getting underway, Cooley walked off the bench and into the locker room. He would be taken to a Cincinnati hosptial and spent the night there. What ensued was ugly basketball from the Friars while Andre LaFleur at the helm. Providence played sloppy, looked totally out of sync and got overrun by the Musketeers, who would win the game by 9 after the Friars took a 5 point lead into the break. That seemed to be exactly what was happening in the beginning of the second half of this game. Providence had twice as many turnovers as points 8 minutes into the half and they looked lost on offense. Boston College failed to take advantage, the Eagles themselves dealing with their own depletion thanks to a norovirus caught at Chipotle over the weekend. The young Friars managed to do enough on defense and feed Rodney Bullock enough to keep the Eagles at arm’s length before pulling back away in the last 5 minutes.
Ben Bentil got off to another terrific start for Providence and was outscoring the entire Boston College team for much of the first 10 minutes of the first half. Bentil appeared on his way to another 20+ point night and a double-double, but the improved Friar big man landed on Dennis Clifford’s foot coming down after a shot and rolled his left ankle with 1:58 left in the first half. Bentil went to the locker room and would only return to the bench at the under 8 media timeout on crutches. Bentil finished the game with 16 points and 8 rebounds despite not playing a minute of the second half.
Kris Dunn did not appear to be himself during 15 first half minutes. Dunn came out of the game with about 4 minutes remaining in the first stanza and went to the locker room with what we would find out later was an illness. Dunn went 2/8 from the field in the first half and didn’t return to the game because of that illness.
Rodney Bullock was the story in the second half for Providence. The Friars were putrid on the offensive end, beginning the half with 9 turnovers and 4 points through the under 12 media timeout. Bullock scored Providence’s first 11 points of the second half and was the sole reason Providence didn’t fall behind the Eagles in this one. Bullock finished with 17 points on 9/14 shooting, with 15 of those points coming in the second half.
Ryan Fazekas was not at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center for this game as he came down with the flu and remained on campus. Jalen Lindsey got his first start of the season and didn’t do much to makeup for Fazekas’s lost offense. Lindsey finished the game with 8 points after starting 0/5 from the field. He did make a big 3-pointer with 2:51 to extend Providence’s lead to 12 and led the team with 9 rebounds. Jim Peters, a local reporter who covered Fazekas in high school, reported on Twitter that Ryan has mononucleosis and will miss several weeks. We’ll see what is heard leading up to Saturday’s game against Bryant.
Kyron Cartwright had to run the show for the entire second half and played all 20 minutes during the second session. Cartwright lit up the turnover stat with 4 for the game, but he also made some nice plays cutting into the lane and feeding teammates.
Drew Edwards was forced into his first extended action and the young man was impressive with his energy, especially on the defensive end. He didn’t have a ton of points or rebounds but he had tough defense and deflections.
This is an all-grit game for Providence. Down 3 starters, 2 for the entire second half and 1 for the entire game, and they managed to gut out a win with a lot of young and inexperienced played having to play big time minutes.
The Friars return to action Saturday and will complete the Quahog trifecta by playing Bryant at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. That game tips at 12pm EST and is on FS1.
This Thoughts from the Road: Couch Edition is brought to you from the insanely comfortable — and hard to get up from — couch at the Smerkers’. It is also fueled by trips to Anthony’s and East Side Pocket and Mollie’s buffalo chicken mac and cheese.
Ed Cooley was doing his best troll job by using coachspeak to call this matchup against Providence’s most-played opponent all-time a business trip and not a rivalry game. Cooley’s comments added a little fuel to the fire this year to a game that lost a bit of it’s luster when E.C. Matthews tore his ACL in URI’s season opener. The game certainly lived up to whatever hype there was and is garnering lots of national attention for how exciting it was and for the dramatic fashion in which the Friars won the game.
Wow. That’s a rivalry game and the finish couldn’t have been more exciting. Ben Bentil saved the day with the game-winning tip-in at the buzzer off a Kris Dunn miss. Bentil led all scorers with 23 in the game, which makes this 5 straight 20+ scoring games for the Friar sophomore. He also led the Friars on the glass with 8 boards.
Kris Dunn had a season-high 6 turnovers but had some big-time baskets down the stretch. Dunn finished with 15 points, 5 rebound and 3 steals.
Junior Lomomba has a nice night for the Friars, finishing with 10 points on 4/6 shooting.
The Friars return to action Wednesday against ACC foe Boston College at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. That game tips at 7pm EST and is on FS1.
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