This Thoughts from the Road: Couch Edition will be less of a game recap and more of a rambling about the week so far and the weekend upcoming for Providence.
On a day when Kris Dunn’s name appeared on two different National Player of the Year Watch Lists, the Friar star guard went bananas on the lowly Hartford Hawks to the tune of 16 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds. Yup. That’s also known as a triple-double and it’s the second of Dunn’s career. He joins Marvin Barnes and Bob Misevicius as the only Friars in school history to have more than one triple-dub. Dunn looked effortless in accomplishing the feat and also managed to tie his career high in assists in the process. Dunn will surely stick around in the NPOY conversation all season long and he has Providence positioned well heading into the last 5 games of the non-conference schedule.
Kris Dunn got off to a fast start dishing the ball with 11 assists at the break. He notched a double-double after his first made basket of the second half and was on #TripleDoubleWatch for much of his time on the court in the second half. Dunn grabbed his 10th rebound with 6:29 remaining to notch his second career triple-double. Dunn’s other triple-double came on January 29, 2015 against DePaul. Dunn tied his career high with 14 assists in the game and had 16 points on 8/12 shooting. The only other Friars to have two career triple-doubles are Marvin Barnes and Bob Misevicius.
Ben Bentil was impressive on the offensive end of the floor again and finished with 21 points on 9/12 shooting. That marks the fourth straight game with 20+ points for Bentil. Bentil’s streak of 20-point performances is the most consecutive 20-point games since LaDontae Henton accomplished the feat 4 separate times last season. Bryce Cotton had a stretch of 7-straight 20-point games during the 2013-14 season.
Jalen Lindsey made back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers in a 1 minute span beginning at the 5:07 mark of the first half and would finish the game 4/6 from beyond the arc. Lindsey scored 15 points in the game and maybe this is something that will get him going on the offensive end. He also grabbed 8 rebounds.
Ryan Fazekas appeared to injure himself when he took a knee to the thigh at the end of the first half. He didn’t start the second half and was seen riding the exercise bike in the tunnel. He did eventually get some action in the second half but returned to the bike when subbed out. It’s probably nothing but something to keep an eye on with Providence playing their next game in a few days.
The rest of the freshmen got some run in this game and all had some freshmen moments with sloppy play and fouls but it was good for them to get on the floor against some non-teammate competition. Drew Edwards got minutes in the first half before the result was lopsided so he definitely appears to be the closest to cracking the rotation. Tyree Chambers also got some minutes, along with the two walk-on’s Casey Woodring and Tom Planek.
The Friars return to action Saturday against in-state rival Rhode Island at the Ryan Center in Kingston. That game tips at 7pm EST and is on ESPNU.
This Thoughts from the Road: Couch and Bed Edition is brought to you by leftover Thanksgiving food and lots of coffee thanks to the late tipoffs in California.
Despite losing for the first time this season on Sunday night to Michigan State, the Friars were still big winners over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Before I even talk about the impact of getting a win over a top-15 team on a neutral court I want to mention the opportunities that Providence gained from a schedule perspective. Consider this slate of opponents: Evansville, Santa Clara, UC Irvine. That’s what Providence probably would have faced had they not gotten off to a good start by beating a solid Evansville team. Instead, the Friars got to play Arizona and Michigan State — two teams who are likely to be top 4 seeds in the NCAA Tournament — not to mention they beat one and hung tough with the other.
Ben Bentil had an excellent showing in the entire Wooden Legacy Tournament. The 6’9 sophomore led the Friars in scoring in the first half again. Bentil had 13 points at the half to go along with 6 rebounds and finished the night with 20 points and 7 rebounds.
Kris Dunn had his highest turnover number of the season in this game and also was forced to the bench for a chunk of the second half after picking up his 4th foul. Dunn came back in with 4:21 remaining and tried to carry the team to a win but he fell short. Dunn scored 21 points on 8/19 from the floor and added 6 assists and 5 rebounds.
After having a season-high 10 first half turnovers, Providence only coughed it up 2 times in the second stanza. Providence was able to compete with Michigan State on the glass after getting annihilated against Arizona on Friday night. The rebounding margin was -7 but it was closer than that for most of the night. The Friars even led that stat +6 at the half.
Denzel Valentine was hampered by early foul trouble and didn’t seem to really ever get into takeover mode. He finished with 17 points but wasn’t exactly the same player he had been the prior two games of this tournament.
Bryn Forbes carried the Spartans on the scoring front for much of the night and finished with 18 points.
The final score of this one didn’t indicate how close it really was all night. The Friars and Spartans see sawed the lead all night and Michigan State was able to extend the lead, make free throws and get some garbage baskets to extend the lead.
Dunn and Bentil were named to the All-Tournament team.
Friars return to action Wednesday back at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center against Hartford. That game tips at 7pm EST and is on FSN.
Ben Bentil carried the scoring load for Providence for much of this game and led the Friars in scoring wit 21 points.
Kris Dunn dealt with foul trouble for a lot of the night but took over in clutch time. Dunn score 11 of Providence’s 13 points in the last 3:58 and the other basket was a dunk he assisted on to Bentil. Dunn finished with 19 points on 7/9 shooting. He also had 8 assists.
This game had the feel of an NCAA Tourament — complete with the horrendous referring — and will prove to be very helpful for Providence’s confidence in a tournament setting.
Ryan Anderson killed Providence like he used to do in a Boston College uniform. Anderson led all scorers with 27 points and added a game high 12 rebounds.
Rebounding was an ugly stat for Providence. Arizona dominated the glass to the tune of 43-22. The Friars gave up 16 offensive rebounds and 26 second chance points. That isn’t good and they obviously won despite it but that kind of disparity won’t be present in a lot of other wins this season.
Junior Lomomba and Ryan Fazekas played well for Providence. Lomomba played excellent defense and added a few offensive moves to the rim. Fazekas hit two 3-pointer, including a key one to narrow an Arizona lead from 7 to 4 with 6:07 left in the game.
Friars return to action Sunday in the final game of the Wooden Legacy Tournament at 10:00pm EST on ESPN2 against (3) Michigan State for the championship.
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