- ICYMI – Providence Announces Game-Changing Ruane Friar Development Center
- ICYMI – Joe Lunardi’s Latest Bracket Math Released
- Providence Journal – Kevin McNamara – After years of dreaming, PC finally gets its new basketball facility
- Providence Journal – Kevin McNamara – Providence College to build new athletics center for men’s basketball
- Friarbasketball.com – Craig Leighton – Ruane Friar Development Center
- FoxSports.com – Reid Forgrave – Providence basketball getting new practice facility
- Yahoo.com – Ryan Lambert – NCAA Hockey 101: Providence and beasts of East; praising Jeff Jackson
Tag Archives: Ed Cooley
Providence Announces Game-Changing Ruane Friar Development Center
Providence has upgraded their facilities for athletics massively in the 14 years since Bob Driscoll arrived as the school’s Athletic Director. There are new fields, a new stadium for soccer and lacrosse, a track, a new softball field, new tennis courts, big upgrades to both the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and Schneider Arena. The one missing piece is a dedicated facility for men’s basketball — something that every other Big East member has on their campus. On Wednesday Driscoll, along with President Brian Shanley, OP. announced that they have received a major gift from former Board of Trustees Chair Michael A. Ruane and his wife, Elizabeth Ruane that will allow the Ruane Friar Development Center to break ground in the Spring of 2016. The Ruane’s also donated a large sum towards the construction of the Ruane Center for the Humanities that opened in September 2013. The project is two-phased with the first phase expected to be completed by the Summer of 2017.
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Thoughts from the Road: Bentil, Edwards Save Wounded Friars Against Bryant
This Thoughts from the Road: Couch Edition is brought to you by the 5J Christmas party and is powered by the deep reflection during an all-Latin Christmas concert at the Cloisters. Special shoutout to my dad because Joe R said so.
- Ben Bentil did his best Willis Reed impression, albeit in a less grand manner. Bentil being available in the first place made it clear the ankle injury he suffered on Wednesday against Boston College was, as it looked on TV, a standard basketball ankle roll. The fact that he was able to put on his cape with 5:15 left in the first half with his team trailing 2-8 Bryant by 9 means he would have started this game if Ed Cooley needed him to. Since he went on to play the final 5:15 of the first half and the beginning 19:43 of the second half, Bentil showed he is a tough dude. The other thing he showed is that he is a true team leader. With Kris Dunn in sweats on the bench due to illness and his young teammates struggling with a team Vegas decided was a 21 point underdog at the line’s open, Bentil’s mere presence in the game was the calming factor that players like Bryce Cotton, LaDontae Henton and Dunn developed into. Bentil only scored 2 points in the first half — a jumper he made right after entering the game — but it was clear the tide was turning back in Providence’s favor. The Friars finished that 5:15 stretch on a 9-4 run to close the half down just 4 points after being down by 11 — Bryant’s largest lead of the game — with 5:39 left.
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Friars Win: Bryant 67, (15) Providence 74
| Final Score | |
| Bryant | 67 |
| Providence | 74 |
| Leading Scorer | Leading Rebounder | |
| Bryant | Garvin: 16 | Pettway: 10 |
| Providence | Edwards: 17 | Bullock: 14 |
Notes:
- 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.
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Game Notes & Preview: (15) Providence (9-1) vs. Bryant (2-8) 12/12/15
Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI
When: 12:00pm EST
How: FS1 (Justin Kutcher & Vin Parise)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV
Game Notes
Continue reading Game Notes & Preview: (15) Providence (9-1) vs. Bryant (2-8) 12/12/15
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X-Rays Negative on Ben Bentil’s Ankle, Friar Big to Miss Bryant
Providence’s locker room at halftime of last night’s game against Boston College was described by Ed Cooley afterwards as a “triage center.” Kris Dunn left the bench with a few minutes left in the first half with an apparent virus and then Ben Bentil rolls his ankle and makes his way to the locker room with a couple minutes left in the half. By the time Cooley and the rest of the Friars got to the locker room for halftime things were not looking up. Dunn left the arena with the virus but Bentil did return to the bench for the final 7 or so minutes of the game to watch with his teammates. All of Friartown was holding its collective breaths awaiting results of an X-ray of Bentil’s left ankle.
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Thoughts from the Road: Gritty Friars Defeat BC Eagles
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.
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