This Thoughts from the Road: Couch Edition is brought to you from the very comfortable blue couch at my parent’s house. It was powered by a chicken parm from Rustica and aided by the company of my mom and Declan. With Big East play on the horizon, I am planning to have some more actual Thoughts from the Road that involve me driving to Providence and attending games in person. Stay tuned in 2016.
Kris Dunn returned to the court against UMass and he didn’t leave any clues that he hadn’t played in a game since December 9th. Dunn stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds in 24 minutes of action. Dunn got to the rim with ease, made a pair of 3-pointers and had a few highlight reel plays.
Ben Bentil had a big game as I predicted. Bentil set a new career high with 32 points, while notching his 3rd double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. He also had 2 vicious blocks. Bentil was very efficient shooting from the field and free throw line. He went 11/16 from the field, including 3/5 from 3-point range. He was also 7/9 from the line. Bentil’s 32 matches Dunn’s 32 from the season opener for the season high by a single Friar.
Jalen Lindsey scored the first 6 points of the night on two 3-pointers and would sink another from downtown. He also had another strong rebounding game with 8 boards.
Junior Lomomba had a very nice game with 11 points and 6 assists and he did a pretty god job guarding UMass’ high-scoring guards.
Rodney Bullock struggled with foul trouble and only played 5 minutes in the first half and didn’t score. Bullock did some scoring in the second half but he wasn’t really needed tonight. He finished with 8 points and 6 rebounds.
The Friars finish out the non-conference at 12-1, which is a great start to the season. They have a win over #8 Arizona on their non-conference resume and their only loss is to #1 Michigan State. Not a bad start for Ed Cooley’s bunch.
The 12-1 and 10th ranked Friars return to action next Thursday on the road as they open the Big East schedule at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse to take on the 9th ranked Butler Bulldogs on New Year’s Eve. That game tips at 2:30pm EST and is on CBSSN.
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.
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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