Tag Archives: Mohegan Sun

Schedule

Providence to Play Houston at Mohegan Sun in Neutral Site Game

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Jon Rothsein is reporting that the Providence Friars are heading back to the Mohegan Sun Arena in nearby Uncasville, CT for a neutral site matchup against the Houston Cougars on December 20th. Providence last played at Mohegan Sun in the 2014-15 season as part of the Hall of Fame Tipoff. The Friars defeated Florida State and Notre Dame to take home the trophy. This game, which Rothstein reported is likely to be part of a double-header, will just be a neutral site game and not part of a tournament. The Friars are playing in the 2017 2K Classic in November. It’s unclear if the deal will include a game or games at Providence and/or Houston.

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Thoughts from the Road: Providence’s Weekend at Mohegan Sun

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With back to back games on Saturday and Sunday against ACC teams I was expecting Providence to split the weekend and head back to Rhode Island at 4-1 thankful for a good first 8 days of the 2014-15 season. Ed Cooley’s bunch had no plans of settling for a split. The Friars wanted to make a statement this past weekend and I think they managed to do just that.

Having said that, Florida State is not a very good team right now. They have now lost 3 straight games after falling to UMass in a tight game that preceded Providence/Notre Dame Sunday and dropping a home game against Northeastern before arriving in Connecticut. The Seminoles don’t seem to have an identity on offense and they clearly quit during the second half of their game against Providence. Leonard Hamilton and his staff have a lot of work to do with that team going forward.

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Friars Defeat Notre Dame in Nail-biter

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What a game! This game had to be one of the best of the early college basketball season and its a shame one team had to lose. What turned into a championship game for the Naismith bracket of the Hall of Fame Tipoff with both teams being undefeated heading into the game the players didn’t disappoint.

The story early in the game was Notre Dame’s second chance points from offensive rebounds but the story quickly changed to be about LaDontae Henton.

“Henton was fabulous,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said after the game. Fabulous might be an understatement. Ed Cooley was emotional in his post game remarks talking about how he was recollecting after the game about LaDontae Henton being his first commitment at Providence College and how he is proud to have watched him grow up.

Henton did his best Bryce Cotton impersonation and went off for a career high 38 points in 40 minutes including the game winning free throws with 14.8 seconds on the clock. The Friars made two stops after that with the Irish getting the ball out of bounds off a Jerian Grant miss. Cooley mentioned after the game that Kris Dunn wanted to guard Grant but Cooley opted to give the assignment to Junior Lomomba because Dunn was a bit gimpy after taking a spill into the first row behind the basket a few minutes earlier.

Providence only had 10 turnovers but they allowed the Irish to grab 10 offensive rebounds. Both teams shot the ball well from the field with Providence being 28/50 (56%) and Notre Dame going 26/52 (50%). Jerian Grant came alive in the second half and ended up with 20 points after getting off to a slow start in the first half.

Providence’s next game is Friday back at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center against Yale.

Notes:

  • Freshman Jalen Lindsey injured his ankle after making a three pointer in the first half. He would only return to the bench after halftime and was on crutches. Cooley didn’t get into details after the game but said they will give the players Monday off and re-evaluate the injury before the next game against Yale on Friday.
  • LaDontae Henton’s 38 points are the most for a Providence player since Bryce Cotton scored 36 points in Providence’s loss to North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament last season.
  • After having a few less than stellar performances at the free throw line earlier in the season Providence shot 92.9% (13/14) against Notre Dame.
  • The Providence team will be together on Thanksgiving at Ed Cooley’s house.
Game Previews & Recaps

Rapid Reaction: Providence Friars Blow Out Seminoles

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This game was over before it started at Mohegan Sun with the Friars getting out to an 11-0 lead in the first 5 minutes. Florida State didn’t score their first field goal until the 13:21 mark.

Kris Dunn was very impressive playing in front of a large number of family and friends from nearby New London. After dishing out a career high 14 assists on Thursday against Navy, Dunn scored a career high 15 points while finishing 1 assist shy of a second straight double-double.

LaDontae Henton led all scorers with 24 points to go along with 10 boards.

Providence will take on Notre Dame Sunday at 2:30pm.

Schedule

Tickets for Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun on Sale Now

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The Friars will play two games at Mohegan Sun as part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off. The first game is November 22nd at 2:30pm against Florida State and the second game will be November 23rd at 2:30pm against Notre Dame.

Tickets are now on sale to the general public as of 10am this morning. You can go to Ticketmaster.com or the Mohegan Sun Arena box office. Each ticket gives you access to both games on each day as UMass will play at noon on both days and will play Florida State and Notre Dame as well.

Prior to the games at Mohegan Sun, Providence will take on Binghamton and Navy at the Dunkin’Donuts Center as part of this tournament. The Binghamton game is on 11/17 and the Navy game is on 11/20. For a full look at the 2014-15 non-conference schedule, click here.

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Providence College Basketball 2014-15 Schedule So Far

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On June 18th, Brendan McGair of the Pawtucket Times tweeted that he was hearing PC would play Stonehill for one of the exhibition games this upcoming season. I was able to confirm that report and have added them to the 2014-15 schedule page that is linked at the top of the site.

The non-conference schedule looks pretty challenging overall and features a few interesting opponents at interesting venues like Kentucky at Rupp Arena, Miami at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Tipoff at Mohegan Sun. I’ll be doing an in-depth preview of each and every non-conference opponent as the season draws closer so keep an eye open for those previews which will most likely be done weekly beginning in the middle of August.

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#pcbb On: Providence’s Out of Conference Schedule for 2014-2015

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It’s officially the offseason now. March Madness has come and gone. Connecticut is the national champion.

The focus for fans now turns heavily to recruiting, discussing potential starters/lineups for their team next season, how many minutes and points per game and rebounds per game, etc. a kid they have never seen play before will have and, finally, who they will be playing out of conference (OOC). For Providence, recruiting means filling out their remaining 2 spots for the 2014 class with a focus on 5th year transfers and junior college players who can contribute immediately next season. Potential starters/lineups likely can’t be determined for the Friars until they have another guard in hand for 2014 and at some point in the coming weeks, I’ll enter the fray on that discussion with my own thoughts on that topic. For now though, my focus is on the OOC schedule that PC has lined up for next season.

As I mentioned in my piece reviewing the Big East’s first season with the current configuration, one of the big keys for maintaining the strength of this updated version of the Big East is for teams to play a strong OOC schedule. The reality is that most years won’t provide the opportunity to play a top 25 ranked opponent every week like the prior version of this conference did many years. My guess is that most years there will be about 2-3 teams in the top 25 with the potential for a great year having 50% of the league ranked. The 2013-2014 season saw the Big East have an OOC strength of schedule ranked 7th in the country. They likely need to be top 5 every year in that category. Things are off to a solid start with Creighton reportedly having agreed to a home and home series with Oklahoma beginning in Omaha next season. Also, it was reported over the weekend that St. John’s and Duke will restart their series on January 31, 2015 at Madison Square Garden after a two year hiatus. The Johnnies also will head to the Carrier Dome this season to take on former conference rival Syracuse in December 2014.

providence live rpi stats after 2014
RPI Forecast

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