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.
Ben Bentil had an excellent first half to lead all scorers with 17 points at the break. The Friars offense started off sluggish and out of rhythm but it was Bentil who got things going. He went 7/7 from the free throw line and finished 10/11 from the charity stripe. Bentil finished with a career high 24 points. He also grabbed 8 rebounds.
Kris Dunn started slow but picked things up toward the end of the first half and carried it over to the second half where Providence opened up a large lead — largest was 19 — in the first 5 minutes. Dunn finished with 18 points on 7/15 shooting. He also added 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
Rodney Bullock was quiet on offense but was active on the glass. He pulled down 7 rebounds but scored just 7 points after starting 0/5 from the field. Bullock didn’t get involved in the offensive flow much during the early part of the game and it looked like he was out of sync most of the night.
Ryan Fazekas made some critical 3-pointers at a time when the Friars’ offense was lackluster. He finished with 10 points and 4 rebounds.
Junior Lomomba continues to defy physics and make 3-pointers. Lomomba scored 9 points in the second half and finished with 13 points on 4/8 from the field.
The only freshman besides Fazekas to get minutes in this game was Quadree Smith and those minutes only came in the first half.
I’ll never understand the logic behind starting this game playing zone. DJ Balentine quickly shot the Friars out of it with 2 deep treys.
Friars return to action Friday at 11:30pm EST on ESPN2 against the winner/loser of the Arizona vs. Santa Clara game in the second round of the Wooden Legacy Tournament.
This Thoughts from the Road: Couch Version is brought to you by Fox Sports 1 and was fueled by Lizzie’s leftover stromboli.
Kris Dunn continues to gorge stat sheets every time he steps on the court. There was a very real possibility of Dunn notching his second career triple-double in Providence’s win over NJIT. In fact, if not for a handcheck foul called on an NJIT defender while Dunn was mid-alley oop pass he would have gotten that 10th assist. Dunn also crept up on a quadruple-double with his 7 steals — 1 off his career high. There has never been a quadruple-double recorded in a game pitting two Division I teams against each other. Dunn had to settle for a measly double-double — the second of the season and 10th of his career. Dunn was all over the court on the defensive end.
Kris Dunn flirted with a triple-double but finished with a measly double-double: 22 points, 9 assists, 10 rebounds, 7 steals and 1 turnover.
Rodney Bullock had another strong game as he keeps reinforcing that his game is for real. Bullock finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Ben Bentil scored 21 points and 5 rebounds.
NJIT turned the ball over 22 times and Providence cashed in for 23 points off those turnovers.
Damon Lynn took a little while to get going but he single handedly kept the Highlanders in the game by burying 3-pointers late in the game. He finished with 22 points with 4/9 from deep.
Jalen Lindsey played a second straight solid game. He didn’t score as much as he did against Brown but he found the opening in the zone and made some nice plays on the defensive end. Another guy who may not have had a great box score game that played well was Junior Lomomba. He made some nice defensive plays and a few nice passes and moves to the basket.
Providence led pretty comfortably most of the night but NJIT made a run around the 4 minute mark to get the lead down to 5. Providence managed to keep their heads on straight and maintain their composure.
Providence was much better this game at the free throw line. They finished 25/30 from the charity stripe for the game.
Friars return to action Thursday at 9pm EST on ESPNU against Evansville in the first round of the Wooden Legacy Tournament.
This is the inaugural 2015-16 edition of “Thoughts from the Road” and even though I’m getting this done a little later than I wanted I’m just glad to be talking about actual basketball games again.
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