With this game being looked at by many as the final tune-up game for the Providence Friars before they head south on I-95 to take on Florida State and Notre Dame this weekend at Mohegan Sun it was important for Ed Cooley’s group to play a more complete game than they have in their first two games of the season. That seemed to have been accomplished Thursday night against Navy.

The Midshipmen struggled with Providence size and speed all night and LaDontae Henton got off to a fast start leading the Friars with 10 points in the first half on 4/6 shooting including 2/3 from deep.

Navy led 3-0 and then 3-2 early but that would be the only time the Midshipmen would hold leads in this game. Providence went on an 18 to 1 run to open up a 14 point lead at the 12:24 mark of the first half after that first Navy basket. Providence didn’t allow a lack of effort or freshmen mistakes to derail that lead which is something that occurred their last time out against Binghamton. Providence doubled up Navy at the half, 40-20 despite Henton only playing 12 minutes after picking up his 2nd foul at the 7:11 mark.

The freshmen had their best collective night scoring 29 points total with 18 of those coming from big man Ben Bentil. Bentil was active early on the glass and was often the beneficiary of one of Kris Dunn’s career high 14 assists. Ed Cooley told Vin Parise after the game “I thought [Kris Dunn] was spectacular tonight. I think he controlled the whole game: rebounding, passing, shooting the ball. Kris is trying to get in a rhythm. We have a long way to go but I’m glad we made some strides today.”

Dunn played superb on Thursday night and he characterized it as “one of the best games I’ve played in my career.” He went on to credit his teammates for knocking down shots and allowing him to establish a rhythm on offense. Besides just the eye test of Dunn’s play in this game his stat line was certainly impressive. 12 points on 4/7 from the field to go along with those 14 assists, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block and 2 turnovers.

Talk about stuffing the statsheet.

The one potential negative on the night was the foul trouble that Dunn had in both halves and Henton had in the first half but I don’t think much should be made of that especially since Dunn played a number of minutes without picking up his 5th foul. Navy had two players foul out on the night.

https://twitter.com/friartv/status/535641469273776128

One of the big storylines of the early season so far has been Ed Cooley’s substitutions. I thought he did a much better job of allowing guys to play longer together to develop an on-court chemistry and get into a rhythm. Jalen Lindsey was the first man off the Providence bench at the 16:51 mark and he replaced Kyron Cartwright which was a change from prior games where Lindsey would come in initially for Kris Dunn. The rotation and substitution patterns is something to keep an eye on this weekend against some tougher competition.

Navy was led with 10 points by James Hemphill. The Midshipmen shot 39% from the field on 19/49 shooting and were outrebounded by the Friars 36-24 with Providence grabbing 9 offensive rebounds that led to 10 second chance points. Navy also had 17 turnovers which led to 17 Providence points though the Friars only had 7 fast break points on the night.

Here’s a new stat for Providence fans to get used to: bench points. The Friars scored 36 points off their bench tonight against Navy’s 23. Providence scored 32 of their 88 points in the paint and assisted on 24 of their 31 made field goals.

The Friars will move on to their first high major tests this weekend as they finish up this 5 game in 8 day stretch to open the season. The Florida State game tips off at Mohegan Sun Arena Saturday at 2:30pm.

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