This Thoughts from the Road is brought to you by nachos and pizza from Trinity Brewhouse and is fueled by the hospitality of the Smerkers and their insanely comfortable couch.
Before I get into my thoughts from the actual game against St. John’s, I want to share a text I got from my buddy Charlie: “I think the bandwagon is finally full for this team.” Chaz is right on with that thought. Downtown Providence was absolutely hopping on Saturday. Murphy’s filled up by noon and the wait for a table at Trinity approached an hour. When this season started, Providence vs. St. John’s on a Saturday afternoon of New Year’s weekend being a sellout was not something I would have expected. That’s exactly what happened. Ed Cooley told people he was going to light Providence on fire. If you haven’t gotten onboard, as Cooley suggested, you’re late.
The Dunkin’ Donuts Center was packed for Providence’s Big East home opener against St. John’s. The crowd was a sellout and was pretty loud during the first half. The second half being dominated by whistles certainly stemmed some of the momentum, but overall the crowd was very good.
Kris Dunn showed why all the seats were filled. The Friar star was excellent, hitting step-back 3-pointers and setting teammates up for open looks all afternoon. Dunn finished with a game-high 26 points on 9/17 shooting and added 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
Kyron Cartwright was a big part of Providence building a 43-31 halftime lead. Cartwright was a blur with the ball and had a stretch where he propelled his team to easy buckets. He finished with 11 points on 4/6 shooting.
Ben Bentil was held at bay for large chunks of this game, but the improving big man got going with some buckets inside. He also was 8/9 from the free throw line in the game. Bentil was a rebound shy of a double-double. He had 20 points and 9 rebounds.
Providence figures to jump back into the top 10 in the AP poll after opening Big East play 2-0 with a road win against 9th ranked Butler to start league play off.
The Friars return to action on January 5th against Marquette at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center at 7:00pm EST. The game will be televised on Fox Sports 1.
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