Rhode Island didn’t get the memo that they were double digit underdogs. With the AMP jam packed on a Saturday evening with the crowd clearly well lubricated, this one had the chance to be a blowout early. Rhode Island had other plans and decided to bring the fight to the Friars.
The Rhody Rams showed a physicality and ruggedness on the road that kept them within a puncher’s chance of securing an upset. In the first half, it was a back and forth affair with neither team really able to get their footing on offense. The refs were letting them play for the most part, as a crew should do during an in-state rivalry match-up.
Eventually, the dam broke for Providence, and English’s insistence on pushing the pace in transition paid off. While Providence struggled with defending the pick and roll, the length across the court for the Friars eventually wore on the under-matched Rhode Island Rams. As missed shots began to accumulate, Kim English implored his team on the sidelines to “GO”, and they finally had their lead man back in Jayden Pierre to do so effectively. Pierre shook off any rust he may have had in the first half to really find his footing in the second. Hopkins found a rhythm around the rim, finishing through contact and imposing his will in the paint.
While Providence won by double digits and covered the spread, the game was a true toss-up for the majority of it before Providence pulled away with a few minutes remaining in the second. The Rams matched the intensity of the AMP environment and should walk away from this game thinking highly of their team moving forward. I came away impressed with Miller’s squad.
For Providence, it’s another win to add to their record, as they improve to 7-1. Ahead of a road match-up against ranked Oklahoma, Providence is building an impressive non-conference resume worthy of an NCAA tournament bid. If they can continue to beat handily the teams they are supposed to, and maybe get an upset road win in Norman, they are giving themselves a ton of wiggle room come conference play to still secure an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament.
Below, we touch upon in more detail some key themes we noticed from the game against the Rhode Island Rams.
Jayden Pierre Back in the Mix – It took a half, but you saw just how more efficient and explosive the Friar offense is with Pierre leading the charge. In the first half, Pierre was working through some of the rust he accumulated from sitting out a few games, but he seemed back to himself in the second half. Providence scored 49 points in the second half.
Pierre’s quickness is special. In a half court set, he can blow by his defender and get to the rim or dish it off to a cutting Friar for an easy bucket. In transition, he can shift gears with his pace and tempo, which we saw in the transition dunk by Hopkins. He lulled his defender to sleep with a tempo shift and then accelerated by his defender, causing an extra defender to help out. The end result was a thunderous Hopkins dunk.
This team can stay afloat without Pierre, which is fantastic to see, but there won’t be any questioning like last year of who is the best person to run the show. It is Pierre’s team.
Devin Carter – Most Underappreciated Friar – Bryce Hopkins may get the accolades nationally (and rightly so), but I’ll bang my fist on the table as Carter being just as important to this team’s success. This team goes as Devin Carter goes. He does SO many things for the Friars offensively and defensively, and I don’t know where this team would be without him.
Carter shot 60% from deep, led the team in rebounds, led the team in blocks, had 2 steals, and finished behind Hopkins as leading scorer at 17 points. How many players are this well-rounded? Carter is a swiss army knife, and English can essentially find the opposing team’s strength and try to snuff that out by assigning Carter to mark that player. That’s quite an Ace in the hole for Coach Kim English.
Whatever praise is thrown on Carter, he deserves it and then some. Carter is going to win the Friars a lot of ball games this year. I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t have a lengthy NBA career as well.
Avoidance of Self-Inflicted Errors – We talked in the preview article for this game (see link below) about how the Rams can pull an upset if Providence turns the ball over like they have been and shoot poorly from the charity stripe. Part of the reason this was a 15 point victory is because Providence shot 75% from the charity stripe and only had 9 turnovers (five below their season average heading into the game). URI, on the other hand, shot 47% from the free throw line and had 11 turnovers.
If the Rams were going to secure an upset, they needed to play flawless basketball and force Providence into mistakes. They did neither, which is primarily why this was a 15 point victory.
Defense Uncharacteristically Struggles – If you were looking for a chink in the armor for Providence defensively, Archie Miller and the Rams exposed it. URI was scoring rather easily in a pick and roll offense. The lead guard couldn’t stay in front of the ball handler, and that forced Oduro to sag off his man and help. It led to either an easy bucket for the ball handler or a quick lay-in for the big man that Oduro was sagging off of.
Providence needs to get that sorted out quickly, as most teams are going to replicate what URI did last night to the Friars. It is the first time all year the defense looked porous.
Oduro Watch – It is clear 8 games in that the weakness of this team is the back-up 5. I don’t think they have an answer for when Oduro subs out and/or gets in foul trouble, and that is a very big concern moving forward. Castro is in his third year of the program, but still doesn’t seem up to the task of playing at the Big East level. I had questions preseason on if the light bulb would go on for Castro, and those questions haven’t been answered. Castro needs to show more in the minutes he gets because it isn’t a long term solution to have Hopkins be the back-up 5.
Oduro, most importantly, needs to stay out of foul trouble. His fourth foul was a dumb foul he committed 15 feet from the basket, and he needs to know how vital he is to this Friar team. He needs to play very cautiously on the defensive end because this Friar squad is heavily reliant on him at the 5.
Well-Rounded Friar Offense – We’ve talked all season on the podcast and in other articles about how well-rounded this Friar team is offensively. There is no shouldering of the scoring load by the same 2 players each night. Last night showed this, as all five starters scored in double figures. Hopkins led the way with 24, we touched on Carter above, and the other three starters combined for 32. This team can score in many different ways, and Friar fans should appreciate how rare that is.
NEXT: Providence travels to Oklahoma to take on the undefeated Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma should be ranked somewhere in the 20-24 range come rankings release Monday. It is a fantastic opportunity for the Providence Friars. If they come out of that game with a win, you’ll likely see a national ranking next to their name come 12/11.
can you show the boxscore after every game
You are spot on. Losing Oduro to foul trouble is our biggest problem. I thought Castro would put on some bulk during the off season but so far this season he really hasn’t shown much. Will McNair Jr. leaving really hurt us. This problem will dog us all year unless Castro can step up big time especially vs. teams like Creighton, UCONN and Marquette trying to contain the likes of Kalkbrenner, Clingan and Ighodaro.