That was quite a statement win for Kim English to kick off his Big East conference play career. Providence flexed its defensive muscles on the way to dominating Marquette from the opening tip to final seconds. In front of a raucous sold out home crowd, PC leaned on its defense to frustrate the Golden Eagles. Timely three pointers by Gaines and Carter, hitting 5 three’s a piece, helped Providence extend the lead to double digits late in the first half. From there, Providence was able to keep an arm’s length distance from the Golden Eagles before the final buzzer sounded.
It’s worth sharing some stats on what Marquette has accomplished thus far this season to really reiterate just how massive of a win that was last night:
- Prior to last night, Marquette averaged 80 points/game. Providence held them to 57 total points on 32% from the floor and 20% from 3. After last night’s no show on offense due to the Friar’s defensive efforts, Marquette is still a Top 20 team on KenPom for offensive efficiency. This wasn’t Providence beating up on a subpar offensive squad. Marquette’s offense is widely considered elite nationally.
- Marquette is also a Top 20 KenPom squad according to defensive efficiency. Providence appeared able to get whatever looks like they wanted on the offensive end. Even with the 15 point victory, Providence missed a mind boggling amount of WIDE open looks from deep (Pierre and Hopkins come to mind going 0-7 from three), missed 3 front ends of a one-one, and was 60.7% from the charity stripe. The 72 total points probably should have been in the 80’s, which is a testament to the quality of looks generated by the offense. You can’t be disappointed with a 15 point win against a Top 10 squad, and I’m certainly not, but this game could have easily been more out of reach.
- Marquette is 6th in the nation for a reason. In 12 games, Marquette has beaten Illinois, Kansas, and Texas. This isn’t a smoke and mirrors squad. This team can play with the best of the best. I bring this up because Providence clearly looked like the better team last night. This wasn’t a case of Providence being scorching hot from the floor and Marquette conversely being ice cold. Providence by almost all metrics, and definitely by the eye test, was the superior squad.
- Marquette, after last night, averages 15.3 assists/game and 10.4 turnovers/game. The Golden Eagles only had 7 assists while compiling 14 turnovers. A team led by Tyler Kolek being held to 7 assists should break your brain, as it defies logic. There is a reason the Providence Friars are the 8th best team in defense according to KenPom. Barring injuries, this will be a consistent Top 20 defense throughout the entirety of the season.
Below, we revisit our keys to the game and highlight what else caught our eye in the Big East opener.
Revisiting the Keys to the Game
Providence Exposing the Match-Up Problem – This didn’t play out as I expected, as Hopkins wasn’t the force that he was in last year’s home game against Marquette. Marquette did a great job of daring Hopkins to shoot, and they collapsed into the paint defensively whenever Hopkins took the ball to the rack. This limited his ability to finish in the paint. Hopkins still put up 11 and 9, but on an inefficient 3-10 and 0-4 from the floor. Providence winning by 15 with their All-Conference caliber player only going for 11 and 9 should scare the rest of the Big East.
Josh Oduro did an incredible job on both ends against Oso Ighodaro. Ighodaro was kept completely in check all game and was not as much of a differentiating factor as I thought he would be. Oduro did get into foul trouble, which is something we’ll have to monitor all year, but more than held his own against Oso. The flagrant foul on Ighodaro exemplifies how solid of a job Oduro did in frustrating Ighodaro.
In a match-up that could have tilted heavily towards Marquette, a stalemate between the two bigs is a victory for the Friars. Oduro finished with 10 and 9.
Repeating Blueprint of Last Year – Rebounding and Getting to the Line – The rebounding and free throw discrepancy wasn’t as lopsided as last year, but Providence still came out ahead. Providence outrebounded Marquette by 3 boards and attempted 7 more free throw attempts.
The blueprint for Providence and the frontcourt of Hopkins and Oduro the rest of the way should be to get the opposition in foul trouble by drawing fouls and then connect from the charity stripe. The Friars did an atrocious job from the free throw line, and thankfully the game was well in hand to not be overly concerned about the poor job from the free throw line.
Strategy for Kolek – Kolek was always going to get his, and he certainly did in going for 21, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists, but it seemed like every bucket made required an incredible amount of effort and energy for the Rhode Island native (did you guys know he was from Rhode Island?!).
Kolek may be seeing Devin Carter and Garwey Dual in his nightmares, as Carter and Dual played a big part in forcing Kolek to turn the ball over 3 times. Kolek still made some incredible shots, but you could tell he was frustrated with the defensive attention and intensity.
Mike and I said the key for Providence to win is make Kolek a scorer first and distributor second. Well, Kolek attempted the most shots of anybody on the Golden Eagles. This is three years in a row at home of making Kolek the primary scorer rather than the all-world pass first point guard. Excellent scouting by the Friar staff.
Turnovers Determining the Game – The Friars still finished with 14 turnovers, but a great majority of those were in the latter part of the second half with the game in hand. Dual particularly impressed as a pass first point guard with 7 assists and 0 turnovers. Most important, he showed a lot of confidence (and borderline swagger) out there handling the rock.
Pierre had an excellent 30 minutes before having a few really sloppy turnovers late in the second. He and Dual continue to steadily improve, and that is a great sign for the Friars.
What I didn’t foresee was Marquette being equally as sloppy with the basketball. I know Providence’s defense is elite, but I thought that the Golden Eagles would do a good job of protecting the basketball. The on-ball pressure by the Friars was incredible to watch and was a large reason for the uncharacteristic amount of turnovers for the Golden Eagles.
Role Players Need to Threaten from Deep – Well, hello Mr. Gaines. Ticket was massive in this game, burying 5-10 three pointers. In a game where Providence had trouble filling it up from deep, it was Gaines assisting Devin Carter from the three point line to extend the lead. As we’ve said at The Providence Crier, if one or two of Gaines, Pierre, Dual, Floyd Jr, Barron can put up 10+ points on a given night, it makes the Friars that much more dangerous in not having to rely on their Big 3 to shoulder all of the scoring load.
Kudos to Gaines for showing out from deep last night. His release is so quick.
Other Items of Importance
Garwey Dual Emering…Slowly But Surely– Garwey Dual is going to be a special player sooner rather than later. As mentioned above, his 7 assists led the Friars. Most important, he seemed to no longer possess the hesitancy on offense that he had in prior games. He was confident in his decision making and assertive. The no-look pass driving into the lane that led to the Hopkins dunk was a pro pass. The other thing that may not get accolades is his ability to break the press. He did a masterful job there too.
Castro Providing Solid Relief Minutes – The expectations for Castro are understandably not high, but I thought he gave Providence incredible minutes when they really needed him to do so with Oduro saddled with foul trouble. The possession where he walled up on Kolek and forced an ugly shot required incredible patience in not biting on the numerous pump fakes. His finish in the post where he caught a pass in traffic and dunked was a really welcome sight too, as we know he’s had his struggles holding onto the basketball with bodies around him.
Castro’s development has admittedly been slower than all Friar fans want it to be, but he provided really solid reserve minutes last night. That’s something to build off of.
Recruits in Attendance – This was a great game for Anton Bonke to take in on his official visit. We wrote an article on Bonke below for those not too familiar with his game.
On top of Bonke, Joson Sanon was there unofficially, as well as Ryan Mela and a 2026 teammate of his that may be on the radar of the Friars. With Big Oswin and Jeremiah Fears visiting officially for the Butler game, English is slowly closing in on landing some elite level recruits. How can you not want to play for English and the Friars after attending the game last night?
Providence next plays the early season Big East Surprise Butler Bulldogs, who are 10-2 on the season and 1-0 in conference play after beating Georgetown by 10. That game tips off at The AMP Saturday at 12pm EST. If Providence can win that one at home, the Friars will be easily in the Top 25 come Monday.
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