Game 1 was as ugly of a home opener as I’ve seen in years as a Friar alum, but it is time to move past that game. Kim likely learned a lot about his team after that game, and we’ll probably see a much different performance. The first game jitters should be out of the way, and they can now focus on just playing basketball.
Below, we preview what we are looking to see in this game.
Big Man Rotation – I’d anticipate we see Oswin start again. From there, my biggest thing I’ll be tracking is if Anton Bonke gets some early game run. He surprisingly didn’t play against CCSU, and Mike and I have both made the argument he should have gotten some run given how poorly Essandoko was playing.
I’m hopeful we see Bonke play 5-10 minutes, Oswin playing closer to 20 minutes from the 12 he played in the season opener, and Essandoko’s minutes being heavily reduced to 15-20 minutes while he continues to work himself into game shape. Essandoko playing 27 minutes in the first game was probably 10 minutes too much.
Cardet the Aggressor – The other concerning insight from Game 1 was a lack of a wing who could hunt their own shot. Floyd Jr. was arguably the best at this in Game 1, and he was an inefficient 2-9 despite getting several quality looks.
Cardet seemed to attack more in the second half, and I really want to see him carry that over to this game. Providence needs somebody who can threaten the defense in the half court set. I’m not sure they have anybody like that currently besides Bensley Joseph.
Injured Players Returning to Form – I’m looking to see an uptick in performance from Pierre, Barron, and Jabri Abdur Rahim. You can lump Fernandez in as he played a live game for the first time in over a year. They all had quality looks against CCSU, but weren’t making their shots. They still need to get their legs underneath them, and I’m hoping this Stonehill game is a step in the right direction.
Hopkins in 2nd Half? Stonehill got beat by 29 to Notre Dame earlier in the week, and I’d say Providence is a stronger team than the Irish. If Providence gets a comfortable lead in the second half, English may get Hopkins 5 minutes to re-acclimate Bryce to game play. This, of course, implies PC can get a comfortable second half lead…
Assignment Sound on the Perimeter – Stonehill shot 35.5% from 3 against ND, making 11. They made 13’s three pointers in this season opener. If Stonehill is going to keep this close, it’s from deep. This will be a good test to see which players are assignment sound on defense and not falling asleep.
Prediction
BOC: I nailed my individual prediction with Joseph because the breakout player in Game 1; however, I did predict a large margin of victory. We may have been underestimating CCSU, as they just beat a potential tournament team in St. Joe’s.
Providence runs a much smoother operation and wins this one 77-59.