The Friars were able to take care of business on Tuesday night against Hampton University, but they certainly didn’t make it easy on themselves or do themselves any favors with the metrics.
PC would start the game with a 8-0 run and then see their offense turn off with the Pirates taking advantage and closing the half of a 30-14 run to take an 8-point lead into the half. The Friars would come out of the break outscoring the Pirates 15-4 to retake the lead, but Ivan Thomas’ squad wouldn’t go away with a variety of timely three point shots. However with the score tied at 47 with 7 minutes to play, the Friars would lean on their defense and score some key buckets route to the 60-51 victory.
We detail what transpired last night and offer thoughts.
https://twitter.com/bocallday/status/1856510971189051408?s=46&t=jxSpiAPB3PvC74snCH-rvQ
1H Offensive Outage Digs Friars a Hole– We wanted the Friars to start this game off hot and to their credit they did score the games first 8 points, even though it took about 5 minutes of game clock to do so. After a Jayden Pierre three pointer to make it 8-0, the Friars didn’t register a single point for the next 9 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly. Held without points for 9 minutes against Hampton.
The offense would start to find some rhythm towards the end of the half but at that point the Pirates played with confidence and were making shots and the Friars stunningly trailed by 8 at the break.
Turnovers Continue to Be an Issue– It was another frustrating night watching the Friars throw away possession after possession. In three games thus far the Friars have turned the ball over 40 times and that is against inferior competition. Consider this: the Friars had 14 turnovers yet only turned the ball over once in the final 14 minutes of the game. This game could’ve been a whole lot uglier. Credit to the guys for taking care of the ball when it counts and hopefully this can carry over for the next few games.
Big Men Disappoint- The Friars big man trio of Oswin, Bonke, and Essandoko had a rough game. They combined for 3 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 turnovers in 27 minutes. At times, they looked borderline unplayable and because of that Kim English went to smaller lineups often.
Oswin had a couple of good moments but had 2 turnovers and 3 missed free throws. Christ Essandoko only played 9 minutes and had 4 turnovers, only one rebound and zero points in those minutes. Anton Bonke only played 2 minutes but had a turnover and fouled a three point shooter. I’m not sure if the staff needs to put these guys in better positions to have success or they have to flat out play better but tonight’s performance ain’t it. Providence will be a bottom of the Big East type squad with this output from the big men. I’m confident these guys will figure it out and they each have their own unique skill sets but three games in the Providence Skyline has disappointed. They all need a wake-up call. And I think they received it in the form of Eli DeLaurier taking their minutes.
DeLaurier/Mela Provide Quality Minutes– Providence’s 16-point turnaround in the second half might not happen without freshman Ryan Mela and redshirt freshman Eli DeLaurier. DeLaurier didn’t score a single point but had a couple of blocks, grabbed some rebounds and had the dish of the night with a wrap around pass to a cutting Ryan Mela for the layup. That’d be one of two nice finishes at the rim for Mela and he grabbed 3 rebounds as well. Kim English spoke about their toughness in the postgame:
Eli DeLaurier was the MVP of the night. His play was the example of effecting the game without scoring. Kudos to Eli for coming in ready to play off the bench. He’s warranted more minutes with his play.
We hope this is an eye-opening moment for Essandoko particularly. The lazy turnovers and lackadaisical effort cannot continue or he won’t be seeing any more time this season.
Eli showed you can impact a game without the ball in your hands through effort and “want-to”. I hope English and staff sang his praises last night in the locker room because he deserves it. He wasn’t quite Joseph in Game 1, but he was the reason Providence won tonight.
https://twitter.com/bocallday/status/1856504062964899940?s=46&t=jxSpiAPB3PvC74snCH-rvQ
This Defense is Nails– It might’ve been a frustrating night for fans and the players but it’s nice to know this team can lean on its defense. The Friars only gave up 21 points in the secone half and held the Pirates to 29% from the floor and 28% from three for the game. They did have some lapses during the second half of the first half but they were probably so concerned from the offensive woes that they didn’t lock in. When this team puts on the clamps they’re really tough to score on. It may not look like this every night especially when they play better teams, but I’m betting on this team being excellent defensively this season.
Summary
It certainly wasn’t the prettiest game and concerns are warranted, but the Friars do find themselves at 3-0 on the season. While disappointed they didn’t play great I’m almost more annoyed with the fact that KenPom punished them for the win.
The Friars would drop 7 spots in the rankings after the victory. The Friars are integrating a lot of new players and The Crier can show some patience for them to gel. KenPom and his analytics don’t have any patience. The Friars will look to improve to 4-0 when they host Doug Gottlieb and the Green Bay Phoenix on Saturday at the AMP.
https://twitter.com/providencecrier/status/1856325905099985231?s=46&t=jxSpiAPB3PvC74snCH-rvQ
https://twitter.com/bocallday/status/1856320947394933214?s=46&t=jxSpiAPB3PvC74snCH-rvQ
LGF 🇺🇸
Another honest and accurate recap. Now hear is what really is bothersome and cause for concern for me. Last year we had the gang that couldn’t shoot strait outside of Carter and Oduro. The expectation was that our shooting would vastly improve from the outside. Nope, haven’t seen that yet. It’s brick city out there except for pockets of the game. The bigs are not BE ready and neither are wings. Agree our defense has been good and will continue to get even better which will keep us in games but, can you imagine if we could consistently rely on our outside shooters? On a positive, the offensive ball movement was much improved and very impressive. Time for Mela to play more. Need to see a little more from ELI before I make the same statement. Finally, Oswin needs to strengthen his hands, he catches well but can’t hold onto the ball.
I liked Delaurier’s play last night and that is all I liked. If this were any Big East game we would have suffered a humiliating loss. I guess we have to factor in that many of our players have not played together and that we will get better as the season progresses. The TO’s MUST be drastically reduced if we are to have any kind of a successful season. I would like to see much more scoring in the paint which I have seen is wide open much of the time.
Luckily, the players and Kim English are learning as we go yet we are managing to win games.
We have two more games to get ready for Oklahoma and the Battle for Atlantis. Fingers crossed. Go Friars!