The Providence Friars weren’t able to start Feast Week the way they wanted to. They dropped their opener in the Battle4Atlantis against the Oklahoma Sooners 77-79 on Wednesday night. The Friars were led in scoring by Wesley Cardet with 17 points and, the backcourt duo of Bensley Joseph and Jayden Pierre each had 16 points. PC was able to knock down 12 threes but it wasn’t enough to get past the Sooners and their ball hawking defense.
We detail how the loss transpired below.
Turnovers Finally Sink Friars– It was a concerning trend against mid-majors that reared its ugly head early in their first game against a high major opponent. The Friars opened the game with 6 turnovers on their first 14 possessions and had them staring down a 8-0 hole early. To their credit they addressed the issue and started to turn up the pressure on the Sooners. It worked and the Friars took a 2-point lead into the half, but the turnovers continued to crop up at inopportune times and doomed PC. The biggest killer might’ve come when PC trailed by 2 with the ball out of a tv timeout. Freshman big Oswin Erhunmwunse took the inbounds pass and tried to get it to Ryan Mela. OU’s star freshman Jeremy Fears telegraphed the pass and stole it for an easy dunk at the other end. It was just one of their 16, but the Friars seemed to not recover from that one.
Cardet Breakout– For the Friar fans who were holding their Wesley Cardet stock they have to feel pretty good after tonight. He put it all together in this one with a relentless rim attack and canned a pair of threes leading to his 17-point effort. If Cardet can continue to play like this PC will be in good shape given the other guys that can contribute on the offensive end. Now if he only started hitting his free throws at a higher than 50% clip we are cooking with gas.
Bizarre Ending– If you missed the very end of the game I wouldn’t necessarily blame you. When the Friars trailed by 9 points with 45 seconds left even the Crier thought the game was over. Yet the Friars kept fighting until the end and had a chance for what would’ve been one of the most improbable comebacks. Jayden Pierre would knock in a layup and the Friars immediately fouled. After Jeremy Fears went 1/2 at the line, Bensley Joseph hit a 3. Brycen Goodine would then go 1/2 at the line, and Pierre would go 2/2 on his trip making the score 77-73 Sooners. Kobi Elvis, who was brilliant up until this point, secured the inbound and instantly traveled. Corey Floyd Jr would answer with a quick layup. PC would foul and OU would knock in 2 free throws putting them back up 4, then a gift from the CBB gods transpired.
PC would inbound the ball and for some reason inexplicably fouled the Friars. Yet the Friars weren’t just getting two free throws. They were getting the ball back. That was because OU committed an infraction of too many men on the court, leading to a technical foul. The Friars would hit 2 technical free throws, and Jayden Pierre had a good chance at buzzer beater 3 but it back rimmed. The team has talked about their resiliency. They certainly showed some of that at the end of the game, even if the Sooners opened the door for you to win the game.
Hopkins Return Delayed– While it was reported that Bryce Hopkins would make his return in the Battle4Atlantis, he did not see any action in this one. It seemed sources were walking back their reports as tip-off drew near as it was reported he’d be a game time decision. The Friars probably win this one with Hopkins but at the end of the day you want him right when he returns, and you don’t jeopardize that so he can play in this game. At this rate I doubt we see him in the Battle4Atlantis, but we shall see.
Rotation Questions – I’d like to see Barron and Mela get more minutes moving forward over some of our bigs and JAR. If a team isn’t bullying us down low, our optimal line-up is without a true big. Right now, the bigs are a liability more than an asset so we should lean into the small ball approach. We did in the first half to unmitigated success, but peculiarly went away from it in the second.
JAR right now is in a funk. If he isn’t knocking down 3’s, he really isn’t contributing much to the floor for the Friars. We at the Providence Crier were skeptical on his impact to the team this year, and so far that has rang true. He just can’t seem to find his footing on this roster.
Summary
The Friars have had some ugly losses in MTEs and this certainly wasn’t one of them. They played hard and showed that they have several guys that can score the ball. When Bryce Hopkins returns, they’ll be just fine. The Friars will play on the loser side of the bracket Thanksgiving Day at 7:30pm against Davidson.
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