This outcome was a fitting close to an unfortunate 2024 calendar year for Kim English and the Providence Friars. 2024 started with losing Bryce Hopkins to an ACL injury, continued with Providence narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament, and concludes with Providence at 7-7 with no real signs of optimism for the remainder of the season sans a Bryce Hopkins resurgence once fully healthy (whenever that may be).
Providence didn’t seem to belong in the same stadium as Marquette, let alone on the same court. It was two teams heading in completely different directions, and it was one of the more humiliating losses we’ve seen at home in a while. The Ed Cooley realtor-gate loss against Seton Hall 82-58 was probably the last loss at home that felt this empty and deflating.
Below, we’ll detail what went wrong in this one and how Providence needs to dig itself out of this whole.
Bryce Out Again – Bryce Hopkins, despite having rested for 21 days since their last game, was again unavailable. It’s getting to the point where you have to wonder if he’ll even return this year. The Friars are just not a good team without him.
Whatever the end result of this injury is, there needs to be some clarity soon on if he will be playing or not again this season. The “day to day” quotes aren’t doing anybody any favors and just creates unnecessary angst around the program. Being day to day for 21 straight days is literally the opposite of “day-to-day”.
Portal Guys Woefully Underperforming – English brought in his guys this past offseason, and the portal recruits have been, as a whole, incredibly underwhelming. Bensley Joseph will be serviceable here and there, but it’s safe to say the portal additions have been more miss than hit. Cardet is a good role player, but not the alpha we expected him to be. Essandoko and JAR need no explanation. If you are English, you have to self-scout and evaluate your process of finding talent in the portal due to how poor the results have been this year. Something went wrong from a performance and cultural perspective.
When your best player is injured and your portal additions aren’t performing, it’s a recipe for disaster, and that’s what we saw Tuesday night.
Turnovers, A Similar Theme – Marquette plays elite defense and Providence doesn’t care to take care of the basketball. Thus, it shouldn’t be surprising that P.C. had the number of turnovers it did. What makes matters worse beyond the 22 turnovers is only 11 assists. This team lacks a true point guard, and the offensive strategy doesn’t necessarily ask a lot of ball movement and moving without the basketball, which organically would lead to assists. It’s a bad product right now.
Offense Continues to Stall – It may be too late to save this season, but English needs to completely alter his offensive strategy this offseason if he wants to be at Providence for the long run. In two years at the helm, PC has consistently been one of the worst offenses in the Big East. This “NBA style offense” is easy to defend and impossible to implement when you don’t have a team of potential pros. A good coach alters his system to the talent he has on the roster, but that doesn’t seem to be happening here.
Mela a Lone Bright Spot – As of this writing, I think Mela may be the best player on the Friars. It pains me that he still hasn’t gotten the starting nod. He found several guys who were wide open who airballed or bricked three’s. In an offense where nothing is going right, he is playing well. He should be in the starting line-up alongside guys who want to hustle and work hard. Joseph, Barron, Mela, Floyd, Oswin? The season is pretty much over, so reward the guys who are putting in the effort.
Essandoko DNP – I’m monitoring this one. Injury or something else?
Offense is Offensive – Here is where Providence ranks nationally to date:
316th nationally at 69 points/game, sandwiched between the powers of Binghamton and West Georgia
287th nationally at 42.7 field goal %, sandwiched between the Goliaths of Texas Southern and Duquesne
205th nationally at 33.4% from 3, just below the dynasty of Alabama A&M
302nd nationally at 12.3 assists per game, below juggernauts St. Peter’s and above Radford
We are about halfway through the season. Numbers don’t lie. This offense needs to be blown up in its entirety.
Summary
What lies next is a road game at Connecticut. Things may get worse before they get better. This is soul-searching time for all of the program – players and staff alike.
Everybody across the board has done a poor job, and the program risks losing the fanbase with consistent showings like the one against Marquette.