It was always going to be a tall task (pun intended) defeating the national champions. Having to face off against them and beat them after an upset loss against TCU proved to be an impossible ask for the Friars. The Florida Gators and their size in the frontcourt won the day, alongside stellar offensive outputs from Princeton transfer Xaivian Lee and Arkansas transfer Boogie Fland.
Effort Level There
I don’t walk away from this game with the same frustration I did after the Badgers game. The Providence faithful are a smart group of fans. They know when a team is overmatched (like they were against Florida) versus when they put forth a suboptimal effort (like they did against Wisconsin). I thought the compete level was 100x better in the Florida game than Wisconsin, but unfortunately, Providence laid a massive egg against Wisconsin and did itself no favors with the fanbase.
Ryan Mela was a bright spot in the game against Florida. He wasn’t afraid to challenge the Florida frontcourt and played with fire in his belly. We need more guys with the attitude of Mela. Mela finished with 17, 8, and 3, leading the team in each category.
What a Frontcourt Should Look Like
When watching the game yesterday, you were blown away by the size differential between the two programs. I hope English looked at their frontcourt, even sans their 7 foot starting center Alex Condon, and realized that size wins in college basketball. We all think the world of Oswin and his potential but seeing him paired up against Rueben Chinyelu was a stark contrast in body type, build, and size.
Florida has the type of frontcourt every college basketball program should strive for. Condon, arguably their best player, sat out but it was a moot point. Their back-up big in title only, Chinyelu, had his way with whomever was guarding him for Providence. He finished with 13 points and 10 boards. Thomas Haugh, the 6’9 3/4 hybrid, had 16 points, 12 boards, and 5 assists. Florida finished out-rebounding the Friars 42-37, but stressed the Friar frontcourt all game. Hargrove, Oswin, and Jamier all fouled out of the game, and English had to break glass in case of emergency and turn to Peteris Pinnis. Pinnis, to his credit, more than held his own, and he was one of the few bright spots in this game. He’s warranted a longer look at more consistent playing time, in my opinion.
Defense Continues to Depress
The defense continues to be significantly lacking. After the Florida game, Providence is currently 348th nationally in points allowed at 86.1. There are 365 total D1 teams. The numbers speak for themselves.
The talk around Florida circles was how much of a bust the Princeton transfer Lee has been thus far. So, of course, he has his season high in this one with 20 points. This has been a consistent theme this year where players either have their career or season high against us. Not something you want to be known for. Fland complemented him nicely with 17 points.
Beyond Lee and Fland getting right against the Friars, the team just doesn’t do the fundamental defensive things properly you’d expect from a Big East team. The close-outs on 3’s are lazy and lethargic. They don’t box out. They ball-watch and go vertical trying to get a rebound, instead of boxing out and finding their man (Pinnis actually did a good job of boxing). It just comes across as a team that isn’t coached on the importance of defense and fundamental basketball.
What’s Next
This season hasn’t started as we all expected. At 4-4, Providence needs to finish 3-0 in the rest of non-conference and limp into Big East play at 7-4. The silver lining is I’m not sure they have a bad loss on their resume; unfortunately, they don’t have any good non-conference wins either.
Providence in all likelihood will need to win 13 Big East games in conference play before getting to MSG. The eye test rarely fails, and I don’t watch this team play and see a path to 13-7 in the Big East. I hope to be proven wrong.
On top of the .500 record, it comes across from the amateur eye like the locker room is splintering. There were rumors of an Oswin – Kim verbal altercation. Oswin and Edwards were both benched against Florida, and neither player really responded positively to that. I don’t have a lot of faith that Kim can rally the troops and get everybody to buy-in. Last year’s 12-20 performance showed me that the staff had difficulty managing different personalities.
At the end of the day, Providence continues its trend of no-showing in Thanksgiving tournaments. It’s not fair to ask the PC alums and donors to travel to these events, spend a non-minor amount of money, and then watch their alma mater completely falter. It’s the second year running, and you have to wonder if Steve Nap considers forgoing the Maui Invitational next year. I can’t imagine the support for that will be all that high after the past two years.
The next few games will be really telling. I fear the current staff and team have lost this fanbase, and it is going to take some miraculous type of run in conference play to win the fanbase back over. The program feels without direction right now.
Kevin- as usual great commentary on the Florida game. I don’t believe in size being an overwhelming element. It is mindset, determination, hustle and urgency that count the most. Luckily for this team it appears that many Big East teams are having problems winning games. too. I saw Rick Pitino doing a postgame interview complaining about the Johnnies defense. I along with many Friar Fans am frustrated by this years team. I hope English and his staff can straighten things out stat. If not we are in for a very bumpy ride! Go Friars!