With the calendar turning to a new year, all Friar fans are optimistic that the two week break following their last game against Seton Hall, along with the team stepping away from campus to spend time with family during the holidays, is the reset the Friars so needed to salvage the 2025-2026 basketball season.
As much as Providence is struggling, St. John’s and the Red Storm have to be considered one of the more disappointing teams in all of college basketball as of this writing. Rick Pitino went “all-in” on building a team through the portal, and the results have been underwhelming. A consensus preseason Top 10 nationally ranked team, the Johnnies are 9-4 and unranked.
While I am by no means an apologist for St. John’s, you take a deeper dive into their schedule and realize this is still an NCAA caliber team with their losses at the hands of Alabama, Iowa State, Auburn, and Kentucky. They are battle tested, for better or worse.
It would appear the strategy of building through the portal is leading to players struggling early to figure out how to play together and what their roles are. Sound familiar?
If Providence has any hopes of turning this season around, they need to win on the road against Madison Square Garden with Danny Hurley and the Top 3 nationally ranked Connecticut Huskies looming next. From the St. John’s perspective, Pitino can spin like a seasoned politician that the early losses were all to high caliber NCAA teams, and their tough non-conference schedule will pay dividends in 2026. A loss at home to a limping Providence, however, has the potential to derail their season. This is all to say that both teams need this win badly.
Oh, and did I mention that former Providence Friar Bryce Hopkins will be facing his previous team for the first time since transferring? As you all remember, Hopkins left amicably with no ill will or bad blood between the player, his circle of confidants, and the Friar program.
This juicy plotline will lead to some heated discussions between Friar and St. John’s fans in Madison Square Garden on Saturday. I’m sure the St. John’s fanbase will take kindly to the friendly words of encouragement lobbed Bryce Hopkin’s way by the Friar faithful on Saturday.
I’ll have boots on the ground Saturday in the World’s Most Famous Arena (come say hello!) and cannot wait to see my Friars ring in the New Year with hopefully a new playstyle, new attitude, and new end result.
We preview the game below and what the Friars need to do to pull off a road victory.
Keys to Game
Containing the Frontcourt
Despite the early season struggles, it is only a matter of time before the 1-2 punch of Ejifor and Hopkins click. As much as Friar fans want to bash Bryce for his departure, and deservedly so, we all know when he is on he is one of the best players in the Big East.
Providence has had its struggles with big wings/athletic frontcourt players early in conference play. Look at how Ajayi and Payne exploded against the Friars, and you can envision both Zubi and Bryce having a 15 and 10 type game for the Johnnies.
Providence cannot let this duo go off. We’ve lamented about the pick and roll defense on this blog and in our podcasts throughout the season. This may be one where you re-implement the drop coverage and force Ejifor and Hopkins to become perimeter focused players. If these two beat you by knocking down mid-range jumpers and the three ball, you unfortunately have to live with that if you are Kim English.
We’ve seen Bryce try to win from deep all too often, and we know how that usually plays out. Bait both of these guys into living on the perimeter, essentially daring them to shoot wide open looks. This is the pathway to an upset victory for Providence.
While this is the primary defensive strategy, it bears repeating that both of these guys (and Mitchell) are fantastic rebounders. St. John’s as a team is third in the Big East in total rebounding, and it is because they have three tenacious rebounders in the frontcourt.
Thus, when a shot goes up when Providence is on the defensive end, every Friar needs to identify where that trio is on the court and box their man out. We saw this too many times against Butler, for instance, where a good defensive stand by the Friars became null and void because the Friars were ball watching once the shot went up, and the Bulldogs corralled their own offensive rebound with little resistance.
That cannot happen against St. John’s because this skillset is arguably the thing that Ejifor, Mitchell, and Hopkins are best at. Hopkins made a living at Providence finishing around the rim and off second chance opportunities. Make defensive stops, box out, and secure the orange with both hands!
Forcing St. John’s to Play in the Half-Court
Looking back, Pitino was essentially telling on himself when he said that college basketball is positionless, and the point guard position is a thing of the past. St. John’s has a big issue at point guard, and I’m honestly not sure they have a remedy short or long term.
I recall hearing Pitino say something along the lines of Ian Jackson would be one of a platoon of guys running the show for them at guard, and I began looking around like I was taking crazy pills. Jackson is an elite talent, no doubt, but he was so far away from being a competent lead guard at UNC that I questioned everything I knew about basketball when Pitino said that. To date, the top 3 leading assist men for St. John’s are all forwards! The leading assist man at the guard position for the Johnnies is Dylan Darling at 2.4 assists/game. For all of Providence’s warts, they have two guys averaging more than 3 assists per game. Running the offense is a big issue for Rick Pitino right now.
I bring all this up because I know Providence wants to get out and run. This may be a game where English needs to really scout the opposition and realize that slowing this game down on the defensive end to a crawl and forcing the Johnnies to run half-court offensive sets is in the best interest of the Friars. You don’t want this Johnny team to get out and run in transition and have this become a track meet. Slow them down and force them to play organized basketball.
It’s counterintuitive to what English wants to do, I know. If he doesn’t see the above recommendation as a recipe for success, my alternative recommendation would be to tell your guys on offense to not even crash the glass and get all five back to avoid St. John’s having a numbers advantage in the open court and attain transition buckets. It’s a high risk strategy, no doubt.
Vaaks Getting Back on Track
Vaaks has been a revelation in his freshman year, but it is okay to admit that he has been struggling of late. Over the last 3 games, he is 5-30 from 3. If somebody is taking that many attempts, he cannot be shooting 16.7% from deep. It’s crushing the Friars to have him be this ice cold.
He’s a volume shooter that I admire trying to find his stroke again by “shooting out of the slump”. If Providence is going to go on some miraculous late season run, it’s going to be on the back of somebody like a Vaaks who has the temperament to carry a team and is unafraid of the big moment.
A get right game in the World’s Most Famous Arena, channeling his inner Jalen Lindsey who seemed to make 5-7 three’s a game every time he played at The Garden, would do wonders for this team.
If I’m English, I’d draw up set looks from deep for Vaaks that can get his feet planted and shoulders square to the hoop. He’s been drifting a bit too much on his release lately on his three point attempts coming off screens set for him, which may be the cause of his mini-slump. Vaaks needs to see one or two go in early. If he does, it opens up the entire court for the PC offense and forces the Johnnies to be stretched thin defensively.
Attacking Downhill
St. John’s is a peculiar study in that they are third in the conference in 5.6 blocks/game, but don’t possess a lot of size in the frontcourt. Ejifor is a high motor freak who has Kenneth Faried like qualities (talk about a throwback) in that his motor never stops going, and he is a physical specimen that plays much bigger than his listed size. Ejifor is 2nd in the Big East in blocks behind Oswin at 2.5 blocks/game.
Dillon Mitchell is a perfect fit for the Big East and is an adequate shot blocker as well, but the Johnnies don’t have the size in the frontcourt in such a way that Providence should shy away from attacking the paint (like we’d see with a Clingan or Kalkbrenner led team, for instance).
There is little depth in the frontcourt behind Ejifor. The trio of frontcourt players for the Johnnies are Ejifor, Mitchell, and Hopkins. That is about it. Providence should try to get the St. John’s frontcourt in early foul trouble and see if they can truly contest the rim with Jamier Jones, Jaylin Sellers, Corey Floyd Jr., and Ryan Mela attacking the rim. Early foul trouble would entirely change the dynamics of this game.
In parallel alignment to this thought is something I’ve been harping on all season: throw the ball down low to Oswin. See if Ejifor can guard Oswin in the low paint and see if the Providence big can get Ejifor in foul trouble. Oswin has been working diligently in getting post position (doing his homework early), but he hasn’t been rewarded by the guards and wings with entry feeds. That needs to be remedied ASAP because it can be extremely frustrating for a big man to do all the work in the post and not be rewarded with a touch. You want an engaged Oswin on both ends, and this is how you get a fully engaged Oswin.
Attitude Adjustment – Play with an Edge
Even in this world of free agency and the transfer portal, there has to be some bad blood with the returnees of Providence and Bryce Hopkins for Hopkins sitting himself last year when PC lost so many games by one or two possessions. I’m not sure if PC would have been a tournament team with Bryce playing, but a lot of those 1-4 point losses would likely have been wins with BHop on the floor. It never sat right with me watching him half-heartedly cheer on his teammates at the end of the bench knowing he was healthy enough to play and contribute. As a competitor, it’s unacceptable. I’m sure some of his teammates didn’t appreciate him mailing the season in last year as they scrapped and clawed every game.
As I’ve said before, I completely understand Bryce’s decision from a financial perspective. I don’t know if the NBA is in his future, so another big day was an astute business move; however, you also cannot critique the Friar fanbase for being upset with Hopkins as a lot of their money went directly into the pockets of a player refusing to suit up and play for their alma mater. These are professionals now. Anybody critiquing the Friar fans for getting on Hopkins has their head in the sand. Hopkins and Cooley must have hired the same PR firm in how they both left a place in the worst possible manner.
I say all that in hopes we see a Providence team come out with an edge and a layer of aggression we haven’t seen all season. The season hasn’t gone as expected. I’m hopeful they used this two week hiatus to get a bit angry and take ownership with how the season has gone. I want to see a pissed off Friar team that wants to soundly defeat their former teammate who quit on them and is now wearing the jersey of a Big East competitor.
Health of Team
With two weeks off, I’d expect this to be the healthiest Providence has been in quite some time. We were all made aware over the Christmas holiday that Daquan Davis is unsurprisingly missing the rest of the year due to surgery on his knee to repair a lingering issue from his time at Florida State, but I’m hopeful every other player is available and ready to play.
I bring this up as there were photos circulating over the past week of Oswin in a walking boot. Here’s to hoping this was precautionary, and the sophomore big is ready to go in this one. If he’s unavailable, I’m not sure PC has much of a chance against this elite frontcourt.
Prediction
BOC: Providence plays well, but comes up short. The frontcourt of St. John’s is the difference in this one as Dillon Mitchell is actually the player who has his best game of the year continuing an unfortunate trend for the Friars. 85 – 79 St. John’s.
Crier: I have no evidence to back this up and will undoubtedly get crushed for it but I see PC squeaking out a thriller at MSG. A 12-20 PC squad managed to lose both games to last year’s Big East champs by a combined 4 points. PC has lost to SJ at MSG in their previous two trips by two points apiece. This SJ team presents a really tough matchup for PC with their frontcourt depth but if you can make them a jump shooting team, which oddly SJ has obliged to doing in a handful of prior matchups, PC has a chance. Also I’m looking at a guy like Jason Edwards as one that could have a big game at the World’s Most Famous Arena. PC 84 SJ 83
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