The Friars were back in action on Tuesday night after their disappointing showing against Nebraska and were looking for a bounce back performance. Early on there seemed to be a hangover from Nebraska as 15 minutes into the game PC only lead 22-18. They then employed a full court press against the Bulldogs and started to pull away. PC lead by 18 at one point in the first half and while Bryant did make a push to cut it to single digits with 12 minutes to play, the Friars went on another run and essentially cruised to their 23-point victory.
PC was lead in scoring by Devin Vanterpool, who had 21 points, and Malik Mack chipped in 19 as the Friars improved to 2-1 on the year. The Friars were without Arrinten Page, who missed his second straight contest after injuring his knee and surprisingly were also without Ryan Mela, who the school noted having a lower leg injury, and Samson Aletan due to an illness. Even though they were undermanned PC used their defensive intensity to fuel a sputtering offense en route to the win.
Malik Mack Breakout
Malik Mack had his best game in a Friar uniform, scoring a season high 19 points on 8/14 from the floor and 3/5 from three. He also added two rebounds and three assists. It didn’t start off great for Mack as he missed his first four shots from the floor but he got cooking late in the game. He missed a couple of shots near the rim trying to finish in traffic but once he got a couple of easy layups using his speed it seemed to get him in a rhythm.
It’s certainly a welcome development for this team. Mack isn’t going to be leaned on as the go to scorer as he was last season at Georgetown, especially when you have guys like Vanterpool and Byrd, but the team is going to need his offense. Hopefully this is a game he can build off of.
Clyde Walters Debut
Clyde Walters and Javon Bardwell are two talented wings that reclassified and joined PC a year early from high school. Bardwell played in 18 total minutes in PC’s first two games, but we had yet to see Walters in action. With PC being shorthanded with injuries Walters got his opportunity at the 7:10 mark of the first half and instantly made an impact. He had a rebound, an assist and scored five points in his first five minutes of play. He finished the game with nine points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block in 15 minutes of action. His efforts earned him the Blue-Collar Player of the Game.
Turnovers Contagious
PC’s defense continues to be the team’s strength and once again their relentless ball pressure caused havoc for the Bryant Bulldogs. Bryant had 25 turnovers on the night and the Friars had 19 steals. However, offensively they were sloppy with the basketball tonight having 16 of their own turnovers. There were some instances where PC would get a steal, look to push in transition and instantly throw it away. In the postgame press conference, it was an area that Coach Hodgson said has been exposed the last two games and needs to get corrected. He also offered a bit of a life raft for his players saying that sometimes early on in his tenures this can happen due to the pace of play he’s looking his team to play at. He mentioned that basically the entire roster hasn’t played as fast of a tempo as he has them playing now and said that 10 of the turnovers fall on him. Regardless of who is to blame PC has shown that they can take care of the basketball in their two exhibitions and the opener and they need to sure up the ball security as nonconference play goes on.
Up Next
The Friars will return to the AMP on Saturday for a 6pm tip against the University of Colorado.
Go Friars!
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