Game Notes & Preview: Providence (8-3) vs. UMass (6-4) 12/20/14

Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI

When: 1:00PM

How: CBS Sports Network (John Sadak & Steve Lappas)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Game Notes

• This will mark the 30th meeting all-time between Providence and UMass with the Friars holding a 22-7 edge in the series. The first meeting came on March 1, 1932 in Amherst, MA with the Friars beating the Minutemen, 36-21. UMass has won the last two times the teams have played with the 2012 win coming with a last second tip-in and the 2013 win coming in overtime in Amherst. The last time the teams played in Providence was December 30, 1999 in a game that required overtime. Providence won, 61-60.
• UMass comes to the Dunkin’ Donuts Center having 7 days between games just like the Friars. The Minutemen are 6-4 on the season with their last game being a win over Canisius, 75-58 on December 13th. The Minutemen are led in scoring and rebounding by senior center Cady Lalanne. Lalanne is averaging 14.5 points/game and 9.7 rebounds/game.
• Providence is 143-105 against the Atlantic 10 conference all-time including a 1-0 record this season. The win this season was against in-state rival Rhode Island on December 10, 2014.
• Providence’s win against Stony Brook on December 13th starts a new streak of home non-conference victories as the Friars had their 39 game home non-conference win streak snapped on December 8th the Brown Bears. The win streak is now at 2 games.
• Providence will look to continue their undefeated streak on Saturday this season as the Friars are 3-0 in Saturday games in 2014-15.
• The line opened with Providence as a -5.5 favorite.

Kenpom InstaGamePrep™

Note: Stats include games through December 18th vs D-1 teams only

Game Preview

Both teams are coming off a 6 day layover between games and both the Friars and the Minutemen had convincing victories their last time on the floor. Providence beat Stony Brook, 79-61. UMass beat Canisius, 75-58. It’s always tough to predict how teams will react to this many days off and add in the fact that the “time off” was due to semester final exams and it adds even more uncertainty into any kind of prediction for energy level and potential rust.

The Friars were totally off Sunday and Monday this week before Ed Cooley pulled the group together for practice on Tuesday but the final exams continued through Friday.

Having seen UMass live once at Mohegan Sun and a few other times on TV it’s clear they want to play fast and speed up the game. They do not shoot the ball very well coming in 278th in the nation at 29.7%, per Kenpom.com. They only get 15.2% of their scoring from beyond the arc which ranks 349th in the nation. That means there are only two teams in Division I that get less of their points from 3-pointers than the Minuteman. Coming in at 2nd to last in the 350th spot is common opponent Florida State. Both teams beat the Seminoles at Mohegan Sun.

One thing UMass is excellent at his getting to the free throw line and converting. They rank 8th in the country in FT rate at 53.7. Derek Kellogg wants to press and play an uptempo style that utilizes his plethora of guards like West Virginia transfer Jabarie Hinds, Derrick Gordon and Trey Davis. The Minutemen are getting 28.6% of their scoring from the charity stripe which is reminiscent of last year’s Providence team. That 28.6% is good for 5th nationally.

Cooley mentioned in the opening of his radio show on December 18th that he showed his team video of the last two losses against UMass and made sure to drive home that the losses were both on offensive rebounds. Rebounding has not been a strong suit for the Friars this season. Richard Coren at ScoutFriars.com did an interesting piece this week on the drop off of team rebounding overall and specifically for LaDontae Henton.

The winner of this game will be the team that is able to force their pace on the other team. Providence wants to force UMass to slow their offense down and try to score in the halfcourt likely against a Friar zone defense while UMass wants to score off turnovers in transition both from their press and from defensive rebounds. Providence has been pretty good all season at dictating pace but they have struggled at times with an opponent’s press. Kenpom.com predicts this game will have 71 possessions. Providence has only played in 2 games all season with 70 or more possessions. The first was their loss to Brown and the second was their last win against Stony Brook. Look for a heavy dose of zone defense and flex offense from the Friars as they will attempt to keep the total possessions down and force UMass to use clock on offense.

Prediction: Providence 65 UMass 63

Follow me on Twitter @pcbb1917

About Author

Mike Hopkins

See author's posts