Where: Dunkin Donuts Center – Providence, RI
When: 4:00PM
How: Fox Sports 1 (Rich Ackerman & Vin Parise)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)
Game Notes
- Providence and Yale have met 18 times all time with the Friars holding an 11-7 advantage. Each of the last 5 times the Friars and Bulldogs have played it has been at the Dunk with Providence winning all 5 contests. Providence won the last meeting on December 17, 2013, 76-74. The last Yale win in the series came on January 22, 1949 in New Haven.
- Yale comes to Providence following a win against Lafayette on Wednesday in New Haven. The Bulldogs leading scorer and rebounder on the season is junior forward Justin Sears who is averaging 17.0 ppg and 9.4 rpg through the team’s first 6 outings.
- Providence is 127-48 against the Ivy League all time.
- Providence takes a 38 game non-conference home winning streak into the action on Saturday. The Friars have won all of their non-conference home games in each of the last four seasons and are 3-0 so far this season. The last home non-conference loss came on December 12, 2009 against Iona, 82-73. The longest non-conference home win streak in school history is 56 games which was from February 13, 1973 to December 27, 1974.
- LaDontae Henton is coming off a 38 point performance in Providence’s win over Notre Dame Sunday to take the Dave Gavitt Cup back to Friartown. Henton’s 38 points is a new career high. Henton was named to various national player of the week awards following his performance in Providence’s 4 games last week and he was also named the inaugural Big East Player of the Week. This marks the first time Henton has been given that conference honor.
- Providence was ranked 25th in the most recent USA Today Coaches Poll release on Monday. This is the first time the Friars have cracked a top 25 poll since the 2003-04 season which saw Providence finish 21st in the AP poll and 19th in the Coaches Poll. The most recent release of the AP poll had Providence receiving 63 votes which was good for 3 spots off the 25th spot.
- The line opened at Providence -8 and moved to Providence -6.5. The over/under is 127 or 128 depending where you look.
Game Preview
Many people have labeled this game as a “trap game” with Providence set to travel to Lexington, KY to take on the #1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Ed Cooley and LaDontae Henton said all the right things in a recent Providence Journal article by Kevin McNamara but a 4pm tip the day after Thanksgiving could have the fans that show up still in a food hangover coma. The Friars need to get out to a fast start against a good Yale team. With Kris Dunn and Jalen Lindsey shelved for this game due to ankle injuries the Friars don’t have much backcourt depth and lose something on offense with Junior Lomomba.
Yale returns 3 starters from a team that only lost to Providence last December by 2. 6’8 forward Justin Sears scored 31 points in that game and he will likely be a handful again for the Friars.
This game has all the fixings of a dogfight and will probably be closer than Providence fans want it to be. I believe Henton and Tyler Harris will be able to score enough and Providence will be able to defend enough to hold off the Bulldogs in this one.
Prediction: Providence 65 Yale 60
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