Last week I asked readers of this site to vote in a poll and give a grade to Providence’s non-conference performance. 179 votes were cast and 68 voters (38%) gave Ed Cooley’s Friars a grade of B.
Here’s my breakdown:
Offense: A-
The offensive end of the floor was a concern of mine heading into the season as I was worried that the Friars would have a hard time scoring in the halfcourt without a player like Bryce Cotton to make things happen for himself. Providence has managed to have a fairly efficient offense, however, with Kenpom.com rating the Friars as having the 53rd best Adjusted Offensive Efficiency in the nation at 106.3 (through of December 29th). The biggest reason, in my opinion, has been Kris Dunn.
Dunn had 3 10+ assist games in Providence’s 13 non-conference tilts, including a career high 14 helpers against Navy on November 20th. He averaged 7.0 assists/game in the non-conference and Kenpom.com ranks him 2nd nationally in Assist Rate at 49.1%. Dunn’s worst game of the season came against Kentucky which is hardly surprising but he was also not close to 100% coming off a late-game ankle sprain against Notre Dame 7 days prior to the November 30th game at Rupp Arena. He missed the game in-between against Yale due to that balky ankle. Dunn has also been generating offense from steals with an average of 2.92 steals/game.
LaDontae Henton has had some big scoring outputs, including a career high 38 points in a thrilling 1 point win over Notre Dame. Henton is the guy that Cooley wants taking the big shot and he has shown that he is more than willing. Henton has scored 20+ points in 7 of the 13 games so far this season. He leads the Friars in scoring at 20.0 points/game.
Tyler Harris has played more under control this season and I think moving him to the 6th man off the bench for the last 2 games to inject scoring is a fantastic move by Ed Cooley and something I expect to continue into Big East play.
There have been some areas for concern on offense with Providence’s free throw shooting leaving something to be desired at times during the non-conference schedule. They also haven’t been very good from beyond the 3-point line, shooting just 33% from downtown. One bright spot in that regard has been freshman Jalen Lindsey shooting 41.7% from beyond the arc with the team’s 2nd most 3-pointers attempted (36) behind LaDontae Henton (60).
Another freshman that has been a pleasant surprise is Kyron Cartwright who started the first 8 games of the season alongside Kris Dunn in the backcourt. Cartwright has showed some great vision and passing, including a few long distance alley-oop passes to fellow freshman Paschal Chukwu. Cartwright had a 10 point, 10 assist game on December 13th against Stony Brook which are both career highs at this point. Ben Bentil has showed some flashes but he has played a little too fast on offense most of the season and his best value is on the defensive side of the ball at this point.
Defense: C+
The defensive end was an area that I wasn’t all that concerned about because the Friars had a big, athletic and long team that I thought would reek havoc on opposing offenses. Havoc hasn’t really been reeked through the 13 non-conference games but Providence hasn’t been bad. One area of concern that has materialized is the propensity for allowing offensive rebounds. The Friars are allowing offensive rebounds at a rate of 29.3% which is 124th nationally. To go along with the team’s struggles on the defensive glass, Henton has seen a fairly significant dip in his rebounding numbers. For his career Henton has averaged 8.24 rebounds/game entering the 2014-15 season. Through 13 games he has only averaged 5.3 rebounds/game. Richard Coren did a fantastic breakdown at ScoutFriars.com if you want to read further on this.
On the positive side, Providence is blocking a lot of shots, defending the 3-point line very well and stealing the ball at a high rate. Carson Desrosiers has played very well on the defensive end in the non-conference and is averaging 2.8 blocks/game which ranks 23rd nationally and 2nd in the Big East. Kenpom.com lists Providence’s Block % at 13.5% which ranks 48th nationally. As for the 3-point line defense, Kenpom.com ranks Providence 33rd nationally at 3P% defense (28.8%). Kris Dunn is 8th nationally with his 2.9 steals/game and the Friars are stealing the ball at a rate of 12.6% according to Kenpom.com which ranks 30th nationally.
Final Grade: B
With the offense being better than I expected and the defense not being as good overall as I expected I think a solid B is a good grade for this Providence team through a 10-3 non-conference record. Obviously the home loss to Brown is a loss that shouldn’t happen but this team is young overall with 4 freshman playing nearly 900 minutes so far this season.
Kris Dunn appears to have shaken off the rust and is filling up the stat sheet on a regular basis and LaDontae Henton has fully recovered from his Kentucky hangover. The Big East schedule will be tougher this year as there are probably at least 6 teams behind Villanova that could finish in spots 2-4. Providence will have to figure out their defensive rebounding and continue to play efficient on offense if they want to win 10 or more games in the Big East to give themselves a legitimate shot at a repeat trip to the NCAA Tournament.
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