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Game Notes & Preview: Providence 15-5 (5-2) vs DePaul 11-10 (5-3) 1/29/15
Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI
When: 2:00 PM
How: Fox Sports 1 (Rich Ackerman & Vin Parise)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV
Game Notes
- This will mark the 33rd meeting all-time between Providence and DePaul. The series is led by the Friars, 24-8. The series favors the Friars, 13-3, when played in Providence. Providence went 2-0 against DePaul last year.
- DePaul comes to Providence following a 1-1 week in Big East play. On January 22nd the Blue Demons got an impressive road victory at Seton Hall, 64-60. They dropped their other game last week on January 27th at Xavier, 89-76, in a game they led due to some hot first half shooting before Xavier made a furious comeback to defend their home court. The Blue Demons are led in scoring by junior forward Myke Henry, who averages 13.3 points/game. They are led in rebounding by sophomore center Tommy Hamilton, who averages 5.9 rebounds/game.
- Providence went 1-0 last week with an overtime win at home against Xavier, 69-66. Last weekend marks the first time since Big East play began on December 31st that Providence had a weekend off.
- LaDontae Henton is in 8th place on the all-time points scored list at Providence College with 1,814 career points. Henton is now 14 points behind Joe Hassett for 7th place in school history. Carson Desrosiers is 8th on the all-time blocked shots list at Providence College with 144 blocks through 54 career games as a Friar. Desrosiers is now 11 blocks behind Randall Hanke for 7th place in school history.
- The line opened with Providence as an 11 point favorite and the total is 140.5.
Kenpom InstaGamePrep™
Note: Stats include games through January 28th vs D-1 teams only
Game Preview
After dealing with the weather challenges of the blizzard that hit Rhode Island and surrounding areas hard this week DePaul was able to fly into Providence on Wednesday for the re-scheduled Thursday matinee at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. The crowd at the Dunk for this 2pm start may be lighter than normal due weekday afternoon start and that is a concern but Providence can’t use the lack of a crowd as an excuse and that’s not something Ed Cooley will do.
DePaul gets 33.9% of their scoring from behind the 3-point line, per Kenpom.com, and have lived and died by the 3-point shot this season. The Blue Demons have 5 players who take more than 40% of their field goal attempts from downtown, including 6’10 Forrest Robinson who leads the team in that category by taking 74.5% of his shots from 3-point range. Those stats are courtesy of Hoop-Math.com. DePaul struggles to score from inside the 3-point but average 8.38 made 3-pointers per game in conference play.
In terms of what DePaul hasn’t done well on offense this season they have struggled with a high Turnover % of 20.9% which ranks 262nd nationally, per Kenpom.com. The Blue Demons don’t grab a lot of offensive rebounds and they also are 331st in the country in scoring from 2-point range.
The keys for Providence will be to defend the 3-point line, score in transition and get second-chance points from offensive rebounds.
Prediction: Providence 75 DePaul 69
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