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Game Notes & Preview: Providence 18-8 (8-5) at DePaul 12-14 (6-7) 2/18/15
Where: Allstate Arena – Rosemont, IL
When: 9:00 PM
How: CBS Sports Network (Brent Stover and Bob Wenzel & Rashan Ali – sideline)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV
Game Notes
- This will mark the 34th meeting all-time between Providence and DePaul. The series is currently led by Providence, 25-8. The series favors the Friars, 9-5, when played in Illinois. Providence went 2-0 against DePaul last season and are 1-0 against the Blue Demons this season. The Friars beat DePaul, 83-72, at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on January 29th.
- DePaul welcomes Providence to Allstate Arena following an 86-78 defeat at St. John’s on February 11th. The Blue Demons are led in scoring by sophomore guard Billy Garrett, who averages 13.3 points/game. DePaul is led in rebounding by junior Myke Henry, who averages 5.6 rebounds/game.
- Providence is coming off a home win against Seton Hall on Saturday in their last outing. The Friars were in control for much of that game before Kris Dunn got into foul trouble and the Pirates were able to close the gap. Providence pulled away behind 22 points and 9 rebounds from LaDontae Henton and 19 points, 8 assists and 6 steals from Dunn.
- LaDontae Henton remains in 6th place on the all-time points scored list at Providence with 1,924 career points. Henton trails Jamel Thomas by 47 points for 5th all-time. Carson Desrosiers is 8th on the all-time blocked shots list at Providence College with 152 blocks through 60 career games as a Friar. Desrosiers is now 3 blocks behind Randall Hanke for 7th place in school history. Kris Dunn‘s 189 assists this season tie him 11th on the all-time assists in a season list with God Shammgod (1995-96) and Vincent Council (2010-11). Next on the list is Carlton Screen, who had 198 assists in the 1988-89 season.
- The line opened with Providence as a 4.5 point favorite. The total is 145.5.
- 2015 commit Ryan Fazekas announced on his Twitter account that he will be in attendance for this game
Kenpom InstaGamePrep™
Note: Stats include games through February 17th vs D-1 teams only
Game Preview
Providence is 2-3 since they last played the DePaul Blue Demons on a Thursday afternoon in Rhode Island. DePaul is 1-3 since that game. The key to victory is perceived to be keeping DePaul from getting hot from behind the 3-point line. The numbers aren’t overwhelming in favor of that perceived key but DePaul does shoot a better 3-point percentage in wins (38.3%) than in losses (34.8%). The splits get even smaller between home and away which was a bit of a surprise for me. The Blue Demons shoot 37.9% from beyond the arc at home and 36.7% on the road.
In the first meeting between these two teams the Friars got out to a fast start and took an 18 point lead into the locker room. Kris Dunn recorded his first career triple-double while LaDontae Henton struggled with foul woes. Ed Cooley said after that win he “thought the first 20 minutes really was, to me, the game. I thought we played with purpose. I thought we had energy.” It will be important for Providence to not get behind early in this game as that will likely fuel DePaul who had a 64% shooting half in the second half of the earlier game this season.
I expect Henton to have a big game. He averages 14.8 points/game and 8.4 rebounds/game in 5 career games against DePaul, including 21.5 points/game and 11 rebounds/game in 2 career games at DePaul. Aside from Henton and Dunn I also expect a good game from Ben Bentil, who I think will be the x-factor for the Friars in this game.
Prediction: Providence 79 DePaul 75
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