Providence Releases 2015-16 Non-Conference Schedule

Providence has released their non-conference schedule for the 2015-16 season. The Friars should have another very strong strength of schedule in the non-conference with road games at Rhode Island and Massachusetts, home games against Harvard and Illinois and a potential neutral site matchup against Arizona in the Wooden Legacy tournament. Here’s a brief description of each of the games on Providence’s non=conference slate this upcoming season.

November 14th – vs. Harvard (H)

2014-15 RPI: 52 (20-7)

The season-opener against Harvard will mark the 3rd straight year that the Friars have played the Crimson but this will be the first of those 3 where the public and media are allowed to attend. Providence had been playing a closed-door scrimmage against Harvard in lieu of a second public exhibition game the past two seasons but they have now incorporated the Ivy league team into their regular season non-conference schedule. Tommy Amaker’s Crimson are perennial league favorites in the Ivy league.

November 18th – vs. Illinois (H)

2014-15 RPI: 73 (19-13)

This is part of the inaugural Dave Gavitt Tipoff Games being held annually between members of the Big East and Big Ten conferences. It makes sense that the Friars would get a home game in the first year of the Gavitt Games — they do play on Dave Gavitt Court at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, after all. Illinois finished in a tie for 7th in the Big Ten last year but John Groce returns his second and third leading scorers from a season ago in Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn. There have also been positive reports on the incoming freshmen class and the improved team chemistry.

November 21st – vs. Brown (H)

2014-15 RPI: 248 (11-18)

This will be a revenge game for Cooley’s bunch after the Bears beat the Friars a season ago at the Dunk. In what was a low-point in the 2014-15 season at the time, the Friars dropped a home game to the crosstown Bears by 10 points in early December. Leland King killed the Friars down low but he left the Brown program in late January 2015.

November 23rd – vs. NJIT (H)

2014-15 RPI: 159 (14-11)

The Highlanders had a very solid 2014-15 season after they defeated Michigan on the road for their first ever win against a top-25 team. The Wolverines were ranked 17th at the time. After 2 seasons as an Independent, the Highlanders have joined the Atlantic Sun conference ahead of the 2015-16 season. Jim Engles brings virtually everyone back from last season’s team. NJIT made their postseason debut in the CIT last season and won 3 games before falling to Northern Arizona in the semifinals.

November 26th – vs. Evansville (N)

2014-15 RPI: 118 (18-12)

This is the first round game of the 2015 Wooden Legacy tournament being held on the West Coast during the Thanksgiving weekend. The Friars will take on the Purple Aces at Titan Gym on the campus of Cal State Fullerton with a chance to advance and play the winner of Arizona and Santa Clara in the second round. This could be a good early-season matchup of excellent guards as Kris Dunn will go head-to-head with DJ Balentine. Balentine, a senior, led the Missouri Valley in scoring at 20.1 points/game, good for 15th nationally.

November 27th – vs. Arizona/Santa Clara (N)

2014-15 RPI: Arizona 5 (31-3)/Santa Clara 202 (12-18)

The hope here is that the Friars get Arizona in the semifinals of the Wooden Legacy tournament as it would present an opportunity to play a top 10-15 team on a neutral court. This could be a big swing game for Providence’s RPI depending on who they play. Arizona’s RPI last season was 5 and Santa Clara’s was 202. Should Arizona be the opponent there will be an added storyline of Cooley coaching against Sean Miller who was the head coach of the USA Basketball U19 team that Cooley assisted to a gold medal in July. Regardless of opoonent this game will be played at Titan Gym on Cal State Fullerton’s campus.

November 29th – vs. TBD (N)

2014-15 RPI: Michigan St 23 (23-11)/Boise St 40 (23-8)/ Boston College 165 (13-19)/UC Irvine 88 (19-12)

This game will be played at the Honda Center in Anaheim and is the final game of the bracketed portion of the Wooden Legacy tournament. The ideal matchup here would be Providence meeting Michigan State in the finals. Other potential opponents in this slot are Boise State, Boston College and UC Irvine.

December 2nd – vs. Hartford (H)

2014-15 RPI: 244 (13-16)

The Hawks hail from the America East conference and are coming off a 14-16 season. They lose their top 3 scorers to graduation and are in rebuilding mode under 5th year head coach John Gallagher. This will be a tight window after returning from Anaheim on November 30th.

December 5th – vs. Rhode Island (A)

2014-15 RPI: 66 (21-9)

A trip down to the Ryan Center will be a very good test as the Friars gear up for conference play about 3 1/2 weeks from this game. Dan Hurley has upgraded the talent level in Kingston in his 3 seasons at the helm of the Ram program. This could be another rock fight like the last time these two teams played in Kingston in December 2013. I don’t expect to see Cooley and Hurley screaming at each other during a timeout this time though. Cooley hasn’t lost to the in-state rival Rams during his tenure in Friartown. This marks the 126th time these two have squared off — the team Providence has played the most in school history.

December 9th – vs. Boston College (H)

2014-15 RPI: 165 (13-19)

The game against Boston College is a non-bracketed game that is part of the 2015 DirecTV Wooden Legacy. The Friars and Eagles had their most recent contract expire after last season’s game at Conte Forum. It remains to be seen if they will keep the rivalry going. PC and BC have played every year since 1953-54 and 109 times in total. They are the 3rd most-played opponent for the Friars and Providence leads the overall series, 59-50. The Eagles are 1 of 3 teams that Providence has played at least 100 times with the other two being in-state rivals URI and Brown.

December 12th – vs. Bryant (H)

2014-15 RPI: 189 (16-15)

The Friars welcome Bryant back onto their non-conference schedule after having to bump Tim O’Shea’s team from their schedule last season in favor of a neutral site matchup against the Miami Hurricanes at the Barclays Center. This game being on the schedule also means the Friars will play their own little version of the proposed “Quahog Cup” by playing URI, Brown and Bryant in the same season. The Bulldogs are coming off a 16-15 season that under-performed their expectations overall and in the NEC.

December 19th – vs. Rider (H)

2014-15 RPI: 140 (21-11)

Rider also plays URI this season which gives the Friars and Rams another common opponent but also means that freshman Kealan Ives will get two games in his home state next season. The Providence native graduated from Classical HS in 2014 and did a post-graduate year at Putnam Science Academy. A member of the MAAC, Rider lost in the first round of the CBI last season to Loyola-Chicago.

December 21st – vs. Massachusetts (A)

2014-15 RPI: 80 (17-15)

UMass will close out the Friars’ non-conference slate which should give Providence a nice window of time to prepare for Big East play that is likely to start on New Year’s Eve. The Friars and Minutemen have had a nice mini-rivalry during Cooley’s tenure and both teams lost key players to graduation and transfer.

To see the full non-conference schedule, click here.

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Mike Hopkins

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