Game Notes & Preview: Providence vs. Stonehill (Exhibition) 10/31/15

Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI

When: 2:00PM

How: Audio Only on Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)

Game Notes

  • Providence is 67-39 all time in exhibition games including 18 straight wins at home. Their last exhibition game loss was in 2007 against Siviglia Wear Teramo while the team was in Italy.
  • Stonehill was 19-10 last season including a 14-7 record within Northeast-10 conference play. They return 4 of their 5 top scorers from a season ago, including starers Ryan Logan (13.7 ppg) and Carter Smith (13.4 ppg).
  • Friar coach Ed Cooley is an alumnus of Stonehill from the class of 1994. He was a 3-time team captain for the Skyhawks. Cooley played in 107 career games while at Stonehill amassing 795 points and 594 rebounds good for averages of 7.4 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game for his career. He also was an assistant coach at Stonehill for the 1995-96 season under then-coach Dave DeCiantis.
  • The last time Cooley coached against his alma mater prior to last season’s exhibition game was in 2010 while he was the head coach at Fairfield. The Skyhawks beat Cooley’s Stags squad 61-60.
  • Providence defeated Stonehill last season, 93-49, in exhibition action on November 8, 2014.
  • Stonehill’s first official game of the season will be played on November 13th against Post University as part of the Stonehill Tip-Off Classic.
  • Providence begins their 89th season of basketball against Harvard at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on November 14th. Click here for Providence’s full 2015-16 schedule.

Game Preview

The long wait is over for Friar fans who will get their first glimpse of a Providence basketball team at the Dunk since the Friars fell to Butler on Senior Day on March 7, 2015. This will also be the first public action since Providence’s ugly loss to Dayton in the Second Round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament in Columbus, OH. There are a lot of new faces who will be introduced to those in attendance at the Dunk on Saturday and those unable to be there can listen to John Rooke and Joe Hassett online at Friars.com.

Providence wiped the floor with the Division II Skyhawks a season ago and that was a Stonehill team that won 19 games and made it to the Division II NCAA Tournament. They return everyone from that team except Jack Cole, who they lost to graduation. The Skyhawks will likely be pumped up coming off their Midnight Madness festivities on Thursday but that extra adrenaline won’t be enough to contend with a young and inexperienced Friar squad led by preseason Big East Player of the Year Kris Dunn.

The probable starters according to the game notes are:

  • Kris Dunn – Junior
  • Junior Lomomba – Junior
  • Jalen Lindsey – Sophomore
  • Rodney Bullock – Sophomore
  • Ben Bentil – Sophomore

My guess for first man off the bench is Kyron Cartwright, who started this game alongside Dunn last season. Cartwright led all scorers with 18 points in this game a year ago. Dunn played the most minutes — 28 — of any Friar a season ago. I would expect to see all of the freshmen get their chances to dip their toes in the college basketball pond with the lights being on at the Dunk, even though they are just on for an exhibition. There won’t be much to learn and Friar fans — as I said last year ahead of this game — would probably be thrilled with a comfortable win and no injuries.

Prediction: Providence 88 Stonehill 53

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