Thoughts from the Road: Kris Dunn, Triple Doubles, Ben Bentil and a Business Trip

This Thoughts from the Road: Couch Edition will be less of a game recap and more of a rambling about the week so far and the weekend upcoming for Providence.

• On a day when Kris Dunn’s name appeared on two different National Player of the Year Watch Lists, the Friar star guard went bananas on the lowly Hartford Hawks to the tune of 16 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds. Yup. That’s also known as a triple-double and it’s the second of Dunn’s career. He joins Marvin Barnes and Bob Misevicius as the only Friars in school history to have more than one triple-dub. Dunn looked effortless in accomplishing the feat and also managed to tie his career high in assists in the process. Dunn will surely stick around in the NPOY conversation all season long and he has Providence positioned well heading into the last 5 games of the non-conference schedule.

[vine url=”https://vine.co/v/iWgwDewhMmT”]

[vine url=”https://vine.co/v/iWgDmJeAIbH”]

• Ben Bentil notched his fourth straight 20 point scoring game and he continues to put up big first half numbers. Bentil scoring early and Dunn finishing games off could be a very successful formula for Providence as the Big East season rapidly approaches. Giving Dunn the first 20 minutes to get into the rhythm and flow of the game by spreading the ball around is beneficial for all Friars and might give Dunn a little extra gas in the tank for the second 20 minutes, where he has been successful i.e. the Arizona finish. Here are Bentil’s 1st half numbers during this stretch:
  • Evansville: 17 points; finished with 24 points
  • Arizona: 15 points; finished with 21 points
  • Michigan State: 13 points; finished with 20 points
  • Hartford: 15 points; finished with 21 points
• Much has already been made on social media and elsewhere about Ed Cooley’s comments regarding the upcoming game against the Rhode Island Rams. Some seem to be saying the Cooley is trying to add fuel to the fire or maybe he didn’t mean to but he is or maybe he’s trying to send a message to Dan Hurley or any number of hot Twitter takes. My reaction to Cooley’s comments — and you should watch them here — is that he essentially using coachspeak to refer to this as any other game and downplay the blood-feud angle placed on this game by some. The fact is Cooley hasn’t lost to the Rams as the Providence head coach. Two of the four Providence wins in that time have been at the Ryan Center. Maybe he’s right and it isn’t a rivalry because the results have been one-sided. I tend to think he means it when he says it’s a business trip. I had coaches use that phrase when discussing road games and I always liked it and bought into it and the mindset that phrase engenders. The rivalry part is for the fans. The players and coaches are all friendly — at least off the court — and until Rhode Island wins one of these the Friar coach won’t be wrong when he says he doesn’t think of this game as a rivalry game. It’s just a road game on the schedule.

Follow me on Twitter @pcbb1917

About Author

Mike Hopkins

See author's posts