Game Notes & Preview: (14) Providence (10-1) vs. Rider (2-8) 12/19/15

Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI

When: 8:00pm EST

How: FSN (Will Flemming & Vin Parise)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Game Notes

• Providence and Rider will meet for the 4th time on Saturday with the Friars leading, 2-1. The Friars and Broncs first played on February 15, 1945 at the Boston Garden, which is when Rider got their lone win in the series. The two teams haven’t met since November, 26 1994.
• Providence is 99-25 all time against the teams from the MAAC. The last game Providence played against a team from the MAAC was on November 29, 2013 when the Friars defeated Fairfield, 78-69, at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
• Rider is 2-8 on the season. The Broncs snapped a 4-game losing streak by defeating Charleston Southern last time out. In fact, both of Rider’s wins came after a 4-game losing streak. The Broncs are led in scoring by graduate student Teddy Okereafor, who averages 10.5 points/game. Junior Kahlil Thomas is the leading rebounder, averaging 4.7 rebounds/game.
• The Friars moved up in both polls again this week after a 2-0 week that saw the Friars win in survival mode against Boston College and Bryant with some injury and illness concerns during each game. Providence is ranked 14th in both polls this week.
• Opening Line: TBA

Game Preview

Providence comes out of the exam break a bit healthier, but not totally 100%. The Friars will be without freshman sharpshooter Ryan Fazekas for at least a couple more weeks as he has already returned home to after finishing final exams. Aside from Kris Dunn being ill last week, there was apparently a virus going around the team as others like Rodney Bullock and Kyron Cartwright played against Bryant but were under the weather. Ed Cooley told the media on Thursday that they still have some players, including Dunn, that aren’t 100% healthy and were held out of Thursday’s practice. It remains to be seen just how healthy everyone is for the Rider game on Saturday night.

The probable starters according to the game notes and prior box scores are:

Providence

• Kris Dunn – #3 – Junior
• Junior Lomomba – #32 – Junior
• Jalen Lindsey – #21 – Sophomore
• Rodney Bullock – #5 – Sophomore
• Ben Bentil – #0 – Sophomore

Rider

• Kealan Ives – #10 – Freshman
• Teddy Okereafor – #5 – Graduate Student
• Jimmie Taylor – #3 – Junior
• Kahlil Thomas – #0 – Junior
• Xavier Mundy – #11 -Junior

Rider is off to a rough start to their season at 2-8. This is virtually the same team that went 21-12 a season ago and played in the College Basketball Invitational. The biggest — no pun intended — missing piece from last season to this season for Kevin Baggett’s squad is 7-footer Matt Lopez. Lopez led the team in scoring (12.3 points/game) and rebounding (7.7 rebounds/game). The 2015-16 Broncs boast only 2 players taller than 6’7 and they average a combined 4.5 points/game and 4.6 rebounds/game in 15.9 minutes/game. The Broncs don’t get to the free throw line much and turn the ball over at an above average clip. Assuming Kris Dunn plays, I expect him to have 5 or more steals in this game. I also think Ben Bentil and Rodney Bullock will have a field day down low against this undersized Rider frontline.

Prediction: Providence 75 Rider 60

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Mike Hopkins

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