Thoughts from the Road: Friars Ice Cold at Home, Fall to Xavier

This Thoughts from the Road is brought to you by the energy inside the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and is fueled by Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee…a lot of it.

• The Dunkin’ Donuts Center was absolutely rocking. The fans piled in early and were raring to go — no doubt after having a few pregame beverages — well before the opening tip. This was the loudest I have ever heard the Dunk. A particular shoutout to the lady sitting over my left shoulder who made Craig Leighton and I a little more deaf than when we entered the arena. Ed Cooley has been longing for a crowd like that and it was clear after the game that it hurt him to disappoint the 12,804 fans in the building.

• The simple fact is that this Providence team doesn’t shoot the ball well. I have heard from a fair number of people complaining about the number of 3-point attempts and I think it’s important to look at the 34 attempts and realize a flurry of them were taken in desperation mode. Starting 1/19 over the first 31+ minutes certainly was a factor in Providence trailing by 15 points before Ben Bentil and Jalen Lindsey made 4 triples in a span of 2:15 to chop the Xavier lead back to single digits with 6 minutes left in the game. I also thought the Friars started to rely on the triple too much down the stretch. It was nice to see Jalen Lindsey have a  couple shots go in, but it proved to be too little, too late.
• I’d have to watch a replay and count, but I can remember at least 4 airballs by Providence shooters — 2 by Ricky Council during a brief first half cameo — in this game. Aside from the fact that the Friars were shooting under 10% from beyond the arc for a lot of this game, it was straight up ugly to watch how badly they were missing at times.
• The 1-3-1 zone did seem to bother Providence a bit. However, I thought they also got good looks against it. If Providence shoots any semblance of a decent percentage it would have gotten Chris Mack out of the zone. The Friars figure to see a lot more zone until they can prove they can consistently hit jumpshots.
• Kris Dunn had another ridiculous stat line: 16 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 7 steals. That’s the second time this season he’s had at least 15 points, 7, rebounds, 7 assists and 7 steals. No one else in Division 1 has had that line this season, according to ESPN Stats & Info. He also had 4 turnovers, including some inexplicable passes that seemed unnecessary in their level of difficulty. Dunn’s steals and dunks early in the game got the crowd into a frenzy, but he wasn’t able to do much outside of that on the offensive end.
• Ben Bentil continues to put up big scoring numbers for his 12th game of 20 or more points and his 4th game with at least 25 points. Bentil has now led Providence in scoring in 12 of their 21 games this season. He continues to get to the free throw line and be Providence’s most consistent offensive weapon.
• Rodney Bullock has continued his lackluster play ever since exploding onto the Big East scene with a 25 point, 10 rebound game at Butler on New Year’s Eve. In Providence’s other 7 Big East games, Bullock is averaging 8.4 points/game, 5.4 rebounds/game and is shooting 36.1% from the field.
• As I mentioned above, Lindsey finally connected on a pair of 3-pointers in this game. It felt like forever since Lindsey actually made a 3-pointer and looking at the stats backs that up. His last made triple before making two in this game was back on January 12th at Creighton. Lindsey’s totals — including this Xavier game — in Big East play from beyond the arc are not pretty: 6/35, or 17.1%. He has been contributing with rebounds and defense, but not to the extent he should be for a player with his athletic ability and talent.
• Kyron Cartwright’s stat line surprised me when I saw it after the game. I didn’t feel like he took 11 shots. I certainly remember a couple shots that I scoffed at as bad shots, too early in the shot clock, etc. But I didn’t think he went 2/11 from the field. I thought his energy and pace were pretty good again and he did sink a key 3-pointer late to keep the Friars’ hopes alive.
• Ryan Fazekas — one of Providence’s best shooters before he got mono in early December — didn’t even get an attempt from the beyond the arc in his 7 minutes of action. I’d much rather see Fazekas attempt 6 triples than Cartwright. He’s working hard to get open, but teams know he’s dangerous. He continues to play hard and crash the glass, but his biggest value to this team is as a shooter. Cooley needs to figure out a way to get him some looks — which can’t be that tough when facing a zone.
• Drew Edwards had his first game in some time where he looked like a freshman. JP Macura appeared to get under his skin — something Macura relishes doing — and Edwards didn’t get many more minutes after that.

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Mike Hopkins

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