Game Notes & Preview: (20) Providence (18-7, 6-6) vs Georgetown (14-11, 7-5) 2/13/16

Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI

When: 12:00pm EST

How: FOX (Joe Davis & Stephen Bardo)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Game Notes

• Providence and Georgetown will meet for the 68th time on Saturday with the Hoyas leading the series, 44-23. The Friars are 15-14 in games played in Providence. Providence defeated Georgetown on January 30th at the Verizon Center behind 26 points each from Ben Bentil and Kris Dunn.
• Georgetown is 14-11 (7-5) on the season. The Hoyas are led by John Thompson III, who is in his 12th season at the helm of the Georgetown program. The Hoyas have avoided being swept by anyone in the league so far, but the Friars will take a crack at that on Saturday. The Hoyas are led in scoring by senior D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who averages 16.7 points/game. Senior Bradley Hayes is the leading rebounder, averaging 6.6 rebounds/game.
• The Friars dropped to 20th in the AP Poll this week and 17th in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll after losing at DePaul and at home against Villanova. This is the first time Providence has been ranked in the AP Poll for 11 straight weeks since the 1977-78 season.
• Kris Dunn is closing in on some career milestones and reached one his last time out by dishing out his 500th career assist. He becomes the 6th Friar to amass 500 career assists. Dunn went over the 1,000 point mark on January 30th against Georgetown on a spectacular finish at the rim. His 1,062 career points ranks 41st all-time at Providence and just 2 points behind Randall Hanke for 40th. Dunn also has 500 assists (6th all-time), 446 rebounds and 197 steals (6th all-time). Should Dunn get to the 1,000 points, 500 assists and 200 steals club, he would become the only player in school history to have accomplished all of those feats. 500 rebounds is also within his grasp. Dunn would have to average 9.0 rebounds/game over the final 6 games to do it in the regular season.
• Opening Line: (20) Providence -4.5 vs Georgetown 2/13/16

Game Preview

Georgetown comes to the Dunkin’ Donuts looking to fend off Providence’s attempt to sweep the season series. The Hoyas have lost 5 league games — the same as the Friars — but have managed to avoid being swept by anyone to date. The Hoyas have underachieved this season after being picked 2nd by the league’s coaches in the preseason Big East poll. They started the season off on shaky footing by losing at home against Radford — the Highlanders also have a 14-11 record at the moment — of the Big South conference and limped into league play with 5 losses already on their ledger. D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera didn’t come back for his senior season to miss the NCAA Tournament, so the Hoyas’ leading scorer — who moved into 6th on the all-time points scored list (1,803) in the Hoyas’ last game — will be extra motivated over Georgetown’s final six Big East games.

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

Providence

• Kyron Cartwright – #24 – Sophomore
• Kris Dunn – #3 – Junior
• Junior Lomomba – #32 – Junior
• Rodney Bullock – #5 – Sophomore
• Ben Bentil – #0 – Sophomore

Georgetown

• Tre Campbell  – #1 – Sophomore
• D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera – #4 – Senior
• Isaac Copeland – #11 – Sophomore
• Marcus Derrickson – #24 – Freshman
• Bradley Hayes – #42 – Senior

The keys to a Providence victory are:

1. Get to the free throw line and make them
2. Score points in transition
3. Crash the offensive glass

Georgetown fouls a lot. The Hoyas allow 27.6% of their points against to come from the free throw line. That is the 5th most in the nation. Their FTA/FGA — at stat that measures the free throw rate — is 337th nationally. These stats are courtesy of Kenpom.com. Providence got to the free throw line 33 times in their game in Washington DC, making 24 for a 72.7% conversion rate. That’s dead on with their season conversion rate that ranks 77th nationally.

Georgetown turns the ball over at a higher than average clip of 19.3% of their possessions. Providence is forcing opponents to turn it over on 21.4% of possessions. The Friars have struggled to make shots, especially in the halfcourt, so getting some easy baskets in transition off Georgetown turnovers will go a long way towards whipping the Dunk into a frenzy and scoring against a pretty good halfcourt defense of Georgetown.

Providence has been getting mauled on the glass in their last two games. Before that, they dominated the Hoyas in DC to the tune of a 33-26 advantage, including 10 offensive rebounds. Georgetown undoubtedly has a bigger frontline with Bradley Hayes being a 7-footer, but Ben Bentil was a big factor on the glass last time these teams met with 3 offensive rebounds. Rodney Bullock also pulled down 3 offensive rebounds to go along with 11 defensive boards for a game-high 14 boards. Bullock may have to do a little extra work with Bentil’s ankle limiting his jumping ability, but getting offensive rebounds and second chance points would be another way to attack the Hoyas’ pretty good halfcourt defense.

Prediction: Providence 75 Georgetown 70

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Mike Hopkins

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