Game Notes & Preview: Providence (6-2, 0-0) vs Brown (5-4, 0-0) 12/6/16

Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI

When: 7:00pm EST

How: FS2 (Alex Faust & Vin Parise)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Game Notes

• Providence and Brown will meet for the 123rd time ever on Tuesday. The Friars lead the all-time series, 94-28. Providence has beaten Brown more times than other other opponent in school history. The teams first met on December 16, 1921 when Brown defeated Providence, 48-12, in an exhibition game.
• Providence is 130-49 all-time against teams from the Ivy League conference. The Friars went 2-0 last season against teams from the Ivy League with wins over Harvard and Brown.
• Brown is 5-4 this season. They started the season 1-4 with a win over Niagara and losses to Cincinnati in the opener on November 11th and then 3-straight losses against Rhode Island, Marist and Albany. Since that losing streak, Brown has won 4 in a row over Morgan St, Bryant, St. Francis (NY) and Central Connecticut. The Bears are led by Mike Martin, who is in his 5th season at the helm of the Brown program. Senior Steven Spieth leads the Bears in scoring at 18.3 points/game and rebounding, averaging 6.8 rebounds/game. He is the brother of professional golfer, Jordan Spieth.
• Opening Line: Providence -16.5 vs Brown 12/6/16

Game Preview

Coming off a hard-fought victory against in-state rival Rhode Island on Saturday, Providence welcomes crosstown rival to the Dunk on Tuesday night. The Friars will be looking to avoid any letdown from the 3-point win over the then 21st-ranked Rams. Brown beating Providence at the Dunk in 2014 is Ed Cooley’s only non-conference home loss as the head coach of the Friar program.

The Bears have one of worst Average Height’s in the nation. Their overall Average Height of 76.1″ ranks 274th nationally, per Kenpom.com. But when you look deeper at each position it gets worse. The Bears rank 315th in Average Center Height and 278th in Average Power Forward Height. They are very undersized and their rebounding numbers make sense when you realize the tallest player in their starting 5 stands at 6’6. Brown gives up offensive rebounds at a very high clip of 32.4%. That’s 263rd nationally. They also record very few blocked shots on the defensive end and get stuffed on nearly 13% of shot attempts on offense. Brown’s tallest player who gets regular playing time is 6’9 sophomore Travis Fuller who is averaging 7.9 points/game and 5.1 rebounds/game in 17.4 minutes/game off the bench. Look for Providence to get the ball inside early and often against Brown.

The probable starters according to the game notes are:

Providence

• Kyron Cartwright – #24 – Junior
• Isaiah Jackson – #44 – Sophomore
• Jalen Lindsey – #21 – Junior
• Rodney Bullock – #5 – Junior
• Emmitt Holt – #15 – Junior

Brown

• Tavon Blackmon – #5 – Senior
• Brandon Anderson – #2 – Freshman
• Obi Okolie – #4 – Sophomore
• Steven Spieth – #3 – Senior
• Joshua Howard – #25 -Freshman

The keys to victory for Providence are to shut down Steven Spieth, keep Brown off the free throw line and feed the ball inside on offense. Spieth has been very good this season and he plays virtually every minute for Mike Martin’s squad. Look for Jalen Lindsey to draw the early assignment on Spieth. Brown gets to the free throw line at an impressive clip even with some of the early numbers slanted by 45 trips against St. Francis (NY) recently. Giving Brown free points will keep them in this game for longer than they should be in this game. Providence needs to play tough defense without fouling. Finally, Providence has a massive size advantage as I outlined above, so look for Cooley to feed the ball inside and perhaps allow his players to be a little more aggressive crashing the offensive glass against the undersized Brown frontline.

Prediction: Providence 75 Brown 63

Follow me on Twitter @pcbb1917

About Author

Mike Hopkins

See author's posts