Exhibition Game Notes & Preview: Providence vs Carleton 10/28/17

Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI

When: 4:00pm EDT

How: Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Tickets: Friars.com

Game Notes

• Providence and Carleton have played 2 times with both contests being exhibitions. The Friars are 2-0 in those games, including an 87-69 win last October at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
• Providence played their first ever exhibition game on December 4, 1920 against East Greenwich Academy. Providence’s first 9 games were exhibitions and they lost all 9. It would be 6 years later, to the day, that Providence played their first official non-exhibition game.
• Providence is 70-39 all-time in exhibition games. The Friars are 9-0 in exhibitions under Ed Cooley, including a 1-0 record this season.
• The Carleton University Ravens play in U Sports, which is the Canadian version of college athletics. Carleton has won 13 of the last 15 U Sports national championships. They have won the last 7 in a row. Carleton is coached by Dave Smart who enters the 2017-18 season with the second-most wins in U Sports history for men’s basketball. Carleton is currently 15-2 on their 18-game preseason exhibition schedule. They have beaten Alabama, Vanderbilt (twice), Northeastern and Siena among others. They lost to Towson and James Madison. This will be their last preseason game before they open at home against Guelph on November 3rd.
• Providence enters the 2017-18 season coming off their fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and fifth straight season playing postseason basketball. The NCAA Tournament streak is the longest one in school history. The postseason streak is the 3rd-longest in school history behind the 8 season streak from the 1970-71 season through the 1977-78 season and the school-record 9 season streak from 1958-59 through 1966-67. Overall, Providence has now made 19 appearances in the NCAA Tournament and 19 appearances in the NIT.
• The Friars defeated UConn, 90-76, in their first time out this season when the two teams met at Mohegan Sun Arena for a hurricane benefit game that raised $75,000 for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Game Preview

Providence will meet perennial Canadian national champion Carleton University for the second straight season in an exhibition game at the Dunk. The Friars handled the Ravens last October to the tune of an 87-69 victory behind a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds from Emmitt Holt. The Friars will be without Holt as he remains away from the team dealing with a medical situation. Carleton led last year’s game by 11 at halftime before the Friars turned on the shooting to make 20 of their 31 field goal attempts in the second 20 minutes. Both of Carleton’s players who scored in double figures have graduated in Connor Wood and Kaza Kajami-Keane. However, former Xavier big man Eddie Ekiyor is back after scoring 9 points and grabbing 6 rebounds last season in this game. Other players Friar fans should be aware of are guards Yasiin Joseph and Marcus Anderson and 6’11 big man Cameron Smythe. Carleton played a closed scrimmage with Boston University last Saturday.

Ed Cooley held both Jalen Lindsey and Maliek White out of the UConn game due to a “coach’s decision” he said after that game. He said he expects both to play in this game. Lindsey was also held out of the Mal Brown Scrimmage. With this game and one more chance for Providence to play an exhibition on November 4th against Baruch, look for Cooley to use some different lineup configurations and get his younger players plenty of minutes under the bright lights of the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. During his radio show on Thursday night Cooley said he would consider some small lineups with Rodney Bullock at the 5. He also said after the UConn game that playing Kyron Cartwright and Makai Ashton-Langford together during that game at Mohegan Sun was the second time that has happened with the first coming the day before in practice. Look for more opportunities for mixing and matching.

The rosters for both teams are:

Providence

Carleton

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