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Game Notes & Preview: Providence (7-2) at UMass (4-5) 12/9/17

Where: Mullins Center – Amherst, MA

When: 3:00pm EST

How: NESN & Eleven Sports (Tim Neverett & Frank Sullivan)/NESNgo & Atlantic 10 Digital (Where Available)/WEEI 103.7 FM and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Tickets: SeatGeek

Game Notes

  • Providence and UMass will meet for the 33rd time on Saturday. Providence leads the all-time series, 25-7. The Friars are 9-2 at UMass.
  • Providence is 149-107 all-time against teams from the Atlantic 10, including a 1-1 record this season with the win over Saint Louis and the loss at URI.
  • UMass is 4-5 this season and their win last time out against Holy Cross at home snapped a 4-game losing streak that began with a neutral court loss at the hands of Minnesota. They were picked to finish 12th out of 14 teams in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll. UMass is coached by Matt McCall  who is in 1st season at the helm after 2 seasons as the head coach at Chattanooga. The Minutemen are led in scoring by sophomore Luwane Pipkins who is averaging 17.7 points/game. They are led in rebounding by junior Malik Hines who is averaging 6.6 rebounds/game.
  • The Friars defeated Brown in overtime, 77-72, in their last time out on Wednesday at the Dunk. The Friars started the game without Kyron Cartwright who was expected to rest a sore ankle until Ed Cooley put him in the game with around 9:30 to go in the second half. Providence would ultimately come back from a 12-point halftime deficit to win the game in overtime behind 21 points and 9 rebounds from Rodney Bullock.
  • Providence senior forward Rodney Bullock went over 1,000 points in his career against Boston College on November 25th. He became the 48th player in school history to score at least 1,000 points. Bullock is the 17th-fastest Providence player, tied with Eric Murdock, to score his 1,000th point (73 games). Bullock’s current place on the list is 43rd with 1,055 points. He is 5 points behind Steve Wright.
  • Providence senior guard Kyron Cartwright continues his drive up the all-time assist record list at Providence. He began the season tied for 12th with John Linehan (450). Cartwright has 55 assists through 9 games. He has 505 assists in his career, which places him 7th all-time at Providence. Next on the list in front of Cartwright is Ricky Tucker (520). Cartwright recorded his 500th career assist against URI on December 2nd. He is the 7th Providence player to record at least 500 career assists.
  • Providence officially announced on November 29th that Emmitt Holt would miss the entire 2017-18 season as a redshirt while he continues to recover from abdominal surgery. Holt has been off campus recovering, but is expected to return to school in January.
  • Opening Line: Providence -5.5 at UMass 12/9/17

Game Preview

Providence and UMass will meet for the 33rd time on Saturday afternoon at the Mullins Center in Amherst. The Friars are expected to be without both Alpha Diallo and Maliek White after the sophomores suffered injuries in the Brown game on Wednesday. There have been no specific updates on either player, but they both were seen on crutches on Thursday night during the team’s practice. On the positive side Kyron Cartwright practiced on Thursday after he was initially held out of the Brown game until the White injury and poor play forced him into that game for the final 15 minutes.

UMass is coming off a win over Holy Cross on Wednesday night which was the first game of this current 5-game homestand after they were on the road for the prior 4 games. The Holy Cross win also snapped a 4-game losing streak for the Minutemen. Matt McCall is in his first season at UMass after going 48-18 at Chattanooga in 2 seasons as the head coach there.

Expect to see UMass run plenty of dribble handoffs to start their action on offense. That action is most often a pick and roll situation near the top of the key which results in a drive and kick situation. Luwane Pipkins and Carl Pierre are the main perimeter players to keep an eye on for UMass. The Minutemen are a different offensive team with Rashaan Holloway in the game, but the junior BIG man — see what I did there? — hasn’t seen minutes in only saw 10 minutes of action last time out against Holy Cross after fouling out in 19 minutes at South Carolina the game prior.

Listen to the Providence Friarcast:

The probable starters are:

Providence
UMass

The key to victory for Providence is their defense. With all the ball and player movement UMass likes to run on offense it will be critical for the Friars to communicate well and make quick and correct rotations in the pick and roll.  Then when a shot does go up by the Minutemen — which is likely to be a jumpshot since 69% of all their shots this season have been 2 or 3 point jumpers — it will be critical to rebound the ball. Malik Hines has taken 28.1% of his shots this season after grabbing an offensive rebound, per Hoop-Math.com.

It will be interesting to see how the rotation works with all the injuries and UMass plays mostly smaller lineups. So far this season Ed Cooley has reacted to smaller lineups by an opponent by going small with his lineup. Perhaps this is the game we finally see Kalif Young and Nate Watson on the floor together, or Cooley could keep things going the same way and play extended time with Rodney Bullock at the 5. Keep your eye on this during Saturday’s game.

Prediction: Providence 69 UMass 67

Follow me on Twitter @pcbb1917

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Mike Hopkins

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One response to “Game Notes & Preview: Providence (7-2) at UMass (4-5) 12/9/17”

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