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Game Notes & Preview: Providence (1-0) vs Wichita State (0-1) 11/9/18

Where: Alumni Hall – Annapolis, MD

When: 6:00pm EST

How: CBSSN (Tom McCarthy, Steve Lappas & Jon Rothstein)/WPRO 99.7 FM & 630AM, TuneIn and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Game Notes

  • Providence and Wichita State will meet for the 3rd time ever on Friday. The Shockers hold the advantage in the all-time series, 2-0. Both previous matchups were part of a home-and-home series which saw Providence host Wichita State in December 2004 and then the Friars traveled to Wichita in November 2005.
  • Providence is 10-7 under Ed Cooley in November neutral court games. The Friars went 2-0 last season in November in games played on a neutral court (2K Classic at Madison Square Garden). Providence will play two additional neutral court games next weekend as part of the 2018 Hall of Fame Tip Off at Mohegan Sun.
  • Wichita State is coming off a 25-8 season that ended with a First Round exit in the NCAA Tournament at the hands of Marshall. The Shockers suffered heavy personnel loses after last season due to players leaving early for professional opportunities and via transfer, in addition to graduation. Wichita State lost their season opener at home to Louisiana Tech, 71-58. The were favored by 9.5 in that game. Gregg Marshall is in his 12th season at the helm of the Wichita State program.
  • Providence enters the 2018-19 season coming off their fifth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and sixth 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 20 appearances in the NCAA Tournament and 19 appearances in the NIT.
  • Providence was picked 3rd in the preseason Big East Coaches’ Poll. Junior Alpha Diallo was named to the Preseason First Team All-Big East and David Duke was Preseason co-Freshman of the Year with Villanova’s Jahvon Quinerly.
  • The Friars defeated Siena, 77-67, on November 6th in their season opening game at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Freshman AJ Reeves set a Providence record with 29 points in his first college game. The previous record was 17 points shared by Gerard Coleman and LaDontae Henton. Reeves also became the first Providence player to make 7 or more 3-pointers in a game since Bryce Cotton made 7 triples against Boston College on December 22, 2012. Junior Alpha Diallo notched his 7th-career double-double in the win against Siena with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Diallo, who had his previous 6 double-doubles last season — also led the Friars in assists with 5.
  • Opening Line: Providence -4.5 vs Wichita State 11/9/18

Game Preview

Providence and Wichita State will play for the 3rd time ever on Friday night. This matchup will be part of the 2018 Veterans Classic being played at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. The other game in the event features Navy taking on Maryland after the conclusion of the Providence/Wichita State game. All 3 visiting teams took part in a day touring around the Naval Academy and seeing various aspects of life for the cadets.

Wichita State is coming off a loss in their season opener at home on Tuesday night against Louisiana Tech of Conference USA. The Shockers lost a ton from last season’s team that earned a 4-seed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament before being upset by 13-seed Marshall in the First Round. Landry Shamet, who led the team in points and assists, opted to forgo his remaining eligibility and entered the NBA Draft, ultimately being selected with the 26th pick in the 1st Round by the Philadelphia 76ers. In addition to Shamet, Gregg Marshall also lost 3 seniors who all averaged double figures in scoring in Shaquille Morris, Conner Frankamp and Darral Willis. Last season’s leading rebounder Rashard Kelly also graduated. While Marshall and his staff brought in a nice mix of incoming freshmen and junior college transfers, the Shockers are expected to have a down year. Wichita State was picked 8th our of 12 teams in the preseason AAC poll in October.

Providence showed pretty well in their opener against Siena despite some lackadaisical defense at times that allowed the Saints to hang around and make the game within 3 possessions in the final minutes of action. AJ Reeves was the main story with his record breaking debut, but the Friars also had 3 other players score in double figures. This team will continue to try  to find the right mix of players, but Ed Cooley started Reeves and fellow freshman David Duke. Duke didn’t score in his first college game and his fellow point guards in Maliek White and Makai Ashton-Langford didn’t exactly fill up the stat sheet. The Friars will be looking to iron out that point guard spot as November goes on and the league schedule gets underway on New Year’s Eve.

The probable starters according to the game notes are:

Providence
Wichita State

The keys to victory for Providence are to get to the free throw line early and often and crash the glass. The Friars largely used 3-point shooting to win their first game. If those 3’s continue to go down they could run away with this game. However, Wichita State put Louisiana Tech  at the free throw line for 34 attempts on Tuesday. That allowed the Bulldogs to overcome 18 turnovers. The Shockers also gave up 10 offensive rebounds against Louisiana Tech in the opener.

Neither team seems to have their point guard spots figured out in early November. Turnovers could be an x-factor in this game if one point guard crew plays better than the other. Look for Providence to try to force Wichita State to play a slower, half court game. Wichita State didn’t play that well when forced to slow the game down and run their half court offense.

Prediction: Providence 70 Wichita State 62

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