Game Notes & Preview: Providence (5-2) vs Rhode Island (3-2) 12/1/18

Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center – Providence, RI

When: 5:00pm EST

How: FS1 (Dave O’Brien & Dickey Simpkins)/Fox Sports GO (where available)/WPRO 99.7 FM & 630AM, TuneIn and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV

Game Notes

• Providence and Rhode Island will meet for the 129th time ever on Saturday. The Friars hold the advantage in the all-time series, 73-55, including 38-23 in Providence. Providence had a 7-game overall win streak snapped last season at the Ryan Center, but the Friars have won 7 straight games against the Rams at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
• Providence is 57-2 in non-conference games at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center under Ed Cooley.
• Rhode Island is 3-2 this season with wins over Bryant, Harvard and, most recently, Brown. The Rams have lost to Charleston on the road and Stony Brook at home. David Cox is in his 1st season at the helm of the Rhode Island program after Dan Hurley moved to UConn after last season.
• Ed Cooley passed Al McClellan on the all-time wins list for Providence head coaches with the Friars’ win over Iona on November 24th. Cooley is now in 4th place.
• 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.
• Providence announced the signing of 2019 commit Greg Gantt on November 16th. Gantt, a native of North Carolina, is currently the only committed player for Providence next season.
• The Friars defeated Fairleigh Dickinson on Tuesday, 69-59, behind 20 points and 9 rebounds from junior Alpha Diallo.
• Opening Line: Providence -8.5 vs Rhode Island 12/1/18

Game Preview

Providence and Rhode Island will meet for the 129th time ever on Saturday. The Rams snapped a 7-game losing streak against the Friars in this series last season with their win, behind a then career-high 20 points from freshman Fatts Russell. Providence still owns a 7-game win streak over URI in games played at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and Ed Cooley’s group will look to stretch that to 8 on Saturday.

New URI head coach David Cox has gotten off to an up and down start. In his first year replacing his former boss Dan Hurley, Cox has led the Rams to a 3-2 start with wins over local teams Bryant, Harvard and Brown and losses on the road at Charleston and at home against Stony Brook. Rhode Island is replacing a lot more than head coach in 2018-19 with stalwarts like E.C. Matthews and Jared Terrell exhausting their eligibility last season. Cox made his bones as a recruiter and the fruits of that labor are young players getting lots of minutes like freshmen Jermaine Harris, who has started all 5 games this season, and Tyrese Martin, who is averaging 20.8 minutes/game off the bench. The key players for the Rams, though, are junior guard Jeff Dowtin and Russell, a sophomore. Russell hasn’t shot well at all this season, but he has managed to at least put up 20+ in 2 of the 3 wins and Dowtin has shot significantly better from the field in wins (50.7%) than losses (40.0%). The Rams need those two to play well on Saturday to have a chance at a road win.

The probable starters according to the game notes are:

Providence

• David Duke – #3 – Freshman
• AJ Reeves – #10 – Freshman
• Alpha Diallo – #11 – Junior
• Jimmy Nichols – #10 – Freshman
• Kalif Young – #13 – Junior

Rhode Island

• Jeff Dowtin– #11 – Junior
• Fatts Russell – #1 – Sophomore
• Christion Thompson – #25 – Junior
• Jermaine Harris – #0 – Freshman
• Cyril Langevine – #10 – Junior

The keys to victory for Providence are keep URI away from offensive rebounds and force the Rams to shoot jumpers. The Friars should play zone in this game because the Rams are awful at shooting the basketball. That isn’t me saying something just because it’s URI. The fact is the Rams are currently ranked 352nd out of 353 teams in all of Division I college basketball at making 3-point field goals. Russell along went 0/7 from downtown in their most recent game against Brown. Overall, URI doesn’t have a great offensive team. They thrive on offensive rebounds and scoring in the pick and roll. The downside to playing zone for Providence would be it may make them more vulnerable to second chance points, but if they can force the Rams to be a jump shooting team and clean up most of the misses they should be able to outscore URI.

Prediction: Providence 71 Rhode Island 60

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Mike Hopkins

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