Where: CHI Health Center – Omaha, NE
When: 8:00pm EST
How: CBSSN (Carter Blackburn and Pete Gillen)/CBS Sports Network Streaming (where available)/WPRO 99.7 FM & 630AM, TuneIn and Friars.com (John Rooke and Joe Hassett)/FriarTV
Game Notes
- Providence and Creighton will meet for the 25th time ever on Wednesday. The Friars hold the advantage in the all-time series, 15-9. The Bluejays beat the Friars earlier this season at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
- Creighton is 16-13 overall and 7-9 in Big East play this season. The Bluejays are on a 3-game win streak, including a road win at Marquette last time out. Greg McDermott is in his 9th season at the helm of the Creighton program.
- 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 then tied Tim Welsh for 3rd most wins as the Providence head coach on February 26th at Butler. Cooley currently has 160 wins and trails Dave Gavitt (209 wins) and Joe Mullaney (319 wins).
- 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 will also add preferred walk-on Tommy Dempsey next season, the son of the Binghamton head coach announced via his Twitter on December 19th.
- The Big East, USA Basketball and Providence announced on December 18th that the 2019 USA Pan American men’s basketball team will be represented solely by Big East players and coached by Ed Cooley.
- Providence junior Alpha Diallo became the 50th Providence player to score at least 1,000 points in his career when he hit a 3-pointer with 999 points against Georgetown on February 6th.
- The Friars won their last game, 73-67, in overtime at Butler on February 26th. Providence is now coming off their second week-long bye after the Butler game.
- Providence inducted 11 new members to the Providence College Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, February 22nd. Jamel Thomas was one of the new inductees, and he and the other 10 members of the new hall of fame class were honored at halftime Providence’s February 23rd game against Marquette.
- Opening Line: Providence +6 at Creighton 3/6/19
Game Preview
Providence and Creighton will meet for the 25th time ever. The Friars are 5-4 against the Bluejays in Omaha. Creighton is currently tied with Seton Hall for 6th in the Big East standings will all 10 teams having 2 games remaining in the regular season. The Friars are tied for last place with Butler and DePaul, but trail the 3rd place teams, Georgetown and Xavier, by 2 games. There are numerous Big East Tournament seeding implications in these final two games for each league school, and I’ll have my annual Big East Tournament Seeding Scenarios post after all teams have played their 17th Big East game.
The probable starters according to the game notes are:
Providence
- David Duke – #3 – Freshman
- Maliek White – #4 – Junior
- A.J. Reeves – #10 – Freshman
- Alpha Diallo – #11 – Junior
- Nate Watson – #0 – Sophomore
Creighton
- Davion Mintz – #1 – Junior
- Marcus Zegarowski – #11 – Freshman
- Ty-Shon Alexander – #5 – Sophomore
- Mitch Ballock – #24 – Sophomore
- Martin Krampelj – #15 – Junior
The keys to victory for Providence are to play at a slow pace with the ball being thrown inside, get to the free throw line and defend the 3. The Friars have been featuring Nate Watson inside more and more as the season has gone on. While the Friars may have trouble matching with Martin Krampelj when the Bluejays are on offense, it’s Providence that has the advantage when they have the ball. The Bluejays are also susceptible to giving up offensive rebounds. The only offensive category in league play that Providence is ranked atop the Big East is Free Throw Rate. When you have an inefficient offense it helps to get extra possessions and get to the free throw line. On the other side, Creighton killed Providence with 3’s at the Dunk on New Year’s Eve in the Big East opener for both teams. The Bluejays made 13 triples on 29 attempts to run away with the 11-point win. Providence only made that many 3-pointers once this season: their season opening win against Siena. The most 3’s they made in a Big East game this season is 8 in the double overtime loss at Georgetown.
Prediction: Providence 64 Creighton 63
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