Friars Win: Providence 86, Wagner 52

Line Score

Stat Leaders

Game Recap

A get right game for the Providence Friars feels like the appropriate way to recap this 34-point victory over the Wagner Seahawks. Providence handled Lehigh easily last Friday, but they failed to put the hammer down on the Mountain Hawks. The hammer dropped early and often tonight and the player wielding that hammer most often was Ticket Gaines. Gaines, a 5th year transfer who has played for Kim English at all 3 schools he’s attended, has been a high energy, fan-favorite through the first few weeks of his career at Providence. However, Gaines had yet to get going on offense. Got going he did with 7/10 from beyond the arc to lead all scorers with 21 points and he added 5 assists to go along with all the other hustle plays he makes that don’t register in the box score. Case in point, Gaines was diving on the floor for a loose ball with the Friars up by 30 midway through the second half. Another big positive is that Bryce Hopkins built off his best game of the season last time out with 20 points on 7/11 from the field. Rounding out the scoring for Providence were Josh Oduro with 12 points on 5/8 shooting and Devin Carter with 10 points and 13 rebounds for Carter’s 5th career double-double, his second of the season after notching one against Georgia in the Bahamas. Those 13 boards marked a career-high for Carter who also led the team in assists with 6 and added 2 steals.

Jayden Pierre missed a 3rd straight with an injured groin but the sophomore did take part in pregame workouts for the second straight game which is likely a good sign for his upcoming availability.

One of the most impressive stats of the night for the Friars among a cornucopia of impressive stats is the 25 assists (period, really) on 29 made field goals. That’s a very impressive feat and a good sign that the ball was moving and Providence was getting good shots. In comparison, Wagner had just 6 assists on 18 made field goals. While the game was fully under control for the entire second half, a late 1/7 down the stretch from 3-point range made those numbers look a little worse than they actually were with Providence being 12/25 from deep prior to the cool down with mostly backups in the game.

On the negative side of the box score was a 12/19 performance at the free throw line. In the early going two areas that have been calling out for improvement as they’ll be crucial to winning close games in Big East play are turnovers and free throws. The turnover numbers weren’t terrible in this game at 10 — there were some sloppy ones before the game got out of hand — but 63% from the free throw line won’t cut it when the games are played very close against league opponents. That may seem like a nitpick when Providence’s lowest win probability, per Kenpom, was 94.3% during Wagner’s only lead of the game (3-0 with 18:24 to go in the first half), but it all can’t be rainbows and sunshine. Mindset.

Garwey Dual didn’t have his best night but this sequence stuck out to me. He’s 2nd on the team in blocks with 8 in 6 games and then watch the back end how he runs the floor to clear the middle for Bryce Hopkins to cut to the ball for the And-1. Special #pcbb #gofriars #mindset pic.twitter.com/fqNQFY0cur

— Mike Hopkins (@pcbb1917) November 29, 2023

Next Game

Providence faces in-state rival URI on Saturday, December 2nd at the Amica Mutual Pavilion on FS1 at 7:30pm ET.

Wagner Box Score

Providence Box Score

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Mike Hopkins

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