#15 Providence College Friars 66 (9-1)
Boston College Eagles 51 (3-6)
No Ryan Fazekas (possibly mono).
Fifteen minutes of Kris Dunn (illness).
One half of Ben Bentil (hurt ankle).
No problem.
The game was never in question. Somehow with the majority of the Boston College basketball team struggling with some bad Chipolte and Providence’s two best players limited due to illness and an injury, Vegas was still able to hit the spread almost exactly. The spread was 15.5 for the game and PC ended up winning by 15. That might have been the most impressive thing to come out of this game…besides the re-emergence of Rodney Bullock.
I actually think it was the perfect game for the Friars to need to rely on Rodney Bullock to take on the scoring burden and reassert himself as a scoring threat for the Friars. Bullock finished with 17 points on 8 of 14 shooting (mostly in the 2nd half) and carried the Friars to a breezy victory against what is left of the BC basketball program. Bullock chipped in 7 rebounds for good measure.
Game Notes:
- Ben Bentil went down with a scary ankle where he landed on the foot of a BC player after putting a shot up close to the basket. He came back out to the PC bench at the end of the game but was on crutches as he was unable to put any weight on his foot.
- Bentil only played in the first half and was still able to put up 16 points and 8 rebounds in just 16 minutes. He has been a legitimate force for the Friars and a match up nightmare for opposing teams. He’s strong enough to battle down low with the bigs and is athletic enough to keep up with the swing men. Put a bruiser on him and he’ll hit some shots from outside. Put a quicker guy on him and he’ll abuse him under the basket.
- Just your friendly reminder to think twice about taking to the hoop when Bentil is in the game.
- NCCA.com’s Joe Boozel just named Ben Bentil one of the Eight Most Underrated Players in College Hoops. If PC keeps climbing up the rankings, it won’t be that way for too much longer.
- Quadree Smith got some run with Bentil and Fazekas out and showed a really soft shooting touch from the line, going 6 for 6. That was a pleasant surprise from Q.
- Kyron Cartwright showed a sneaky good in-between game in this one, hitting from 12-15 feet a couple times. Donny Marshall did say something that I completely agree with. Cartwright is crafty but I’ve never heard that said about a right-handed player. Can only lefties by crafty?
- Eli Carter on Boston College never saw a shot he didn’t like. 15 points on 18 shots is not what you like to see, and a solid 3-12 from three. He is shooting 37% from the floor and 27% from three but is still jacking up 15.4 shots a game. That’s ugly.
- It looks like Dunn, Bentil, and Fazekas are all going to miss the next game against Bryant. It’s a good thing Braynt sucks this year, but I still don’t like all three of them being out.
- Nice article from SI.com on Kris Dunn.
Next Up, Providence take on Bryant on Saturday at Noon at the Dunk and will try and get their 10th win of the season without much depth.
The Morning Hangover 