Providence Friars (2-0) 66 – Binghamton Bearcats (0-2) 45
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| Pic from +CoxHub |
With the late night tip at 9 PM on a Monday (actual tip wasn’t until 9:15), this was a tough game for a lot of the Friar Faithful to make it out to the Dunk for. I’m not sure how much you can really take away from this game since Binghamton isn’t anywhere close to being in the same class as Providence at this moment, but I’ll take another win against a Division I team. You never know when that extra win on the NCAA resume will push you over the edge.
In all fairness, Binghamton only has 3 upper-classmen (2 Juniors and 1 Senior), but this was a good game for Coach Ed Cooley to try out some different lineups and play around with his full court press a little bit. The first half was sloppy as all hell and the missed layups continue to pile up early in the season (especially and uncharacteristically from Henton). Henton looked off all game but still ended up leading the Friars in scoring with 12 points. That was followed by Harris with 11, Dunn with 10, Desrosiers with 8, and three guys with 6 a piece.
The second half was where a Big East team’s talent just rises to the top and crushes a lesser team. It almost looked unfair at one point, but since the team I was rooting for was on the right side of everything, I didn’t mind all that much.
The Friars lived on the line during the game and got back to their strength of last year, making 18 of 24 free throws in the game. It made a big difference as they struggled for the second game in row, only shooting 41% for the game from the floor. This is a game where just having the young guys get the experience of playing in an actual game is really all you’re taking away from this. You can pretty much forget the rest….
Except for you Kris Dunn, you look like you’re on the right trajectory now. He has a superb vision of the court and was firing passes on a rope to guys while putting them in a scoring position with where they caught it, so that all they had to do was put it right up. He looked eons more comfortable out there than last game. The fact that both Dunn and Cartwright look like they’re interchangeable at the 1 & 2 is a great sight for the Friars. Those two are playing really well of each other right now.
A couple more quick notes from the game.
- Carson, I like you bud, but let’s not take anymore fifteen foot jumpers huh?
- I really want to see what the Friars would look like trying out some zone. With the length that they have up front, I think it could be a really interesting twist to their defensive schemes.
- Is it just me or does Cartwright dribble the ball really, really high?
- Although Tyler Harris wasn’t very effective from the field tonight, he took advantage of the freebies from the line. He looks like he definitely added some muscle in the off-season too. Dude looks toned.
- Is this a good way to start a second half?
- I still can’t get over the size of FRESHMAN Ben Bentil. He was running around like a mad man, bowling over people, throwing the ball of the backboard, grabbing boards, throwing it down. I loved every second of it.
- Nice to see the three white boys get some run at the end of the game. Too bad none of them got any buckets but at least one of them got on the stat sheet…with a charge, but still, it’s official.
Next Up, the Friars take on Navy on Thursday November 20th at Home. Navy is 0-2 but with losses against two good teams in Michigan State and Notre Dame.
The Morning Hangover 