Providence Friars (5-4) 80

Pepperdine Waves (3-6) 77

Well, at least it was a win, am I right?

Providence barely made it out of the Wooden Legacy with a win, just missing out on finishing in 8th place out of 8 teams in the tournament.  Instead, the Friars came in 7th place (Woo Hoo!) by beating Pepperdine by 3 points.

The Friars led by 14 points with under 10 minutes to go in the game but let Pepperdine slowly climb back into, even closing it to a two-point game with 30 seconds left.  The Friars and Friartown collectively held their breath but eventually escaped Anaheim with a win at last.

The bench ended up outscoring the starters 41-39, despite only four players seeing the floor as reserves.  In my own opinion, besides Duke, I think that the guys on the bench deserve a shot to start together over the usual suspects in the starting lineup…but maybe that’s just me.

Game Notes: 

• David Duke was hindered the majority of the game with foul trouble, only being able to be on the floor for 21 minutes during the game.  That was Duke’s lowest minute total by 7 minutes so far this year.
• Despite playing on egg shells, Duke managed to finish in double-figures with 10 points on 3-6 shooting and went perfect from the line on 4 attempts.  He also took down 5 rebounds in limited action.
• As I was saying, the bench showed up big time in this game with Nate Watson and A.J. Reeves tying for a team-high 15 points.
• Nate still seems to be on a minutes restriction, but was able to do some major work with the time he was given.  In 17 minutes, Watson went 7-10 from the floor for a season-high 15 points.  However, it seems that his free throw shooting woes are not going away.  Watson went 1-5 from the line and is now shooting a miserable 23.8% on the year.
• A.J. Reeves showed some signs of life, scoring a season-high 15 points in some newly found extended time on the floor.  Reeves hasn’t looked like himself since his injury last season but I’m hoping to God that this games sets him back on his initial track he started his Friars career off on.
• Reeves was 2-6 from three, which is nothing to scoff at when you look at his significant struggles to get help the Friars out from deep.  Even though Reeves has only connected on 1 three in his last 6 games (1-11), deep down, I know that sniper is in there.

• Alpha Diallo narrowly missed out on a double-double once again, notching 9 rebounds to go along with 13 points.  Diallo shot just 4-11 from the floor and is now shooting 33% over his last two games on 26 shots.  At least he kept his turnovers down from the usual 4+ with just 2 and you can’t miss any threes that you don’t take either (0-0).
• Pipkins continued to struggle mightily from three going 1-4, and is now 4-19 over his last three games.  These extremely rough shooting stretches didn’t hurt so much when he was sporting an assist to turnover ratio of 5:1 and better, but he has an even 5 assists to 5 turnovers the last two games.
• Kalif Young was very effective and aggressive when he was on the court.  In just 19 minutes, he was able to score 8 points and grab 7 rebounds.  That’s nearly a double-double in less than 20 minutes.  I’ll take that every day of the week.
• Young is also crushing it at the line, which may be the single most unexpected stat of the season.  After going 2-2 from the line for the game, he is now 7-9 on the year, good for 77.8%.  After going 45.8% from the line over his first three seasons, he’s seemingly figured his shit out from the line this year.  It’s really quite impressive and a testament to his offseason work.
• Maliek White played solid over 32 minutes, his highest total of the season, with Duke in foul trouble throughout the game.

Next Up, the Ocean State Rivalry.  Did I not mention yet that URI sucks?  ‘Cause they do.