Providence Friars (6-6) 51

Florida Gators (7-3) 83

Yuck.

Whatever the opposite of firing on all cylinders is, this was that.

The Friars shot just 25.9% from the floor and allowed Florida to double that, shooting 50.9% from the floor.  Providence connected on just 1 out of 18 three point attempts (5.6%) and allowed Florida to hit 44.4% of their threes on the same number of three-point shots.  The Friars did get to the line 34 times, unfortunately they didn’t cash in on that advantage, shooting just 58.8% from the charity stripe.  The Gators connective on 70.8% of their free throws.  I think you get where this is going.  PC turned the ball over 15 times and recorded just 8 assists.  Florida turned the ball over 10 times and recorded 15 assists.  You can continue to go through every single stat and they’ll all pretty much look like this.  It was a tough game to watch.

At one point during the first half, the Friars went over 9 minutes without making a field goal.  I’m not an expert, but I think it’s pretty hard to win a basketball game doing that.

Game Notes: 

• Let’s start with the trio of point guards.
• Duke, Pipkins, and White combined for 4 assists and 8 turnovers.
• The three lead guards 4-16 from the field and 1-8 from three for a combined 11 total points.
• Greg Gantt (in his 2nd straight start), Emmitt Holt, and A.J. Reeves combined for an 0-fer performance, recording 2 points on a pair of made Duke free throws, and shot a combined 0-17 from the floor and 0-10 from three.
• After a semi-promising performance last game from Reeves, he was completely off his game, scoring 0 points in 19 minutes with 6 missed three-pointers.
• David Duke had his worst game of the season, scoring a season-low 2 points, turning the ball over 4 times, and missing all 5 of his field goal attempts.
• Alpha Diallo scored 20 points and showed high effort throughout the game, unfortunately, his performance from the free throw line (10-20) was the aspect of his game that stood out the most.
• Diallo did record his second straight double-double, recording 12 rebounds along with his team-high 20 points.  That makes 21 career double-doubles for Diallo (5 this year, 10 last year, and 6 the year before).

Diallo with the help side swat of Blackshear #pcbb #AlphaDiallo #TakeItStrongNextTime pic.twitter.com/vtSpkykBOk

— The Morning Hangover (@TheMorningHang) December 18, 2019 

• Nate Watson may be the only Friar player who can take away positives from this game.  Watson played a season-high 29 minutes, showing that he may be ready to increase his workload to where it would have started at the beginning of the season if not for some injuries.
• Watson was impressive in the post and shot 5-11 from the floor for a season-high 18 points.  Speaking of season-highs for Big Nate, he also took in a season-high 8 rebounds.  Perhaps the most encouraging part of Watson’s performance was his 8-12 final tally on free throws.

Positive vibes only. One good take away from last game vs. Florida was Nate Watson’s ability to handle more minutes.

Played 29 minutes, 8 more than any other gm this yr. 18 pts & 8 rebs.

Even better, 8-12 FTs. Was 6-25 (24%) prior. Rose avg 13.8% in 1 gm. Looking back! #pcbb pic.twitter.com/ROMRaTBWCj

— The Morning Hangover (@TheMorningHang) December 21, 2019

• Four Florida players finished in double figures led by Keyontae Johnson with 19 points and 10 rebounds.  Both Johnson and Gators guard Noah Locke were prime Providence Friars recruiting targets who ended up choosing the sunshine in Florida over the cold winters in Providence.  Florida and Providence always seem to be locked in on a lot of the same players so it was interesting to watch these guys play after watching their High School and AAU highlights from a couple of years ago.  Johnson especially looks like the all-around player and contributor that many thought he would grow into out of High School.
• Can we forget about this game now?  Ok, good.

Up Next, Providence has another tough test against a visiting Texas team at The Dunk.