Providence Friars 68 (9-1)
Vermont Catamounts 58 (6-4)
The Providence Friars took care of their most difficult game left on their out of conference slate by taking care of the visiting Vermont Catamounts behind a lethal three-point performance by A.J. Reeves. Reeves has had some ups and downs throughout his Friar career but has always stayed positive amongst the naysayers and persevered through some of the bullshit. It’s great to see him playing more freely this season and having it pay off in big ways for the Senior sharpshooter.
While Reeves was deadly from the outside, hitting 6 of 10 three-point shots for 24 points, Nate Watson was just as lethal on the inside, matching Reeves with 24 points on 10 of 12 shooting, and reminding everyone that he is a force to be reckoned with. The Friars never trailed in this game and easily won the 4th game of their 5 game home stand before starting Big East Conference play.
Game Notes:
- A.J. Reeves was one three short of his career-high of 7 made threes, hitting 6 out of his 10 bombs from three-point land. He made his both of his two-point attempts as well, finishing 8/12 on the night for 24 points. His 24 points were tied for the 3rd most in a game in his Friars career (29 against Sienna the first game of his Freshman Year & 28 against Georgetown his Junior Year).
- His 6 made threes were double the amount he’s made in any game this season. Since coming back from being sick, Reeves has hit at least 2 three-pointers in each game, going 13/29 (44.8%) from distance over the last 4 games.
- Reeves also handed out 4 assists on the night, moving the ball around beautifully to find his teammates when the defense tried to rotate to him as a shooting threat.
- Nate Watson is still here in case some of y’all forgot.
- Watson was basically perfect on the night, making 10/12 shots to match Reeves’ 24-point performance.
- Big Nate also dished out a career-high 3 assists, doubling up his total season output of 3.
- Noah Horchler was ice on the offensive end and not in the good way. Noah put up an 0-fer performance going 0-5 from the field but that’s the great thing about this team having so much depth that has been missing from PC teams in the past…guys can pick up teammates who have an off game.
- Even when Noah is hitting shots, he still finds other ways to effect the game. Horchler added another 4 assists to his season total and now has multiple assists in 7 of 10 games this season.
- The Viking gobbled up 10 rebounds as well, marking his 4th game with double-digit boards this season.
- Alyn Breed had a bit of a bounce back game despite a bit of foul trouble. Breed finished the game with 8 points, 3 steals, an assist, and a rebound in 24 minutes.
- Al Durham was eventually going to have a not perfect game from the free throw line but he still got there 9 freaking times. Durham went 5/9 from the line, still playing the most minutes on the team (37) and leading the Friars in assists with 5 while scoring 9.
- This was the first time all season that Durham scored in single digits.
- The bench had a quiet night overall for the first time in a while. Ed Croswell, Justin Minaya, & Brycen Goodine played a total of 53 minutes, only accumulating 3 points amongst them.
- Croswell did some boards clean up (6) and Minaya was omnipresent, but tonight was about A.J. and Big Nate.
- However, my favorite play of the night had to be one that happened after the whistle…
Next Up, the Friars finish the out of conference schedule against Central Connecticut at The Dunk on Saturday at 2 PM on FS1.
The Morning Hangover 