#15 Providence Friars 71 (20-2)
Georgetown Hoyas 52 (6-15)
After a sloppy first half that saw Providence go into the break down 3 points to a Georgetown team that is winless in Big East, the Friars came out in the second half and blew the doors off the Hoyas. Jared Bynum led the way with a career-high 32 points including some truly remarkable shots. Doing most of his damage from beyond the arc, going 7/8 from three, Bynum noted that the basket, “looked like an ocean” to him as he rained down baskets at will.
Not to go unnoticed, Noah Horchler, Justin Minaya, & Nate Watson all finished with 10 points apiece in a win that will somehow improve the analytic standings for the Friars more than squeaking out wins against actual good ranked teams.
Georgetown has now lost 11 games in a row and stands alone at the bottom of the conference standings. I’m not sure how they’re going to fix the team but the Big East is more fun when the Hoyas are at least competitive.
Game Notes:
- JAR-ED BY-NUM! Clap, Clap, ClapClapClap! JAR-ED BY-NUM! Clap, Clap, ClapClapClap!
- What a performance from the Junior Point Guard. Bynum shot 11/15 from the floor, including 7/8 from three en route to his best collegiate game ever, finishing with a career-high 32 points in 31 minutes.
- Once Bynum attempted to throw an alley-oop and his pass actually went in the basket, we probably should have known that things were going his way.
- A game after going 4/5 from three against St. John’s and leading the team with 19 points, Bynum went even wilder in his encore performance against the Hoyas. Over the two games he is 16/23 (70.0%) from the floor, 11/13 (84.6%) from three, and a perfect 8/8 from the line.
- Doing his best Bryce Cotton impression, Bynum also had 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 assists.
- Noah Horchler notched another double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. After recording just one double-double last season, Horchler now leads all Big East players with 7 double-doubles on the season.
- Horchler continues to show off his much improved passing abilities, handing out 3 assists for the game. Noah recorded 14 assists last season and already has 41 assists for this year. He has almost tripled his assist total from last year and needs just 3 more assists to tie his season-high that he achieved during his Freshman year at North Florida.
- Noah had 2 swipes for the game for good measure.
- Big Nate Watson was integral for jumpstarting the Friars to begin the 2nd half. Ed Cooley made it a point to feed the big dog down low over and over to start the second stanza and he went to work to ignite a half that saw the Friars outscore Georgetown 44-22.
- The best part about Nate’s game was his perfect 4/4 from the line. Granted, he actually missed two free throws but the undisciplined Hoyas squad committed lane violations on each, giving him an opportunity to atone for his misses. By the end of the season, we’ll only remember the 4/4 stat anyway. Why does it feel like opposing teams are suddenly making lane violations for Watson specifically over the last couple of games.
- Justin Minaya has continued to crush it with corner threes. Minaya went 3/5 from three, scoring 10 points, grabbing 7 rebounds, handing out 3 assists, and notching 2 steals. Plus, he actually got four minutes of rest this game. He does everything.
- Over his last 9 games, Minaya has connected on 16/33 (48.5%) three-point shots, raising his season percentage all the way up to a career best 36.7%. You can literally see his increased confidence when attempting a three-point shot and he’s typically doing so in the most advantageous situations. He has now made a three-point basket in 8 of the last 9 games.
- A.J. had a game that we can just brush past. He is still finding his place back in the rotation after the rest of the team had settled into a playing rotation during his time out.
- Al Durham was just 1/7 from the field but that didn’t stop him from making what has become gimme free throws (3/3). Durham did have a team-high 4 assists but Bynum was doing most of his damage on his own.
- Ed Croswell rebounded the hell out of the ball whenever he touched the floor, finishing with 7 rebounds, including 3 of thee offensive variety.
- We finally saw the Mythical Double-Fonts lineup but I thought we should have seen it at least a minute earlier so that they could get some shot opportunities.
- Aminu Mohammed was the one Georgetown player who looked good out there. He has the size to bang down low but he’s really athletic, which makes him a hard matchup. Ideally, he would play the four alongside a good post player and take advantage of whoever ends up guarding him.
- Mohammed, the pre-season pick for Big East Freshman of the Year, scored 18 points on 7/11 shooting, with 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and an assist. Hopefully for the Hoyas, he doesn’t go anywhere at the end of the season because he is going to be a problem if he stays in conference.
Next Up, the Friars have a week off before taking on DePaul at home for another Sunday affair. The game will tip at 6:30 PM on FS1, going up against the Super Bowl. I’m pretty sure that the PC game will beat it in viewership though…
The Morning Hangover 