Providence Friars 71 (9-3)
Seton Hall Pirates 67 (7-5)
For the second year in a row, the Providence Friars started out their Big East Conference slate with a road win, this time beating Seton Hall in New Jersey. The Friars went into the half trailing by 9 but exploded at the start of the 2nd half with Bryce Hopkins and Ed Croswell leading the charge in the paint. The dynamic duo scored 45 of Providence’s 71 points, accounting for 63% of the team’s total and every bit of it was needed to pull out a road win against a formidable Pirates squad.
Game Notes:
- Bryce Hopkins is that dude.
- Hopkins scored a career-high 24 points 8/15 shooting, including a perfect 2/2 from three.
- The Kentucky transfer also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds en route to his 4th double-double of the year.
- You can feel Hopkins’ confidence growing with each game and he officially look like he wants the ball in big moments throughout the game.
- Ed Croswell played his single best game as a Friar.
- Ed Cooley wanted his team to dominate down low and with the help of Croswell, they did. The team out-rebounded The Hall 38-33 and completely controlled the paint.
- Croswell’s 21 points (8/12) were the most he’s scored in a Friars uniform, and he came up a rebound short of a double-double himself.
- His 3 blocks were a season-high and he notched 2 steals and an assist to complete his overall gem of a game.
- The frontcourt pair combined for 45 points & 19 rebounds, shooting 16/27 from the floor. The rest of the team shot 7/26 from the floor.
- Croswell’s 5th foul that removed him from the game was so soft. I don’t want to be the guy that harps on the officiating but the refs were pretty shit for the entirety of the game, both ways. Is it just me or has reffing gotten worse in college hoops?
- Noah Locke was the third Friar to score in double-figures, scoring all 10 of his points in the first half.
- Locke recorded his most minutes of the year, notching 35 minutes on the floor.
- Locke actually led the Friars in assists, handing out four helpers and not turning the ball over once, just the 3rd game this season that he hasn’t committed a turnover. This absolute dime to Croswell was the cherry on top.
- The best was Locke being shocked that he got the Chief of Dimes belt.
- Noah was 4/7 from the floor, with Hopkins and Croswell, being the only other guy on the team to shoot better than 50% from the floor. Locke has now made 2 or more three-pointers in 8 of 12 games this season. He is currently shooting 37.9% from three on the year and he just bumps that up a little bit, it would do wonders for the team this year.
- Jared Bynum has still yet to find his shooting stroke so far. Bynum scored 2 points, both of free throws, and has now scored just 2 points in 3 of the last 5 games.
- He appears to be hesitant letting his shots fly in the flow of the game and it might be a good idea to have him come of the bench for a few games to get him sorted out on the offensive end. He was much more impactful and comfortable playing the 6th man role last year and it couldn’t hurt to give it a try to see if he can have a breakthrough performance. The Friars are going to NEED the best version of Bynum to make noise in the Big East this season. That is a fact.
- Devin Carter was really solid, per usual, impacting the game in a number of different ways.
- Carter finished with 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and an assist, dogging opposing players up and down the court.
- Besides Alyn Breed, there wasn’t much of significance from the rest of the bench. Breed was the only sub to score, scoring 6 points.
- Breed filled out the rest of his stat sheet with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal.
- Breed is a guy you want at the line down the stretch and went 4/4 from the charity stripe in this one.
- I am perhaps the biggest Alyn Breeed floater proponent and this might very well have been the best one of his I’ve ever seen.
- Cooley shortened the bench significantly in this game with the rest of the scoreless bench playing limited minutes. Jayden Pierre (7), Rafael Castro (6), Clifton Moore (5), and Corey Floyd (4), played a combined 22 minutes and were a combined 0-5 from the floor.
- Kadary Richmond was fantastic for The Hall, scoring a game-high 28 points and looking pretty unstoppable doing so. Richmond led the Pirates in points (28), rebounds (9), assists (5), and steals (2), and was desperately searching for a teammate to fill in as the Robin to his Batman during this game. Unfortunately for him, no one on his team stepped up to help him out.
- Both Richmond and Bryce Hopkins looked like All-Conference players in this game.
- Friars locker room celebration photo. Winner is Noah Locke ’cause dude is lookin’ tough. No real standouts in this one.
Up Next, The Friars return home to host Marquette on Tuesday at 7 PM.
The Morning Hangover 