Providence Friars 78 (1-0)
Columbia Lions 59 (0-1)
Kim English officially has a better winning percentage as the Head Coach of the Providence Friars than Ed Cooley did during his 12-year stint in Friartown. There was a lot of first game jitters and over-excitement to start the game with everybody running around like chickens with their heads cut off, leading to a big ole pile of turnovers (18 total), but things settled down in the last ten minutes of the first half with the defense leading to offense for the lengthy Friars lineup.
The Friars launched 23 three-pointers on the night in their new 4-out offensive scheme but were only able to connect on 6 of them on the night. Devin Carter and Rafael Castro were the two main highlights on the night as the Friars were able to just barely cover their 18.5 point spread with a 19-point win.
Game Notes:
- Devin Carter was the best player on the court in the Friars season opener, looking like he was on a completely different level than every other player on the floor. He looked a step quicker at all times…
- Carter finished the game with 13 points, 6 rebounds, a team-high 4 assists, a team-high 3 steals, and a block.
- There seemed to be more than one of him on the court at all times and despite taking a friendly-fire knee to the back of the shoulder from Ticket Gaines while diving for a loose ball.
- I picked Devin as a member of my pre-season All-Big East 2nd Team and he absolutely looked the part.
- Rafael Castro needs to play more minutes. If you watched that game and that wasn’t your first takeaway, then maybe we were watching different games. For whatever reason, Castro didn’t see the floor until about 4 minutes left in the first half, even having Freshman Richard Barron getting a decent number of minutes before Slim saw the court.
- He entered the game and almost instantly scored a trio of buckets to end the half. Considering the team doesn’t have a ton of frontcourt depth, it was even more surprising that it took so long to get him into the game.
- In limited minutes (14), Castro was still able to tie for the second most points on the team (13), going 6/7 from the floor in the process and displaying his crazy length on the defensive end to the tune of a game-high 3 blocks.
- For those of you keeping score at home, Castro recorded new career-highs in points, made field goals, and blocks in just his first game of the year. Slim added 3 rebounds and a steal as well and was getting a lot of love from what was a pretty damn good crowd for a season opener against a Columbia team who has really struggled these last couple of seasons.
- In lieu of tall boys, the Friar Faithful had to turn to assembling some cup snakes for the game, which I am very much in favor of.
- Kim English was very aware of the turnout as well…
- Bryce Hopkins didn’t have a great game by Bryce Hopkins standards and still managed to put up a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
- Hopkins was just 4/13 from the floor but seemed to become more comfortable in this new offensive scheme as the game went on. On the good side of things, Hopkins was 2/6 from three and a perfect 4/4 from the line on the night. His free throw attempts are most likely going to take a hit with his transition into letting it fly from the outside more this year but those are still there if things get stale from the outside.
- On the minus side, he was inefficient from the floor and turned the ball over a game-high five times. He seemed to be indecisive on some of his three-point attempts (as did Corey Floyd Jr.), getting caught in the air a couple of times.
- Ticket Gaines is going to be the fan favorite of this year’s team. No doubt about it. He is what Friartown was hoping Jimmy Nichols Jr. was going to turn into for the Friars. He has the nickname. He has the look with the headband and compression tights working for him. And he is everything, everywhere, all at once.
- Gaines got the start tonight and visibly has Kim English’s confidence. He led the team in free throw attempts, going 5/7 from the line and finishing the game with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and a dime.
- I don’t want to get too down on anything from the first game but man, my fingers are crossed that Garwey Dual’s ankle is fine. The moment did not seem to big for him when he first entered the game as he drilled a three-pointer for his first collegiate points. Amongst the chaos to start the game, he appeared to be unaffected.
- Josh Oduro looked perfectly fine in his first game and looks like he is a very capable passer for a big dude. I’m not sure that he’s going to be able to match up in one-on-one scenarios with the elite big men of the Big East in Donovan Clingan (UConn), Joel Soriano (St. John’s), & Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton).
- Jayden Pierre very quietly had a nice game. He started at the point and finished the game with 9 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and a steal. He had a few very fixable turnovers but he did have my personal favorite play of the game…
- Corey Floyd Jr. wasn’t able to get things going from deep, going 0/6 from three, but his looks were there. After shooting 41.9% from distance last year, I’m more than confident that those looks are going to turn into makes as the season goes along.
- Richard Barron is a thiick boy. I didn’t realize that he was that sturdy of a dude but he needs to be ready to let it fly when he gets a kick out. His confidence will build with time but it was good to see him get some experience under his belt.
- Luke Fonts, passer extraordinaire. What a fire pass from Fonts to Slim to not only close out the game, but to get the cover. The Friars were favored to win by 18.5 points and Slim’s final bucket put the game away for a 19-point W.
Next Up, the Friars stay home at the AMP to take on the Milwaukee Panthers on Saturday, November 11th at 6 PM on FS2.
The Morning Hangover 