Providence Friars 71 (4-1)
Georgia Bulldogs 64 (2-3)
Following an overtime loss to Kansas State that resulted in the Friars losing two points guards, Jayden Pierre to a re-aggravated groin injury and Garwey Dual to an ejection due to a retaliatory forearm shiver, a short-handed Providence lineup was able to secure a victory in their trip down to the Bahamas over desperate Georgia team. At first glance, a win against a 2-3 Georgia team doesn’t look all that impressive but with their other two losses coming to an undefeated Oregon team and a now Top-10 ranked Miami squad, the outlook for the Bulldogs is only going to go up from here on out.
The Friars played a seven-man rotation, with four players (Hopkins, Oduro, Floyd, & Carter) accounting for 64 of the team’s 71 total points. Devin Carter and Josh Oduro led the way with 19 points apiece and the PC was able to hold off a surging Georgia team down the stretch that was able to pull within a single point with only 48 seconds left.
Game Notes:
- Josh Oduro has far exceeded whatever expectations I had for him since he announced his intentions to follow Kim English to Friartown for his final season of eligibility.
- After dealing with foul trouble in the loss to Kansas State, Oduro was able to stay on the floor for a season-high 33 minutes in a game where the Friars desperately needed him with a short bench. And, although Oduro isn’t a point guard (obviously), his passing was a gigantic help to a point guard-less lineup.
- I don’t think I’ve seen a player be able to string together so headsy plays by just touching the ball. He taps rebounds to teammates, taps passes to open shooters, and plays like a General on the floor at all times, always making the right plays.
- It doesn’t hurt that he also is wildly efficient on the offensive end. Oduro shot 6/8 from the field, including 2/2 from three, and 5/6 from the line. He has only shot under 50% from the floor in one of the five games so far this season. Oduro is currently shooting 63.9% from the field, 80.0% from three (4/5), and 78.6% from the line. As you might have predicted, all three of those would be career-highs for the stellar big man.
- I have been pleasantly surprised by Oduro on the defensive end of the floor. Before seeing him play, I was anticipating that he was going to struggle with the traditional big men in the Big East (Joel Soriano, Ryan Kalkbrenner, & Donovan Clingan) but he has put most of my worries to rest thus far. Oduro has recorded a block in all but one game this season, averaging 1.4 blocks per game, and more than holding his own on the blocks.
- Devin Carter led the team in points (19, tied with Oduro), rebounds (11), and assists (5). This was the 3rd game in a row that Carter has led the team in points and he has recorded the most rebounds or assists in two games each. So far, Carter is the critical force that is driving this team and he appears to be reveling in the assignment.
- He looks a step quicker than last year with the ball in his hands and although he went just 3/12 from three in this one, he is still shooting a career-best 32.4% from distance. The last two games saw an uptick in attempts and a downtick in efficiency, probably due to the fact that he had to take on so much of the guard duties and additional scoring responsibilities. When he’s able to play off the ball more, those numbers should start to climb back up.
- Carter ranks 1st on the team in ppg (17.0), 1st in apg (3.4), 1st in spg (1.6), 2nd in rpg (7.6), & 2nd in bpg (1.4).
- Carter’s double-double was his 1st of the season, 3rd as a Friar, and 4th of his career.
- Corey Floyd Jr. got the first start of his career and was given a lot of the point guard duties with Jayden Pierre and Garwey Dual both unable to play.
- Although his guard play didn’t necessarily translate into assists (1), just having another capable ball-handler who could bring the rock up the court and start the offense was a huge help. I mean, he didn’t turn the ball over a single time in a career-high 33 minutes of action and shot well from the floor with his increase in playing time.
- Corey was 4/9 from the floor and 2/2 from the line. He was just 1/5 from deep and hasn’t quite found his consistent shooting stroke from last season just yet, but the looks he’s been getting within the offense have definitely been good ones. Maybe turning back some of the PG assignments to the other guys will let him play with a little more freedom at the two-spot, turning into some hot streaks from outside. I know he’s going to catch fire soon. He’s too damn good of a shooter not to.
- Bryce Hopkins played the entire 40 minutes, scoring 15 points to go along with 9 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, and a block. His hard work on his conditioning in the off-season has visibly paid dividends this year and he looks miles ahead defensively from last season.
- As Hopkins continues to try and find his spots within English’s offensive scheme, he is finding other ways to have positive impacts on the game. Crashing the boards resulted in 4 of his 9 rebounds being of the offensive variety, leading to additional scoring opportunities. He cut down on the three-point attempts against Georgia after shooting at least 4 threes in each of the first 4 games this year. He appears to be going back to his bread and butter of punishing defenders with his rare combination of size and speed even though his hands looked a little shaky on his go-to spin moves while driving to the bucket.
- Ticket Gaines had a quiet game over his 29 minutes on the floor, going scoreless (0/2) with 2 rebounds and a block.
- Richard Barron filled in the guard gaps, playing 15 minutes, matching his career-high that he played in the first game of the season. Barron looks like he can hold his own on the offensive end thus far but he looks a step slow against opposing guards on the other end.
- Barron did record his first made three, first assist, and first block of his collegiate career.
- Rafael Castro was the only frontcourt player to see the floor off the bench and besides a few turnovers (3), played well against Georgia.
- Castro shows these flashes of insane athleticism that just screams for extended time on the court but English seems to want to ease him into more time this early in the season. If he can stay out of foul trouble and limit turnovers, there soon won’t be any reasons not to give him more minutes.
- The Friar Faithful certainly showed out in the Bahamas.
- Post-Game Pic winner is Big Rich…
- Post-Game Press Conference…
Next Up, the Friars return home for Thanksgiving and take on Lehigh on Friday, November 24th at 7 PM.
The Morning Hangover 