Providence Friars 86 (6-1)
Wagner Seahawks 52 (2-4)
Ticket Gaines kept finding corner threes within the flow of the offense and his teammates kept feeding him the ball in a perfect position to knock down shots. And knock down shots he did. Gaines had a career night in which he hit 7 three-pointers to help the Friars cruise to an easy win over a pesky Wagner squad.
The Friars put together a complete team performance, holding Wagner to 27.7% shooting while almost doubling their shooting percentage on their end, hitting at a 52.7% clip. Providence recorded assists on 25 of their 29 made field goals and shot over 40% from three in what appeared to be the ideal execution of a Kim English coached game.
Game Notes:
- Yeah, that’s the Ticket.
- Having started the season uncharacteristically slow from three-point land, Ticket Gaines was able to get going early and never stopped raining bombs for the rest of the game. Gaines came into the game shooting 3/20 from three, going 0-fer in 4 of the 6 games, and proceeded to hit 7/10 against a helpless Wagner team that couldn’t seem to find him in their defensive rotations. The 7 made threes were a career-high and improved his season 3-point shooting percentage from 15.0% to 33.3%. That’s more like it. I’m expecting his shooting to stay at a high level like they have been in prior years when Gaines shot 40.2% in his last season at George Mason.
- All of Ticket’s shot attempts came from behind the arc on his way to a game-high 21 points. The 21 points were 2 shy of his career-high that he set at Richmond last season.
- Gaines didn’t just get things done from long range either as he also set a new career-high with 5 assists. I think it would be safe to say that this was Ticket’s best collegiate game of his career.
- Gaines also added 4 rebounds and a block to round out his outstanding stat sheet.
- Bryce Hopkins carried over his stellar performance from last game against Lehigh (25 points, 14 rebounds) with another 20+ point performance, finishing the game with 20 points and 6 rebounds. His shooting struggles seem to have subsided for the time being as he shot over 60% in both of the last two wins. He also seems to be getting more comfortable on when to pull up from the outside shooting 3/6 from deep, both limiting his attempts and taking them in better shooting situations.
- Devin Carter did everything.
- Carter flirted with a triple-double, ending up with 10 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists.
- The 13 rebounds were not only a game-high but a career-high for the versatile guard. The double-double was Carter’s 2nd of the season and 5th of his career.
- Just for fun, he added 2 steals and a block, because that’s what he does.
- And Carter can do this…
- The best thing about this year’s team is that other guys can pick up the slack when someone is having an off-game. Through 7 games, the Friars have had 5 different leading scorers.
- Josh Oduro had only 1 assist but that does not exemplify the gigantic impact he had on the game with his passing. If they were counting hockey assists, he would have had about a dozen more. He is just such a cerebral player with a skillset that Providence hasn’t had in a big man since I can’t even remember when.
- And who knew Josh could get up like this…
- Garwey Dual got the nod at point guard with Jayden Pierre sitting out once again while his groin injury continues to heal. I am fully on board with resting him until he is 100%, especially with how easily you can re-injure or re-aggravate, leading to an even longer time rehabbing.
- Although Dual didn’t have his shot on point (2 points), which was fine because literally everyone else did, he distributed extremely well, dishing out 5 assists and not committing a single turnover. The 5 assists were a new career-high for the Freshman.
- Richard Barron had his very best game as a Friar, notching new highs across the board in minutes (20), points (8), rebounds (4), assists (1), blocks (1), fields goals made (3), and three-pointers made (2).
- Barron still has some improvements to be made on the defensive end for sure but you could almost see his confidence growing after his first shot went in. Teammates making shots at a high clip and the reaction of the guys is contagious and lightens the pressure on everyone else.
- Donovan Santoro got his first extended run of the season and looked pretty good with the handful of minutes he saw the floor. Since he doesn’t see the floor that often he was definitely more inclined to take some shots at the end of the game himself rather than get the walk-ons in one-on-one situations…which I totally get. He may also be my favorite bench celebrator on the team. Dude is always hyped to see other guys doing well.
- As usual, Rafael Castro made an immediate impact when he was on the floor, racking up another pair of blocks in the process. He also grabbed 5 rebounds (a team-high 2 offensive), scored 4 points, and had a steal.
- Corey Floyd Jr. once again showed that he can hold his own at the point when given the keys to run the offense. Floyd tallied 4 assists and just 1 turnover, while also hitting a much needed three that hopefully gets his shooting stroke on track.
- Providence improved to 5-0 all-time vs. Wagner.
- The Friars most recent matchup against Wagner came on December 17, 2016 at the AMP where the Friars won 76-54. You may remember that game because Providence went on a 31-0 run in the first half to put the game out of reach. During the 31-0 run for the Friars that lasted about 13 minutes of game time, Providence was able to turn Wagner over 7 times and hold the Seahawks to shooting 0-16 over the stretch.
- Real question, how many Council’s are there? It’s like they’re the Skarsgaard’s of college basketball somehow. Mevlin Council Jr., off the bench, scored a team-high 17 points for Wagner. Council is a Junior College transfer from Monroe who led the team in scoring, averaging 18.7 ppg. He isn’t seeming to have any trouble acclimating to D-I basketball and looked pretty dang good out there, despite his team getting blown out for most of the game.
- Fun little stat, just check out the defensive metrics for the Friars so far on the season…
- Post-Game Press Conference
Up Next, the Friars welcome in-state rival URI to The AMP on Saturday, December 2nd at 7:30 PM on FS1.
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