Providence Friars 77 (8-6)
St. John’s Red Storm 71 (9-5)
The Providence Friars left Madison Square Garden with their biggest win in at least two seasons, erasing a soul-crushing first-half deficit to knock off St. John’s on their own floor. The Friars showed actual fight, and—brace yourself—the coaching staff made real, tangible second-half adjustments (see, it is possible). The result was a much-needed statement win after opening Big East play 0–2 and staring down the familiar abyss.
Plenty of guys chipped in during the comeback, but it was freshmen Jamier Jones and Stefan Vaaks who grabbed the wheel and drove this thing home. Doing it while also watching Bryce Hopkins gag the game away down the stretch? That’s just icing on the cake. All of it adds up to what is… maybe… possibly… a turning point in the 2025–26 season. Or at least enough hope to keep us coming back for more punishment.
I have to start off with Joe Hassett’s radio call down the stretch where he absolutely cooks Bryce on the way to a Friars victory.
Game Notes:
- Stefan Vaaks, coming off the bench, led Providence in scoring with 16 points, 15 of those coming in the second half. After going 5-for-30 from three-point range over the last three games, Vaaks found his groove from deep going 4-for-6 from distance to go along with 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, a steal and no turnovers in what hopes to be a get-right game for Baltic Buckets.
- Vaaks was especially lethal down the stretch, connecting on an insane 4-point play, pump-faking Bryce Hopkins into oblivion before drilling a go-ahead three down the stretch, blowing by BHop for fancy dish and a thunderous slam from a waiting Oswin, and sealing the win with a game-clinching lay-up in the waning moments.
- Vaaks has a affinity for stepping up in big moments of games and did so in a giant way against St. John’s.
- Jamier Jones was just as impressive against the Johnnies, putting up his first double-double of the season with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds (5 offensive). He outplayed former-Friar Bryce Hopkins and dropped a phenomenal quote post-game about how he took his match-up with Bryce personal.
“I feel like if he was here this year I should still play over him.”
- I’m not sure if this was my favorite play of the game because there were so many of them, but it was definitely one of them.
- Also…I appreciate the send off to the St. John’s fans after the buzzer.
- Jones is now shooting an absurd 68.7% from the field and has scored in double-digits in each of his last 5 games. He’s also scored in double-digits in 9 out of 14 games this season. Jones has been in the starting lineup the last two games and I don’t see a single reason why he shouldn’t be starting for the remainder of the season. Jones is now a +102 on the season and although he doesn’t shoot a ton of them, when he has a three-point shot opportunity, he tends to make it, going 5-for-9 from three thus far. His +/- is only second to Oswin who has a +115 and probably has a lot to do with how much of a drop off there is to the second unit frontcourt options. The next highest +/- on the team is Vaaks with +54. On a team that is just 8-6, Jones is showing why he should be on the court more than the 20 minutes per game he’s been averaging so far.
- I need an immediate compilation of Jones jumping in the air somewhere in the background when a teammate is dunking the ball. This dude is just pure joy watching his guys do something awesome in a game. Kim English seems to have gotten the memo as well…
- Oswin put up a near double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds but was limited in minutes a little bit by having to go up so often against the much more physical Zuby Ejiofor.
- Oswin’s free-throw shooting improvement has been a revelation for the second year big man this season. After struggling mightily from the line last year to the tune of 47.5%, Big O has improved his percentage to 75.0% on the season. That is a pure correlation with him putting in the work in the off-season. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a free-throw percentage jump like that from one season to the next. Meanwhile, despite recording just a single block in this one, Oswin is still 4th in the country in blocks per game at 2.93 per contest.
- Something that might go unnoticed to people just looking at the box score is what a positive impact Cole Hargrove had in just his 5 minutes on the floor. He came in for relief duty and held his own against Ejiofor who was having his way for the majority of the game up to that point. Hargrove is athletic and strong enough to body up with Ejiofor down low and follow him outside if need be and did a damn good job after it was immediately apparent that Peteris was outmatched in a big way. He’s a developing Freshman against one of the best big men in the country, so that shouldn’t have really come as a surprise though. Plus, Hargrove converted on both free throw attempts in the second half during the Friar comeback.
- Jason Edwards had a rare off-game from a shooting standpoint, going just 3-of-14 from the floor but managing to still finish with 11 points. He has still scored in double-figures in every game this season and currently leads the Big East in scoring at 17.9 ppg, a full point above the next player (Villanova’s Bryce Lindsay). I fully expect Edwards to score a ton against UConn, particularly since new Huskies starting point guard Silas Demary Jr. has noted that he struggles with foul trouble defending smaller guards because he tends to swipe down at the ball a lot. Just for reference, Demary is 6’5” and Edwards is at least listed as 6’1” (there’s no way that’s true).
- Jaylin Sellers is a dog. Since Devin Carter left, the Friars have been missing that type of leadership and attitude that you can’t fake. Sellers (and Jones) has been awesome to watch this season. He was the fifth Friar in double-digits, scoring 15 points but also on an inefficient 6-of-16 from the floor. It is clear that Kim English has full trust in Sellers as he is the only player on the team to start every game this season and lead the team in minutes with 37, despite struggling somewhat shooting. His numbers on the season however are fantastic as he is shooting 42.3% from three on just over 5 attempts per game and 92% from the free-throw line. He is tied for the 18th best free-throw shooting percentage in the country and has attempted more free throws (50) than 10 of the players ahead of him.
- Ryan Mela has looked a little out of sorts for the last couple of games and continues to put the ball on the floor after passing up looks from three. He went scoreless against St. John’s after only attempting a single shot and has now scored 4 points or less in 6 of the last 8 games. His confidence in his three-point shot looks at an all-time low and with how many guys we have on the team that can drive and kick to shooters, he’s going to have to at least be ready to shoot when the opportunity presents itself. He a very good passer and rebounder but he just needs to let it fly when given the chance.
- Although Duncan Powell hasn’t provided the offensive boost to this year’s team that many of us originally thought he would, his size and presence on defense has been a big plus since he’s returned from injury. Plus, he’s another guy who is not going to back down in the slightest.
- Friartown showed out at the Dunk South as everyone knew they would.
- This team is starting to give me some previous Friar team locker room vibes. First, with this celebration.
- Then with the #44Blessed picture to cap it all off.
- I’m going with Ryan Mela for the winner of this picture as he is front and center and ready to go.
- I feel the need to give a shout out to Zuby Ejiofor who did everything he possibly could (except make his free throws) to try and help St. John’s win this game. He finished with an absurd stat line of 33 points (8/16) including 3/6 from three, 15 rebounds (fucking 11 offensive ones), 3 blocks, 2 steals, and 2 assists. He got to the free throw line a career-high 23 times as the Friars struggled mightily to try and stop him from doing what he pleased in this game. They were able to limit him down the stretch as he missed 9 of his 23 free throws, turned the ball over 7 times, and was essentially made to be a one-man show when the rest of his team decided to not show up at all.
Providence & St. John’s Post-Game Press Conferences Here:
Next Up, the #4 ranked UConn Huskies travel to The Amp on a freaking Wednesday night at 7 PM on Peacock.
The Morning Hangover 