Providence Friars 83 (1-0)
Maine Black Bears 56 (0-1)
The 100th season of Friars basketball and the Bryan Hodgson Era both got off to a hot start, as Providence took care of business against the visiting Maine Black Bears in the season opener. Maine was decimated by injuries last season, finishing with a forgettable 8-24 record. On paper, that’s exactly the kind of opponent you want to open the season against, giving a freshly assembled roster an opportunity to work through some early growing pains while playing meaningful games together for the first time. However, Maine also presented something of an unknown heading into the matchup.
Senior forward Killian Gribben played just three minutes last season before suffering a season-ending lower body injury, while starting guard and West Warwick, Rhode Island native Darius Lopes made his collegiate debut against Providence after missing his first two seasons with a foot injury. Hodgson acknowledged the challenge of essentially going in blind, explaining that Maine had only played one closed scrimmage during the preseason, leaving Providence with virtually no game tape to evaluate. That was especially true when it came to two players who had been unavailable for much of the past couple of seasons.
As you might expect from an opening night game, the Friars looked a little chaotic early on before finding their footing and settling into things as the game progressed. Maine averaged 12.4 turnovers per game last season, ranking 239th nationally, and Providence wasted little time exposing that weakness. The Friars forced 12 turnovers in the first half alone and finished with 23 for the game.
Maine knocked down a couple of early threes to keep things competitive while Providence worked through some offensive growing pains, but the Friars quickly found another way to generate offense. Their length, athleticism and defensive aggressiveness turned into easy scoring opportunities, which is exactly what you want to see from a team that is still figuring things out on the offensive end. If the half court offense needs some time to develop chemistry, creating opportunities on the defensive end is a pretty good way to make up for it.
Providence scored 29 points off turnovers compared to just 6 for Maine, a whopping 23-point advantage in that category. That’s the kind of defensive production that should make Friartown smile after watching a defense that too often resembled Swiss cheese over the last couple of seasons.
For a little perspective, Providence reached double-digit steals as a team just 10 times over the previous three seasons, spanning 100 games. The Friars’ high-water mark during that stretch was 12 steals against URI last season. In just the first game of the Hodgson Era, Providence came away with 17 steals, with Miles Byrd (7) and Gavin Hightower (5) accounting for 12 of them by themselves. That’s quite the defensive statement to open the season.
After taking an eight-point lead into halftime, the Friars took complete control after the break, outscoring Maine by 19 points over the final 20 minutes. Some unnecessary fouling down the stretch made the final score look a little closer than the game actually was, but I’ll take a 27-point season-opening win when the team isn’t even playing its best basketball every single day of the week. There is plenty to clean up, particularly offensively, but the defensive identity Hodgson wants to establish was already on full display. That’s a pretty encouraging place to start.
Games Notes:
- Let’s start with the highest-rated transfer and team co-captain Miles Byrd. Not only did Byrd set a new career-high with 7 steals, he also tied Kris Dunn’s mark for the most steals in a single game by a Friar that he set against Xavier in January 2016. If John Linehan wasn’t a defensive cheat code, Byrd’s 7 steals would climb an additional couple of spots on the all-time single-game record for Providence.
- Byrd scored 10 points with 5 rebounds and a massive run-down block in what is the first of what I’m sure will be many great all-around performances this year.
- Arrinten Page started the game at center and after an athletic drive and finish at the hoop, came out of the game as a precaution as he had some swelling in his knee from some contact.
- With his departure, Jacob Bannarbie got an opportunity to flex a little bit with extended minutes as a result. Bannarbie recorded just one double-double in two years at UNLV, the one time coming during a 12-point, 11-rebound performance in a win over St. Joe’s. Through one game, JB has already matched his double-double total from UNLV with a 14-point, 10-rebound effort against Maine.
- Bannarbie was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and added an assist and steal for good measure. He looked quick for a guy of his size but said that he wants to continue to get into even better shape so that he can maintain that high pace that is required from Bryan Hodgson’s style of play for this team.
- He has an ability to react quickly to missed shots, getting in good positions to grab rebounds and deflect the ball to teammates if necessary. On the offensive glass, he is in constant motion making a real effort to extend possessions and as a result, five of his ten boards were of the offensive variety.
- Just as a personal sidenote, it’s going to take me a few games to stop saying BARN-ABIE and start saying BANN-AR-BIE
- The second guy who made a really great first impression was Freshman Javon Bardwell. It’s often a little tougher to predict which aspects of a high schooler’s game will translate to the college game from watching highlights but so far, it looks like all of it for the frosh.
- In just 14 minutes off the bench, Bardwell was able to score 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from distance. He has a high-arching shot that he is able to get off in close quarters from the corners and looks a lot smoother than his 22.9% three-point shooting percentage with Overtime Elite would indicate. It’s hard to make any hard projections from just a 14 game sample size, especially when the AAU game is almost completely different than the college game…but I could not be more encouraged with how freaking good he looked in his Friars debut.
- Leonardo Marangon needed almost no time to give Friartown their first Italian hand gesture after his first made three. Immediately following his first made three, Marangon drilled his second and treated the crowd to their second dose of pasta sauce. My man may have gotten a little three-happy after that as he finished the night 2-for-6 from beyond the arc.
- He chipped in a little bit of everything else with 3 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and a block. All-around it was a nice start for the 6’7” wing. He looks comfortable putting the ball on the floor for a guy his size but I wouldn’t want him to get too comfortable with the left-handed scoop shot when he finds himself without anywhere to go around the basket. A nice stop and drop step in the other direction could open himself up for a floater or baby hook on the opposite side of the basket or even a kick out if some help defense shifted his way.
- Malik Mack had a very good game for his first time in a Friar uniform. Mack finished with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and went 2-for-6 from three. His shot selection already looks much more in-line with the way that Providence wants to utilize his offensive skill-set. Even his misses came during good shot choices that just happened to not go down, including a fast-break attempt that went barreling off the backboard early in the game. Once he settled down and got into the flow of the game, everything looked much smoother from the Georgetown transfer.
- Mack also had 5 rebounds, 2 assists (2 TOs), and 2 steals. I can absolutely see Mack playing along-side Gavin Hightower and Hightower profiles more as a traditional point guard, while Mack is more of a scoring guard who can handle lead guard duties if he’s called upon to do so.
- Speaking of, Hightower had a career-high 7 assists to just 2 turnovers (3.5:1 A/TO). Adding another career-high to his records, he also nabbed 5 steals in his Friars debut. To put those numbers into a little bit of perspective, during his Freshman season where he averaged 10.1 minutes per game for South Florida, he had 20 steals TOTAL and 45 assists to 31 turnovers, a 1.45:1 assist to turnover ratio.
- Hightower’s three-point shot is slow-going and has a wee bit of a hitch to it so we’re hoping for only wide-open threes for the time being. He only shot 5 three-pointers all of last season, so he knows where the majority of his shots should be coming from at the moment.
- I love his motor. Dude is a non-stop menace out there.
- Ryan Mela had a classic Ryan Mela game with 13 points, 6 rebounds (5 offensive), 2 assists, and no turnovers. We haven’t seen him connect on a three yet (0-2) but his shot and confidence did look much improved in the exhibition games. We need him to do better than 5-of-8 from the free throw line but I love the fact that he got to the stripe 8 times, attacking to the paint every single time he could. His 8 free throw attempts are tied for his second highest total in a game (highest in regulation), having went 8-for-9 in the overtime loss to UConn last season.
- Ryan Sabol just got back to practicing two days before the game so he’s going to benefit greatly from a couple additional practices before the game this weekend. More good things to come in the future from my guy.
- Samson Aletan looked all of 6’10” and had a great help defense block. He was able to somehow commit 4 fouls in just 7 minutes which is actually kinda impressive if you ask me.
- I hadn’t been able to even look at any highlights of Maryland transfer Elijah Saunders who just joined the team a couple of days before tip-off when he was granted a TRO and a preliminary injunction recently alongside 76 other athletes in a California case.
- I wasn’t expecting him to see any action in the first game but with Page going down early, Saunders got an opportunity in the second half.
- Without most likely knowing any/all of the plays and schemes thus far, Saunders showed us what he absolutely knows how to do and drilled a three almost immediately upon stepping on the court. Fucking BANG!!!
- A few players later, he did it again. As joked about during the postgame press conference, he definitely has to get his stamina back up to being game ready but shooting doesn’t go away. Saunders scored 8 points in 7 minutes, going a perfect 3-for-3 from the field.
- Saunders played with Byrd in San Diego, so that’s a nice little bond to carry over and start from when you’re joining a new team so late into the process.
- Shout out to the student section for showing out on Monday night against Maine.
- Also, whoever had the idea for the foam shark heads needs a raise ASAP.
- What the shit was up with the lights and alarms going on at The Amp. Just add it to the bats, water leaks, and chickens on leashes that have roamed the arena before. Nap addressed it after the game but even during the game it didn’t look like the players really noticed anything was happening at all.
Blue Collar Player of the Game: Miles Byrd (41 points)
Highlights
Post-Game Press Conference
Next Up, the Friars head to their home away from home, Mohegan Sun, to take on Nebraska on Saturday at 7 PM.
