Friars Look To Keep The Ball Rolling At Home Vs. #4 UConn

After their first ranked win against #25 St. John’s on Saturday, the Friar faithful can’t help but feel that a team that has otherwise struggled has turned a corner. After dropping the first two in-conference games by a combined eight points, Kim English and the Friars had fifteen days to get their act together to show just how they can respond to the adversity of this magnitude, and they did exactly that. The thing about steep hills, though, is that they’re tough to climb, and a matchup against the nation’s 4th-best team and the conference’s outright best team in UConn is the next step up that hill.

The Huskies will walk into the Amica Mutual Pavilion for the first time this season on Wednesday, January 7, looking to add to their 10-game winning streak. Their non-conference strength of schedule has a humorous range of opponents- though many of their wins are against ranked teams such as Florida, Kansas, and BYU, the Big East’s unnatural state has only let Dan Hurley’s squad dip their feet into comfortable waters with wins against Marquette, DePaul, Butler, and Xavier. In other words: the Huskies have not seen a team like Providence this year, and vice versa. There are three critical points the Friars need to hit on for this game to go their way, and all of them involve the resilience we saw in Saturday’s gritty win.

Keep Jamier Jones on the Floor

One of the brightest spots on this year’s team has been one of the youngest as well. Jamier Jones has been an investment with incredible return for the Friars this year, coming off of a Big East Freshman of the Week honor after putting up a 15-point, 10-rebound statline, while outworking a familiar face that “he would start over” (hey, he said it, not me, but…). Beyond this offensive output, Jones is part of a bizarre stat that helps fill the biggest hole the team has presented thus far: defense and the prevention of open shots. Per the Basket Under Review Newsletter, Providence allows 20.1 fewer adjusted points per 100 possessions with Jones on the floor than without, and opponent three-point shooting drops to 27.1% when he’s on the floor, as compared to 45.1% without. While there may be a hint of luck to go along with those numbers, along with the consideration of opponent quality, there’s no question that Jones, even as a freshman, should be on the floor for a minimum of average starter minutes. His being out there is not a testament to a lack of depth at his position; it is merely proof of production and consistency- both of which the Friars need to see and be a part of for the rest of the season. He’s clearly conditioned to be running and jumping around as he does, and with all of the breaks college basketball grants players and media, maybe he can even take a heavier load of minutes for a fight this important. We shall see.

Disrupt Uconn’s Even Flow

UConn has balanced the importance of its offense with its defense this year, with opponents averaging almost sixty points per game in their last ten. All in-conference opponents have scored less than seventy points against this defense thus far, and the offense has followed along to nail those coffins shut. However, while lightning does not often strike twice under Dan Hurley, UConn was held to 5/24 from 3 in their most recent matchup against Marquette, a team that struggled to convert many of those misses into consistent offense. Offense is, admittedly, more than scoring- this Huskies team is very incessant on getting an assist with each bucket. The longer the ball is out of anybody’s hands, the jumpier the Friars can be to cut off a passing route or get position to box out in the event a shot is taken. Tallying 11 turnovers and averaging almost 15 in their last four matchups should be exactly what this Providence team wants their opponent to do. Considering the Friars’ uptempo style of play, and how many of those turnovers result in early transition offense, there’s no doubt the Friars need to, simply put, make UConn work for every basket, and put their “National Champion” conditioning to the test in transition on both ends of the floor. 

Smart Rotations, Good Vibrations

The mantra of “13 dudes” last season left a very poor taste in the mouths of many fans who watched all thirteen of those dudes take losses that they shouldn’t have had to. Even with a team as deep as the Friars have this year, Saturday showed that Kim English has likely found the answer to problems that arise in real time with the lineups that he sends out. The Oswin-stamina and/or foul-count dilemma has been somewhat solved by quick and efficient minutes from Peteris Pinnis and Cole Hargrove, along with the use of Duncan Powell to play a raspy small-ball lineup. Ten players touched the court at MSG, five of whom played 20+ minutes, one of whom played 36(!!!) in Jaylin Sellers. As mentioned in the Jamier portion of this preview (he played 25), players being on the floor for extensive amounts of time is no testament to a lack of depth, but rather the immediate presentation of what the team needs in the moment that, for all we know, could last the whole forty minutes. The group of Stefan Vaaks, Jamier Jones, Oswin Erhunmwunse, Jaylin Sellers, and practically any guard you need based on opponent (for scoring/speed, Edwards, for defensive prowess, Mela/CFJ) has proved most efficient for the Friars so far. This team in itself is a Swiss Army Knife, and multiple blades need to be out at all times for this to be a competitive game. The Huskies also have more of an 8-9 man rotation, and so ideally, the Friars can become familiar with these faces and play styles sooner rather than later.

Most college basketball fans know that one of the most dangerous things a team can have coming into a home arena as underdogs is momentum. Rankings and numbers mean something to those who watch and those who follow. Those who play know that every single player on the court is playing D1 basketball for a reason- because they’re on the same playing field as the people in front and around them. Analysts can call this a matchup of David and Goliath all they want, but let’s not forget what happened when David took aim. See you (yes, YOU) at the AMP!

Providence vs. Uconn will take place at the Amica Mutual Pavilion at 7 pm ET, and will be available on Peacock and NBCSN via YouTube TV. Additionally, student journalist Matt Debes will be conducting play by play over Mixlr via WDOMsports, which you can follow along with at https://wdomsports.mixlr.com/. Shameless self-plug.