Mela Steps Up, Friars Roll: Providence’s Offense Hits Full Stride in 106-81 Win Over Penn

Behind a balanced scoring attack, the Providence Friars routed the Penn Quakers 106-81 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion on Tuesday night.

The scoring was led by veteran guard Corey Floyd Jr. who had 20 followed by Ryan Mela (18), Jason Edwards (14), Stefan Vaaks (14), Jaylin Sellers (12), and Jamier Jones (11). Six Friars in double figures as Providence has scored more than 100 points in back-to-back contests, this offense is firing on all cylinders.

Here's how PC got the job done and put together their best game of the season thus far:

Balanced Scoring Attack

As I just mentioned Providence finished with six players in double figures, quite impressive! The most impressive of them all being sophomore Ryan Mela who started in place of Duncan Powell who did not play due to a wrist injury. Mela finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists in easily his best game of the season coming off of a shaky one against Virginia Tech. It is clear that Mela has gotten craftier when it comes to his biggest offensive strength of driving down into the paint ability as he was able to finish 8-10 from the field and even shot 2-4 from three which is a welcome addition to his offensive arsenal. If he can keep getting the three balls to fall, he will only become that much more of a dangerous player for opposing defenses. One of, if not Mela's best game as a Friar in his first start of the season.

Better Defense but Still Not Great

The final score will tell you otherwise as Providence was able to win by 25 points, but the Friars still did allow 45 points in the second half. Entering this game, a key for me was containing Ethan Roberts as he was Penn's leading scorer entering the content. PC was able to do that effectively as he only finished with 15 points, but it was Michael Zanoni who stole the show for the Quakers and scored his career high in points in 30. The Friars have now allowed Virginia Tech and Penn to have a leading scorer with a career high in points in back-to-back games, quick close outs beyond the perimeter and hard hedge pick and roll defense must be emphasized if Providence does not want to keep finding themselves in these situations.

Situational Basketball Good Enough

Going into the game, I said that Providence must win the little things battle if they did not want to turn those little things into big things and find themselves on the losing end of a trap game against an inferior opponent in a game that should not have been close to begin with. Those little things being fouls, turnovers, and free throws. To their credit, they were able to be good enough in these categories as they only had one more foul than Penn (21-20), five more turnovers (15-10), and were excellent from the free throw line shooting 21-23 at a 91.3% clip. These are good enough for now, but what really helped PC get the win as well was their fast break points (24-4) and points in the paint (46-18) as they dominated Penn in these categories with their fast style of play and tempo on their way to their second victory of the season.

Providence has momentum coming off of their best game of the season so far before they travel to Boulder Colorado to face the Colorado Buffaloes who are 2-0 on the season after wins against Montana State and Eastern Washington in another crucial non-conference game for Kim English and his group.