After a discouraging loss to St. Bonaventure, we are set to learn a lot about this group of Friars

“We just looked spiritually dead to start the game — no emotion, no fight — and they just took the game to us,” Kim English said in summarizing his team’s 74-70 loss to St. Bonaventure at Mohegan Sun on Saturday. The Friars, playing without star forward Bryce Hopkins (knee soreness), gave up 19 offensive rebounds, were outscored 38-18 in the paint, and watched the Bonnies take the fight to them throughout the game.

“Make no mistake about it, tough dudes still run the basketball world,” English said.

Providence wasn’t nearly tough enough.

To hear English’s comments following Saturday’s loss was to confirm what the eye test told. Providence was noticeably flat coming out of the locker room after trailing 35-26 at the break, and while they made a few runs in the second half, this never felt like one destined for a Friar victory — too many back-breaking offensive rebounds, too many hustle plays that went against them, and not enough answers for Melvin Council Jr., the guard who shined in the absence of starting point guard Dasante Bowen.

Providence saw Council a year ago, but no one would blame Friar fans if they can’t place him. Council came off the bench for Wagner in their 86-52 loss to PC (on the night when Ticket Gaines hit seven 3-pointers for the home team). A year later, Providence had no answers for the former JUCO All American as he finished with 24 points and hit all sorts of shots over and around the Friars inside.

Saturday’s loss to St. Bonaventure perfectly encapsulated the non-conference portion of Providence’s schedule, with waves of clunky offense, an inability to stop a shifty guard when they most needed to, and English searching for answers up and down a roster that has seen far too much inconsistency from far too many of its parts.

“I’ve got to really commit to those guys that play hard, play tough, and play for us more,” English said.

The second-year Friar head coach preached mindset from the day he took this job, and it’s apparent how frustrated he is at his team’s mentality through 12 games. The Friars are 7-5 to begin the season. An 83-64 win over BYU and a comeback from eight down with under four minutes to play at DePaul served as the highlights in a start that also included an 0-3 mark at the Battle 4 Atlantis and an 0-3 record against English’s former foes in the Atlantic-10.

English shared that Hopkins took a tough fall at DePaul and a clean MRI came back, but soreness in his surgically repaired knee kept him out on Saturday. Without Hopkins, this frontcourt is too green and not nearly physical enough to contend with quality opponents.

English is now tasked with restoring order, restoring a sense that this season can be salvaged, with a brutal stretch of opponents awaiting. Put more simply, he has to find a combination of players ready to compete from the opening tip.

Momentum is one of the more fascinating aspects of any college basketball season. When Jayden Pierre’s last-second shot against Oklahoma caught back rim it dropped the Friars to 5-1 on the season — their first of five losses in the past seven games. The 13th-ranked Sooners are now 10-0 with wins over Arizona, Louisville, Georgia Tech, and Oklahoma since then.

There’s a chicken or the egg element to this Providence team as it readies for a tough three-game stretch against St. John’s, Marquette, and at Connecticut. English has yet to settle on a consistent 8-9 man rotation, but much of the roster hasn’t done enough to separate themselves enough to earn bigger minutes.

If there’s one criticism of English’s roster management that jumps out it has been the usage of freshman Ryan Mela. Mela hadn’t seen double figure minutes since providing a spark in the team’s lifeless effort against Davidson — playing 14 combined minutes against Indiana (8), BYU (2), and DePaul (4), while not seeing any run at Rhode Island.

Mela went 18 minutes against the Bonnies and rewarded PC with nine points, five rebounds, an assist, a steal, and seven free throw attempts. The Friars were a +8 with him on the floor.

Providence is a +53 in Mela’s 98 minutes this season. Beyond the numbers, PC just seems to play with more pop and offensive aggression when Mela is on the court. This is an offense predicated on players making decisions with conviction, and Mela has largely done that, despite his relative inexperience. The Friars are just in attack mode more with him on the court.

“Our offense is based on passing and movement,” English said before repeating himself for emphasis. “It’s based on passing and movement, and in the first half it looked like it was based on dribbling and standing.”

English spoke of the energy Mela and others brought on Saturday, “I thought there were some guys — I think of Ryan Mela, Eli (DeLaurier in short minutes) even, I think of Anton Bonke, Bensley (Joseph) always plays that way — that came in and gave as a spark from a toughness (perspective).”

The spark just came too late versus the Bonnies.

PC now has a week to prepare for Rick Pitino and St. John’s — a rare Friday night matchup that has the chance to swing some momentum back in Providence’s favor prior to an 11-day break before their next game. It’s little secret that the angst is becoming increasingly more prevalent in Friartown and we are set to learn a lot about English and the makeup of this group on Friday night.