Corey Floyd, Bensley Joseph Lead Shorthanded Friars Past UMass in Exhibition Play

"Just feeling comfortable on the court, knowing what they are looking for, it kind of makes it easy for me. I just have to go out there and execute, play hard, and play tough."

It wasn’t close to what we’ll see when the ball tips for real in another eight days (Providence and UMass played a pair of 16-minutes halves, as the Friars were without five rotational players), but Friar head coach Kim English said there were lessons to take away from PC’s 63-54 exhibition victory on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest takeaways from this one, plus an update on the Friars who were absent on Saturday.

Corey Floyd Jr. Comes Out Confident

Perhaps the biggest positive to come from Saturday was the play of Corey Floyd Jr., who made six of his first seven shots from the field and led all scorers with 19 points on 8-13 shooting from the field (3-7 beyond the arc). Floyd got into the paint for three early scores to kick off his day, and closed out the first half by burying a pair of threes. He added five rebounds and two steals, while turning the ball over just once in 31 minutes. In a game that wasn’t always pretty, Floyd looked confident from the outset.

After spending a year learning under Dan Hurley at Connecticut, then with Ed Cooley and English in his first two seasons at Providence, Floyd was asked about playing a second season under the same head coach for the first time in his collegiate career: “I think it’s been everything for me this year. Just feeling comfortable on the court, knowing what they (the staff) are looking for, it kind of makes it easy for me. I just have to go out there and execute, play hard, and play tough.”

Floyd looked to have a good sense of how and when to pick his spots in this game.

The lights didn’t seem too bright for Anton Bonke, Oswin Erhunmwunse and the young core.

Sure, we can caution against reading too much into an exhibition game, but at the least there weren’t any obvious jitters from Anton Bonke, Oswin Erhunmwunse and the more inexperienced members of the roster, who were either making their Amica Mutual Pavilion debuts or taking to the court after small cameos last season.

The near 5,000 people in attendance were treated to what makes Oswin such an intriguing defensive prospect. He picked up his fourth block of the game early in the second half, and all four were of the loud variety. He’s an underrated finisher around the rim, and closed this game with 5-6 shooting from the field en route to 12 points and six rebounds in an impressive debut.