Friar Basketball Newsletter: Jared Bynum Catches Fire at Nova, Corey Floyd's Big Step Forward, Kayvaun Mulready Set to Play in Providence, and Why Ben Bentil Belongs in the Cooley Era Mount Rushmore
It didn’t take Jared Bynum long to make his presence felt in his return to Providence’s lineup.
After missing three weeks due to injury, Bynum returned in Wednesday night’s blowout win over Butler. It was a game that PC trailed 16-9 early, but surged ahead on a 11-0 run almost immediately after their point guard entered the game.
His biggest impact was felt on Sunday afternoon at Villanova, however. Bynum shot a perfect 6-6 from the field (including 3-3 from beyond the arc) in scoring 17 of his 19 points in the second half. The Wildcats appeared to be taking control of the game when they led 49-42 midway through the second, but Bynum ripped off a personal 8-0 run in a span of 90 seconds to push PC ahead, 50-49.
Bynum continued to make big buckets (including a 15 footer with 23 seconds left) and set up teammates like Corey Floyd Jr. and Bryce Hopkins down the stretch.
With Sunday’s win, Providence is now tied with Xavier and Marquette for first place in the Big East with a 9-2 league record.
The Friars have not lost with Bynum since a late November defeat at TCU.
We go into great detail about Bynum’s outstanding performance in this feature on Sunday’s win.
Highlights of the Nova win can also be seen here.
Providence’s bench made a major impact this week, and perhaps no player took a bigger step forward than freshman Corey Floyd Jr. He hit a pair of monstrous 3-pointers in the second half against Villanova, a game after providing a big lift with 12 points versus Butler.
The 6’4, 210 pound freshman has the size and athleticism to be a terrific defender one day, and he is shooting with a lot of confidence right now.
We take a look at Floyd’s journey from seeing sparse minutes to taking advantage of the opportunities provided to him in January in this article.
“We’ve seen a lot of development from him defensively. We’re talking (to him) about ‘Your offense will come. What this team needs from you is your physicality, your athleticism, and your confidence,’” Ed Cooley said of Floyd Jr. on Sunday afternoon.
Floyd is featured prominently in our highlight package from the Butler win.
As noted here earlier, the future of Providence’s backcourt looks to include more physically punishing guards. Floyd Jr. and Devin Carter are both terrific athletes with good size for the position, while 2023 point guard commit Garwey Dual stands at 6’5, and 2024 pledge Kayvaun Mulready is already 6’4, and north of 200 pounds.
Local fans hoping to get their first look at Mulready will have an opportunity to do so on Friday night at the National Prep School Invitational on the campus of Rhode Island College. Mulready and his Worcester Academy team will meet Kur Teng and Bradford Christian Academy on Friday night in a rematch of last season’s NEPSAC AA championship.
Subscribers to Friar Basketball can read more about what is always a terrific prep event held in Rhode Island.
As always, Subscribers also have access to this week’s News and Notes column which digs into the possibility of Providence playing some zone this week in a big game at Xavier. As noted in the article, Xavier is one of the best offensive teams in the country, but has stagnated some in the rare instances in which they’ve gone up against a zone. This article also takes a look at other advanced data and happenings in the Big East.
Lastly, there was a lively debate on Twitter last week about who the fourth member of an Ed Cooley Era Mount Rushmore would be after Kris Dunn, Bryce Cotton, and LaDontae Henton. My pick is Ben Bentil, and here is why.
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