Friar Basketball Newsletter: Providence Rebounds with a Win at URI, Bryce Hopkins Flashes His Potential, Clifton Moore Steps Up, Kyron Cartwright Returning, and much more
Providence needed a big-time bounce-back win at the University of Rhode Island on Saturday night, and that’s exactly what they got.
Behind Bryce Hopkins’ 14 points, 15 rebounds, and four assists, and strong efforts from graduate transfers Noah Locke (11 first half points) and Clifton Moore (14 points, 2 blocks, 2 steals), the Friars pulled away over the final five minutes of the first half and took the Ryan Center crowd out of the game in the second.
The result was an 88-74 victory over the Rams in which six Friars scored in double figures, while a seventh (Alyn Breed) added nine.
We have all sorts of takeaways from this one, highlighted by Ed Cooley sharing the high expectations he has for Hopkins. “There’s two or three more levels in Bryce Hopkins. From a discipline standpoint, from a physicality standpoint… he didn’t play the minutes he wanted last year at his other school. He’s just learning how to be a focal point, learning how to be versatile.”
Hopkins was particularly assertive in the second half, when he went for eight points, eight rebounds, and four assists after the break.
Saturday also saw a more assertive Clifton Moore coming off the bench for PC. Moore knocked down a 3-pointer, finished a pair of and-1s, and was a factor on the interior on both ends of the floor. The victory had to have felt great for Moore, who played for URI head coach Archie Miller for two years at Indiana.
Friar fans can watch an eight-minute recap of the game, and see some of the reaction on Twitter following the game.
Prior to the PC/URI game, word broke that Kyron Cartwright would be joining Cooley’s coaching staff. Cooley has long called Cartwright one of the most intelligent players he has ever coached. The former Friar point guard twice led the Big East in assists, won the league’s Most Improved Player Award, and reached the NCAA Tournament in all four years he was at PC.
Cartwright’s former teammate, Drew Fonts, had high praise: “He was a total gamer, it was as if he got better when the stage got bigger. The knowledge and experience he will bring to this PC team, and teams to come, will be a huge value add for the program — similar to LaDontae Henton because of the way they both can connect with players.”
Read more about Cartwright’s journey from Compton, CA to the Friar coaching staff, as well as additional comments from Fonts.
I’m excited about what is included in our “News and Notes” column for this week. We take a look at Noah Locke’s shooting numbers so far, including how he has struggled when taking threes above the break. If history is any indicator, his shooting percentage from there will go up as the season progresses.
We also have notes on Alyn Breed’s efficiency in transition, impressions of prep prospects Kur Teng and Andre Mills from this weekend, PC’s offensive ratings on a game-by-game basis, Archie Miller’s frustration with his team’s defense on Saturday, the return of Cam Whitmore, taking a look at this week’s opponents, Manhattan and Albany, and more.
Billy Ricci returns this week and shares why Friartown Remains Rhode Island’s Basketball Capital. Among the several things Billy wrote about was the big-time second half performance by Alyn Breed on Saturday.
The week wasn’t perfect for the Friars, as they traveled to Fort Worth and dropped a game to tough TCU team. After that one I took a look at some of the things I got wrong in the preseason about this team. This is a fairly detailed look at this year’s group.
Lastly, in talking with Craig Leighton after the URI game last night, we agreed we wanted to share that he has not been writing in recent weeks due to a medical issue. Craig is hoping to write again soon, and we are wishing him a speedy recovery!