Friar Basketball Newsletter: Providence Set to Host Creighton in a Big One on Tuesday, Why Bryce Hopkins Can't Get a Whistle Anymore, Free Tickets to the Creighton Game, and more
The hottest team in the Big East is headed to Providence for what is shaping up to be a critical game on Tuesday night.
The Creighton Bluejays have won eight consecutive games (and stand a half game out of first place in the Big East) following a 56-53 victory over Connecticut on Saturday afternoon. Their winning streak began back on Jan. 14 when they handed Providence (then 6-0 in league play) their first Big East loss this year, with a 73-67 win. Playing without Jared Bynum, the Friars trailed by 16 points in the second half in Omaha before tying the game and eventually falling in the closing minutes.
Subscribers can read our preview of the Creighton game, which includes four keys to the game.
Bryce Hopkins went for 20 points and 10 rebounds in Omaha, and figures to be a matchup problem once again. Hopkins scored 19 of his team-high 29 points in the second half of Saturday’s 73-68 loss to St. John’s.
For as great as Hopkins has been this year, he certainly hasn’t been the beneficiary of a great whistle in recent Big East games. In fact, in PC’s first seven Big East games Hopkins attempted 67 free throws. In the past seven games he has shot just 29.
We take a look into the dip in free throw attempts, with clips of some of the hits Hopkins is taking when getting to the bucket that officials have let go of late.
Similar to their game in Omaha, Providence fell into a 16-point hole in the first half on Saturday versus St. John’s and couldn’t quite get over the hump, despite cutting the lead to just two by halftime. The Friars had perhaps their worst shooting day of the season in an effort that Ed Cooley described as “listless” in his postgame press conference.
“This is the first time I felt all year that my team just didn’t have it. We were listless early in the first half, and we were listless early in the second half. And there were opportunities out there,” Ed Cooley said on Saturday.
Subscribers can read a full breakdown of the loss here.
We are also trying something a little bit new this week with a highlight reel recapping the week that was in Friartown. You can see highlights from Wednesday’s win over Georgetown, as well as the key plays against St. John’s from Saturday.
Last week was a busy one in Friartown, and we had you covered with a variety of articles, including:
Bryce Hopkins being named a Naismith Player of the Year Finalist, as well as a Finalist for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year award
Billy Ricci’s outstanding interview with Ben Bentil for The Friar Podcast
Providence’s upcoming visit with class of 2024 star Kur Teng
Billy interviewing Devin Carter on both the Georgetown win and his adjustment to life in Providence, as well as Billy’s look at the importance of the Friar bench as we head to the final stretch of the regular season
Lastly, we have two tickets to the Creighton game available for subscribers of the site. These tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and we will be looking to give them to a subscriber who has not gotten our tickets this year.
Thank you for reading Friar Basketball!