Friar Basketball Newsletter: Providence Dominates Its Midwestern Road Trip, Preps for UConn's Return to the AMP; Garwey Dual Puts on a Show in South Carolina
Providence’s trip west couldn’t have gone much better. The Friars dominated at Butler on Thursday night (leading by 28 points at halftime) prior to taking care of business three days later at DePaul.
Neither of these games was ever close, and the catalyst for PC was sophomore guard Devin Carter, who has made a significant leap in Big East play.
Carter and fellow sophomore Bryce Hopkins are leading the Friars in scoring in Big East play, putting up 17.8 points per game. Carter scored 18 of his 21 points against Butler in the first half, and followed that up by tying his career high of 22 points against DePaul.
Beyond the production, the energy with which Carter plays has been a game-changer for a Providence team that has won seven straight games since the calendar flipped to December. They are also 4-0 in Big East play for the first time in program history.
On Sunday, Carter became the first PC player to finish with five steals and four blocks in a single game under Cooley. He has 15 steals and seven blocks in four conference games this season.
We went in-depth on Carter (with highlights), following his big game against Butler. Carter is averaging 17.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 3.8 steals, and 1.8 blocks per game in conference play so far.
Subscribers can also read our “10 Things” article, with tidbits like these:
After a 15 point, 10 rebound double double on Thursday, Croswell is averaging 18.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game in three Big East contests this season. He is shooting 69% from the field and grabbing 3.7 offensive rebounds a night…
The numbers are beyond impressive. For the month of December:
Providence had a 119.9 offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) which ranks in the 99th percentile nationally
The Friars’ 40.5% offensive rebounding rate was in the 100th percentile. They were in the 91st percentile in fast break points per game (15.3), in the 100th percentile in points in the paint (44.7) per game, in the 94th percentile in assists per game (17.0), and in the 87th in steals per game (8.8). They also ranked in the 97th percentile in free throw attempt rate (44.8%)
You can find highlights from the Butler game here.
We also have notes from PC’s workman-like 74-59 victory over DePaul. Providence went up 10-2 early, and never looked back on Sunday. Jared Bynum scored 18 points on 3-5 shooting from beyond the arc, and in this article we dig into how he has returned to form in Big East games.
Last week also brought a significant challenge for Drew Fielder and Garwey Dual as their Southern California Academy team headed to South Carolina to play in the loaded Chick-fil-A Classic. SoCal Academy took home wins over Oak Hill and Hillcrest. We have highlights from both the Oak Hill win and the victory over Hillcrest, thanks to the great team at BallerTV. Both have clips of Dual and Fielder, but some of the things that Dual does against Hillcrest should not be missed!
Of course, the newsletter would not be complete without coverage of Wednesday’s massive game against UConn at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. We get you primed with two articles.
UConn hasn’t played in downtown Providence since Jan. 2013, and we take a look at all that has changed since then, and how the Huskies are returning to a very different Providence a decade later.
Connecticut is ranked #4 in the AP Poll heading into this game, and Ed Cooley said on Sunday that he believes they are the best team in the country. So, how did they go from being predicted to finish fourth in the Big East and unranked in the preseason to one of the top five teams in the country? Subscribers can read a breakdown of how the Huskies lost eight players from a season ago, yet have managed to dramatically improve thanks to two impactful freshmen, finding the right pieces from the transfer portal, an improvement from beyond the arc, the development of a star sophomore, and more.
Needless to say, Friar Basketball will have plenty of coverage from the UConn game, and Saturday’s home tilt against St. John’s.
We’d also like to give a quick plug to our new Instagram page that is up and running as of this week. We should have some great content there, so give it a follow!