News and Notes: Jayden Pierre in Tennessee, Quante Berry's increasing production, Big East teams playing with pace, the numbers behind Nova's reliance on the jump shot, and more
1. Point guard Jayden Pierre, a class of 2022 Providence signee, and his powerhouse Long Island Lutheran club are traveling to Tennessee this week to take part in the Arby’s Classic. This is the 38th season of this event, and Long Island Lutheran is one of the headliners. Pierre and his teammates were featured in the Bristol Herald Courier with head coach John Buck saying of Pierre, “He is a true point guard with scoring ability too. He is definitely a tempo setter. He controls the game on both ends of the floor. It is kind of hard to put into words sometimes. He is the guy, give him the ball and say bring it back 32 minutes later and he will do it.”
“He really just has a great feel for when you drive it, when to pull out, hitting guys at the right time. He is not a yeller or a screamer, he is kind of more like talk to you, lead by example, just really a great point guard, both with his physical skills and his emotional tempo.”
Long Island Lutheran makes their debut at the event on Tuesday night. They are currently ranked #14 in the country by MaxPreps, down from #10 following a loss to #12 Cardinal Hayes, 56-55.
They will play twice in Tennessee and then return to the court on Jan. 9 when they take on Malden Catholic (MA). Malden Catholic features a very good point guard of their own in 2023’s Tony Felder Jr, who has offers from Georgetown and UMass.
2. Another Providence signee for the class of 2022, Quante Berry, received some good pub coming out of the Phenom Holiday Classic just before the holiday break.
From the Phenom Hoops Report article, “Berry continues to have a stellar month of play, really putting together some impressive showings. He looks comfortable in playing his position, getting downhill, creating off the dribble, and really finishing well. What really sums up Berry’s game is that he simply is a playmaker, as he can impact the game in other areas as well.”
Berry’s Winston-Salem Christian team improved to 15-4 on the season following a 69-67 win at the Holiday Classic. Berry led the way with 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Berry scored 14 of his 17 points in a second half comeback.
A week prior, Berry had 32 points and six assists for Winston-Salem Christian after going for 15 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds in a pair of victories.
Former Butler guard, and McDonald’s All American, Tyler Lewis had high praise for Berry after this showing:
3. We will all be holding on tight prior to every game in the upcoming weeks thanks to the Omicron variant. As we saw with Memphis and Tennessee, nothing is secure until the game tips off. That one was cancelled 70 minutes prior to game time.
Providence had picked up a forfeit victory against Georgetown last week, but that game will likely be rescheduled, as the Big East has changed course regarding its policy regarding forfeits due to the the significant number of cases both nationally, and within the league’s programs, due to the new variant.
“NEW YORK (December 23, 2021) – The BIG EAST Conference today announced a modification to its game cancellation policy for men’s and women’s basketball for the 2021-22 season. The adjustment was the result of the recent sudden and significant increases in the number of COVID-19 cases nationally and within BIG EAST programs due to the spread of the Omicron variant.
Under the modified policy, a Conference game will be canceled in the event a school has fewer than seven scholarship players and one countable coach available for a game. The BIG EAST Conference Office will attempt to reschedule any such game(s) in accordance with parameters approved by BIG EAST Directors of Athletics. In the event the rescheduling parameters cannot be fulfilled, the canceled game(s) will be designated as a no contest.”
This was a seemingly clear and easy call for the conference.
4. NCAA.com named Providence its “team of the week” last week, noting, “The game of the day on Saturday, though, involved two long-time Big East rivals, renewing their series in front of fans — a packed house at the XL Center in Hartford. Providence beat UConn to earn team of the week honors, edging out Hofstra, which stunned Arkansas in Little Rock.”
5. One of the more interesting aspects of the upcoming Big East schedule is seeing which team can impose its style of play on the other. Both Providence (219th in the country in adjusted tempo per Ken Pomeroy) and UConn (207th) are comfortable playing at a slower, rugged pace, which showed up in a slugfest played in the 50s.
PC, UConn, Creighton (213th), Villanova (345th), and Butler (351st) rank outside of the top 70 in pace, according to KenPom.
Here’s how the rest of the league shapes up:
Marquette: 8th
St. John’s: 15th
Georgetown: 25th
DePaul: 32nd
Seton Hall: 60th
Xavier: 65th
Last season, St. John’s (10th) was the only Big East team in the top 70 nationally in adjusted tempo.
Adjusted tempo is simply possessions per 40 minutes.
6. Villanova picked up a critical win over #18 Xavier last week. The Wildcats were trailing 38-30 at halftime before ripping off a 40-21 advantage in the second half.
Nova badly needed it following a 79-59 loss to Creighton that came five days after scoring just 36 points in a beatdown at Baylor.
I’m not quite ready to bury Nova yet, but prior to the season I questioned their Final Four candidacy due to the departure of Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, who carried their interior play last season.
This year, Villanova is far more jump shot dependent than anyone else in the Big East. They average 34 possessions a game that result in jumpers, a number that ranks them second in the country behind Eastern Kentucky.
Here is how many jump shots per game the rest of the Big East is attempting:
Villanova: 34
Georgetown: 29.4
Seton Hall: 25.3
Butler: 26.1
Marquette: 26.1
St. John’s: 25.8
DePaul: 24.6
Xavier: 24.5
Providence: 22.8
Connecticut: 22.7
Creighton: 20
Last season, Nova took just over 30 jumpers a game, while no one else in the Big East cracked 26. Providence was consistent, taking 22 jump shots per game last year as well.
Villanova has proven it can win this way, as they took 31.5 jumpers a game in 2018, but their figure was below 30 (29.2) in 2016. Of course, both of those teams were national title winners, but outside of Eric Dixon, the Wildcats seem to have little inside this year.
7. Friar fans looking for PC-related podcasts have a pair of options to check out in The Flex Podcast and the Providence Crier Podcast. Both have been consistently churning out pre- and post-game material for Friar fans.
I am looking forward to hopping on this week with Billy Ricci to tape an episode of his pod, The Friar Podcast.
The local Providence media has really outstanding writers and sports anchors (I won’t list them all here in fear of leaving someone out), but I’ve also enjoyed listening to some of the newer voices that are making an impact talking about the Friars.