News and Notes: Noah Horchler has emerged as an ideal offensive fit next to Nate Watson
1. There isn’t much to be written about Noah Horchler’s start to the 2021-22 season that can’t be read on a stat sheet. Following an outstanding performance against St. Peter’s in which he finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists on 9-10 shooting from the field, the Florida native’s season averages are outstanding.
In seven games this year, Horchler is averaging 11.9 points and a team-leading 8.7 rebounds while shooting 57% from the field, 48% from 3-point range, and 83% at the free throw line.
Perhaps the biggest difference for Horchler in year two at Providence has been a spike in efficiency from inside the 3-point line. Horchler shot 41% from deep a season ago, but just 39% from two. That number signified a significant drop from his time at North Florida, when Horchler shot 61% and 59% from two in his two years at North Florida. He is 16-24 from two this season, good for 67%.
Even without improved efficiency from inside the arc, Horchler would be a valuable piece on a team looking to stretch the floor to free up the interior for Nate Watson. Not only has Horchler spread the floor with outside shooting, he has seen an increase in his assist numbers — passes that quite often result in good looks for Watson on the interior.
Horchler’s five assists versus St. Peter’s marked the second highest total of his career. He already has three games of four or more assists this year.
Providence finished 2-1 this week, with wins over Northwestern and St. Peter’s. A case could be made that they could have lost either game without the efforts of Horchler.
As PC struggled to find their footing with a short rotation against St. Peter’s on Saturday, they led just 38-37 at the break — and that was with Horchler’s 7-7 shooting from the field in the half.
In Monday’s win over Northwestern, Horchler knocked down a pair of late 3-pointers. “The two biggest baskets, once again, came from Noah Horchler. His threes were huge. Huge, huge, huge. They were backbreakers,” Ed Cooley said following the win.
While it would be impossible for almost anyone to continue shooting at the clip Horchler has for an entire season, through seven games his terrific start ranks him in the 95th percentile of all players in the country in terms of points per possession (1.239) and in the 92nd percentile in spot up opportunities.
The overall points per possession mark has Horchler second in the Big East, behind only Villanova’s Brandon Slater (who is off to an other-wordly start) when factoring in players who get five or more possessions per game.
2. While his shot has been inconsistent, Providence can’t love the prospect of playing Texas Tech without starting point guard Jared Bynum, who went down with an injury in the first half against St. Peter’s on Saturday.
Texas Tech, coming to the Dunk on Wednesday, is one of the best defensive teams in the nation, and Bynum, somewhat quietly, been more productive in his second season at PC. His best effort came in Monday’s win over Northwestern. Bynum scored eight points in the first three minutes of the game to help push PC ahead 10-2. He finished with 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists in 24 minutes.
Bynum struggled with his shot against Wisconsin (1-10), but contributed in that game with nine rebounds and seven assists.
Bynum has turned into a bit of a divisive player for Providence fans thanks to a tendency to over-dribble combined with his trouble finishing, but he has seen his 3-point mark jump to 33% this year. He is also the only guard on the roster that would be labeled more point guard than combo guard.
3. The scouting report on Providence will soon read “make their shooters put the ball on the deck.” Providence ranks in the 83rd percentile in the country in catch and shoot opportunities, but their ranking plummets when they take jumpers off the dribble. The Friars are in the 7th percentile nationally in jump shots off of the dribble, where they are shooting 22.4%.
PC was in the 64th percentile in jump shots off the dribble a year ago, thanks to David Duke’s ability to create jump shot opportunities off the bounce.
4. To the surprise of no one, Providence ranks in the 89th percentile nationally in post up offense. Nate Watson has taken 44 of PC’s 57 post up shots, and he is making them at a ridiculous 70.5% clip.
5. Providence’s best defenders to date in terms of shooting percentage against? Al Durham and Justin Minaya. Opponents are shooting 27% when guarded by Minaya and 28% versus Durham.
PC has been surprisingly weak when defending 3-point shooters. Ken Pomeroy has them ranked #237 in the country in 3-point defense.
6. Pomeroy ranks Providence’s offense as the fourth best in the Big East through seven games. PC is 47th in the country in the early going per KenPom, ranking behind only Villanova (3rd), UConn (26th), and Xavier (40th).
Marquette (104), Georgetown (116), Butler (117), and DePaul (123) are all currently outside of the top 100.
7. A couple of Big East players off to fast starts this year:
Brandon Slater, Villanova: Talk about a leap, Slater is shooting 65% from the field, 59% from three, 94% at the free throw line, and is averaging 14.8 points per game through five games.
Jared Rhoden, Seton Hall: I’ll admit, I have slept on Rhoden, but it’s hard to ignore the numbers he has put up this year. The 6’6 senior out of New York hung 29 on Ohio State and then scored 21 more versus Cal the next time out. Rhoden took 28 free throws between those two games. He also finished with 16 points and five rebounds in the Pirates’ win at Michigan.
Javon Freeman-Liberty, DePaul: 23.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists per game. Enough said. Freeman-Liberty has failed to score 20 points just once — and that came in a 19-point scoring effort in a win over Rutgers. He has three double doubles already, and scored 20+ in each of those games.
8. Must be nice to be a blue blood. Kentucky picked up two critical transfers in point guard Sahvir Wheeler from Georgia and West Virginia transfer Oscar Tshiebwe last offseason. Wheeler, who averaged 14 points and over seven assists per game last year, leads the nation in assists at 9.2 a night. Tshiebwe’s 16.0 boards a game are, by far, the most in the country.
Massachusetts native, and Davidson grad transfer, Kellan Grady is shooting 46% from three and scoring just under ten points per game for John Calipari.
Freshman Bryce Hopkins, who Providence pursued heavily out of high school, is averaging just over 10 minutes and three points per game. Former URI Ram turned Wildcat Jacob Toppin is battling through a shoulder injury and has only played in two games this year.
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