News and Notes: The Friars' rim protection and shot chart, Georgetown falls to Holy Cross, Brycen Goodine's hot start, Garwey Dual's impact across the board, and more
1. A few hours after Providence knocked off Milwaukee, Georgetown fell in its second game of the season, 68-67, to Holy Cross. Joe Octave torched the Hoyas, scoring 33 points and burying a go-ahead 3-pointer with under a minute left — a shot that gave Holy Cross its first lead of the second half. Georgetown led by seven with five minutes to go, and by four with under two minutes left, but could not hold on.
Notably, Holy Cross is now being led by Dave Paulsen, Kim English’s predecessor at George Mason, who brought in the likes of Tyler Kolek, Josh Oduro, and Jordan Miller before being let go.
“This is their Super Bowl, and it definitely showed,” Ed Cooley said following the game. “They played with a little bit more energy, a little bit of enthusiasm, and I thought our men played content.”
“We played complacent today, we played arrogant, and we didn’t play with a sense of purpose.”
Cooley continued, “I don’t want to take one thing away from Holy Cross, but we’re not trying to compete with Holy Cross in the Big East. That’s a huge mountain for us to climb. Very, very disappointed in my team’s energy, effort, and attitude — and that starts with me.”
2. It’s early, way early, but Providence has blocked 18 shots through two games. Rafael Castro (5) and Josh Oduro (4) have combined for nine, but Providence has three other players with multiple blocked shots through two games — Devin Carter (4), Garwey Dual (3), and Ticket Gaines (2).
3. Not quite as encouraging? PC is 31-45 at the free throw line this season.
4. Providence has taken just three mid-range shots through two games. Their 32.5% shooting on above the break threes is actually one percentage point higher than the national average in the early going (31.5%), but the Friars are well below average on corner threes. PC has made 3-14 (21.4%), while the national average is 35.6%.