Noah Locke sets a career high inside the arc, Devin Carter off the jump, Trusting Corey Floyd Jr. in a big moment, Jayden Pierre stepping up
1. There were parts of Noah Locke’s game that have been on display of late that I simply didn’t know that he had.
Whenever a new transfer commits to Providence in the offseason I typically try to watch 7-10 games at the player’s previous stop (or in Locke’s case, stops), and while he flashed a bit of a floater and knocked down the occasional mid-range jumper in years past, Locke was primarily a spot up shooter from beyond the arc.
He was anything but that in Providence’s double overtime win against Creighton earlier this week. Locke finished with 20 points on 8-14 shooting from the field, and six of those makes came inside the arc.
Locke didn’t take his first shot of the game until there were a little over five minutes left in the first half — a step back mid-range J that swished through. On the ensuing possession he pulled up at the free throw line off the bounce and buried another.
A minute and a half later, Locke yanked down a defensive rebound and dribbled nearly the length of the floor before pulling up at full speed and hitting another jumper from 15 feet.
The second half and overtimes were more of the same. There was Locke making a heads up play by hitting a floater while all of Providence begged for a goaltend call on Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner on a Bryce Hopkins layup attempt.
Locke snapped an 82-82 tie with under a minute to play in overtime on a leaner, and hit a bank shot off the bounce to make it 89-84 with just over two minutes remaining in double OT.
With a few weeks remaining in the regular season, Locke has already set a career high in two-point field goals made with 46 (he had 32, 36, 37, and 42 in his previous four seasons at Florida and Louisville).
He is shooting .517 from inside the arc this season, a huge uptick from last season’s .389. Here are his career numbers from inside the arc:
2018-19 at Florida: .368
2019-20 at Florida: .424
2020-21 at Florida: .463
2021-22 at Louisville: .389
2022-23 at Providence: .517