Player Preview Series: Can Jayden Pierre take his game to another level as a junior?
Following his most impactful performance in a Providence uniform, in the wake of a thrilling victory at Madison Square Garden in the Big East Tournament, Jayden Pierre offered a brief glimpse into how he felt his sophomore year transpired.
Fresh off of a 15-point, seven-assist, four-rebound, zero-turnover effort against Creighton in the Big East Quarterfinals, the Friar point guard sort of shrugged when asked about having a breakout season.
Yes, Pierre saw his minutes jump from 11 to 30 a night, his shooting inside the 3-point arc rose from 37% to 44%, and he averaged 9.5 points and 3.2 assists on 36% shooting from deep, while playing alongside a lottery pick in Devin Carter, but his subtle brushing off the idea of a breakout year hinted that he believes there is more to his game.
Pierre showed more down the stretch of last season, when the Friars were fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives in the Big East Tournament. He hit massive shots late in a thrilling win over Creighton in the quarterfinals, then went for 16 more in PC’s last meaningful game of the year — a 79-68 loss in the tournament’s semifinal against Marquette.
His second season as a Friar started hot (38 points on 6-11 from deep in the first three games before suffering an injury against Kansas State in the Bahamas), had its share of big moments late (17 critical points in a win at Xavier, for instance), but Pierre was likely dissatisfied with his turnover rate and some inconsistency from a season ago.
Kim English went all-in on young point guards last year. The strategy made sense at the time — he viewed Pierre as a program cornerstone, and re-recruiting Garwey Dual turned out to be more of a symbolic win than one that paid dividends on the floor.
Pierre played effectively but sporadically as a freshman under the previous staff, while Dual possessed ideal physical traits but ultimately didn’t have the requisite experience needed to play reliable minutes from the jump.
The Friars leaned heavily on Carter, fifth year center Josh Oduro, and Bryce Hopkins — and rightfully so — but for Pierre the result was a season spent alternating between running the team for the first time, while determining when to look for his own offense. No Friar faced a bigger adjustment than Pierre last season.
He steps into quite a different situation in his third year in Friartown. With a year as a starter under his belt, he is also now part of a veteran point guard duo with Miami transfer Bensley Joseph — an addition that could also free Pierre up to look for his offense more often, if English chooses to play the two together.
With Hopkins still recovering from a torn ACL, the 2024-25 Friars’ strength will be based more on their depth than the star power.
If that depth is to come to fruition, Pierre will be at the heart of it — and in this era of roster upheaval, a point guard entering his third year with the program figures to be an advantage for the Friars. It’s hard to overstate the importance of leaders who know the culture and help maintain it in today’s game.
“He’s just had a great summer. He’s probably been our most consistent guy, day-in and day-out from a leadership standpoint,” PC assistant Matt Palumbo said of Pierre. “Passing the ball, shooting the ball — he’s just been really, really consistently good.”
“Jayden had some great moments, some fantastic moments (last season). There were some ups and downs, but I think he grew up a lot. I think he feels that way, like, ‘Alright, I can be a dude in this league,’” Palumbo said.
Physically, Pierre should be more prepared to handle the rigors of the Big East after putting on ten pounds of muscle in the offseason, while the addition of Joseph takes away the mental burden of being the team’s only trusted point guard.
Pierre is a terrific shooter and really came on as a finisher over the final month of the season — freezing bigs with hesitation dribbles and effectively using the rim to fend off shot blockers. Friar fans would love to see more of this come November:
Throughout last season, English wasn’t shy about the potential he saw in Pierre, at times noting that the only thing holding him back from taking a sizable jump was his unselfish nature. Pierre is set up to take a lead role on the 2024-25 Friars, and the coaching staff sounds encouraged about the steps he has taken since March.
“I thought last year was a real process for him, having to take on such a more prominent and important role and having to do it at the most pressurized position on the court. You just take on so much responsibility when you are running a team and have the ball in your hands,” Friar assistant Dennis Felton told Bill Ricci in their sit down this summer.
“I thought he did a great job. His youth and inexperience would show up at times, but he has the toughness to fight through it as he’s figuring it out.”
“He’s a really, really good shooter — he was pretty consistent about that. Our fans are really going to be excited about the progress he’s made. Bensley’s presence is really helpful to him — that competition is bringing Jayden’s game to a new level.”
One of the most intriguing aspects of Pierre’s game, dating back to when he led a top 25 team nationally at Long Island Lutheran in high school, was his willingness and ability to meet the moment. We saw it when he was MVP at national events like the Arby’s Classic, at Hoophall, or when LuHi put a beatdown on five star point guard Arterio Morris and Kimball High School.
We saw it in the Big East Tournament last year.
It feels like his moment is arriving at Providence.
Pierre waited his turn as a freshman, spent his sophomore year learning under a new head coach, and now could be primed to be one of the breakout players in the Big East.
He certainly looked the part at MSG in March, and now he’ll look to play that way consistently during his junior year.
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