Providence is on the board with Drexel transfer Cole Hargrove

The Friars also scored a commitment from point guard Daquan Davis on Tuesday morning.

Providence locked down its first commitment of the 2025 transfer portal in Cole Hargrove, as first reported by The Portal Report. The Friar frontcourt was far too green this season, and Hargrove (a Drexel transfer) figures to bring experience and blue collar toughness to a group that didn’t have enough of either this season.

Shortly after Hargrove’s commitment went public, Jamie Shaw of On3.com reported that Florida State transfer Daquan Davis is also headed to Providence. Davis was originally committed to Kim English and PC before changing course and going to Florida State, where he averaged nearly nine points in 25 minutes a game as a freshman.

We’ll have a closer look at Davis shortly, but let’s start with a deep dive into Hargrove.

Breaking down Cole Hargrove: The 6’8, 250 pound big man spent his first two seasons primarily watching before taking off this season at Drexel. As a junior this year, Hargrove played 32.5 minutes per game with averages of 9.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game. He’s an active presence in the paint — hitting the glass on both ends and doing almost all of his work offensively inside.

A rugged interior player with some bounce and passing ability, Hargrove has a soft touch around the basket and is a passable 68% shooter at the free throw line. He had a 19-point, 10-rebound double double in the CAA quarterfinals against Elon. Hargrove brings a level of physicality and experience that was badly lacking in the Friar frontcourt this season. His season highs included 15 rebounds against La Salle, four blocks (in four different games), and 19 points (which he had three times).

Shot Chart: Over 80% of his field goal attempts came in the paint, and he shot 76% at the rim (the national average is 62.3%). Hargrove found his way out to the perimeter at times, but this is primarily a player who lives inside.

Numbers to Know: From a Net Rating perspective, Drexel (18-15, 9-9 in the CAA) was a +11.9 when Hargrove was on the floor.

He scored 1.101 points per possession last year — a great number that ranked in the 92nd percentile in the country. Hargrove ranked in the 80th percentile in post-up scoring (on 75 possessions) and 82nd as a roll man on pick and rolls. A non-shooter, he went just 8-41 (19%) on jumpers.

Hargrove held up pretty well as a post defender (58th percentile) but struggled as P&R defender at times. Drexel played drop coverage in most of the games I saw, and much of the damage done against Hargrove came on pick and pop threes versus roll men getting to the rim. His block percentage (6.2%) ranked just outside of the top 100 nationally this season.

Hargrove would bring offensive rebounding punch to PC, as he averaged 3.0 offensive boards a game last year. He ranked #160 in the country in Offensive Rebound Percentage.

Highlights:

But what does the tape tell us? While the highlights provide a brief look at everything a player does well, we want to provide you with more this offseason.

To set a more realistic expectation (and to let you decide for yourself), we’re pulling together dozens of clips of every Providence commit this spring in an extended reel. These 50+ possessions will show all field goal attempts and turnovers from a handful of games. And I’ve also packaged some highlights of him defending the rim.

This is for the diehards:

The Verdict: While nothing is guaranteed in the portal, Hargrove adds elements to the frontcourt that were missing last year outside of Oswin Erhunmwunse.

He’s active, physical, and experienced. Drexel let him shoot a bit from beyond the arc (6-29 from three this year), but Hargrove is primarily an interior player offensively. He shot 64% inside the arc last year with 100 offensive rebounds and just 37 turnovers in 1,073 minutes. PC’s group of bigs felt more about projection and upside, whereas Hargrove will ideally bring more no frills, blue collar toughness in his final season of eligibility.

Defensively, Hargrove moves well laterally and provides some shot blocking at the rim. A lot of the points he gave up in screen action came when recovering out to 3-point shooters. Against Campbell, Drexel matched him up on a handful of possessions against Colby Duggan, a wing who led the CAA in scoring during conference play.

Ideally, Hargrove brings back what was missing on the interior outside of Erhunmwunse — tough, physical dirty work.