Questions Emerge in Providence's Win Over Hampton
Providence is facing two glaring problems three games into the 2024-25 season: the Friars can’t keep from turning the ball over and they’ve yet to get any sort of consistency from the center spot.
From the outside looking in, Tuesday’s matchup with Hampton looked to be a “get right” game. Head coach Kim English said his group was about two-to-three weeks behind schedule due to an assortment of offseason injuries that kept them from practicing together in the fall, and there was hope, if not expectation, in Friartown that this would be a game Providence could use to address issues that arose in the first two games of the year.
Hampton came into this one fresh off of an 82-54 loss to Rafael Castro and George Washington — and with matching 322nd national rankings in both offensive and defensive efficiency (h/t Brendon Desrochers).
Behind a pair of 3-pointers by Jayden Pierre, the Friars took an early 8-0 lead and looked to be on their way to a comfortable advantage, but they couldn’t get out of their own way in a first half that later saw them:
Surrender a 16-0 run
Go scoreless for a span of nearly eight minutes, committing eight turnovers during that time
Trail 30-22 at halftime after taking just 18 shots from the field to Hampton’s 32. Fourteen of Providence’s 18 shots came from beyond the 3-point line.
With the addition of senior point guard Bensley Joseph, Kim English hoped that his team would improve on its ball security from a season ago. The Friars’ turnover percentage of 17.5% ranked 212th in the country, but that number looks downright sparkling compared to PC’s 26.5% this year — a mark that ranks 348th in the country to date.
The biggest culprit so far is St. Joe’s transfer Christ Essandoko, the center who turned the ball over four times in nine minutes in the first half. He didn’t return to the floor in the second.
A shaky opening night has seemed to carry over for the seven foot sophomore, who has 13 turnovers in Providence’s first three games this season.