The Friar Basketball Newsletter: Looking into Providence's Trip to Spain, Sharing Takeaways from the Summer
Providence wrapped up its three-game tour of Spain on Wednesday with the team’s most lopsided victory of the trip — a 98-50 runaway over the Catalonia All Stars in Barcelona. The Friars finished 3-0 in Spain, taking a 103-70 victory over The Madrid All Stars on Friday before beating Valencia, 87-66, on Monday.
PC was without starting guard Devin Carter, who injured his thumb in the weeks prior to the trip but should be back on the floor shortly after the club returns to the States. Also sidelined were sophomore Justyn Fernandez (who is recovering from a knee injury that occurred in the spring) as well as freshman guard Rich Barron, who was on the practice floor as recently as last week, but sat all three games with an undisclosed injury.
Rather than try to decipher much from single game box scores or highlight reels, here at Friar Basketball we tracked stats of all active scholarship players on the trip. Additionally, subscribers to the site can continue to scroll down to read impressions from what we have seen and heard through the spring and summer practices. Let’s start with a rundown of the numbers of each scholarship player who took to the floor in Spain.
Jayden Pierre: Pierre didn’t have any single game that popped off the stat sheet, but his numbers on the week were among the best on the team. The sophomore guard shot 64% from the field (16-25) and 54% from deep (6-11) in averaging 13.3 points and 4.3 assists per game. Additionally, Pierre turned the ball over just twice in three games. While no one expects Pierre to sniff the 54% he shot from three on limited attempts as a freshman (12-22), at the very least he appears to be a point guard opponents will have to respect from 3-point range. He finished second on the team in scoring and assists this week, and was consistent throughout.
Garwey Dual: It doesn’t appear as though Dual looked for his shot much, but he wrapped up the week 7-13 from the field (53%) and 3-6 from beyond the arc. Dual had five assists in all three games, averaged 7.0 points per game, and had five steals and four turnovers in total. Dual also grabbed seven rebounds in the first two games Providence played. His 5.0 assists per game were a team high.
Bryce Hopkins: The Friar star averaged 14.6 points and eight rebounds on the trip, but was not his typical efficient self — 37% from the field (13-35), and 30% from 3 (4-13). Hopkins shot 45% from the field and 36% from deep last season. As was the case a year ago, he did a lot of damage at the free throw line, taking 21 free throws over the three games PC played. His 18 points in the second game of the trip marked a high for any Friar this week.
Ticket Gaines: Gaines did a little bit of everything — putting up 12.6 points and 4.3 rebounds, despite struggling with his outside shot (4-21 from three). Gaines shot 40% from three at George Mason two years ago, and 34% last year. He made ten of the twelve free throws he attempted this week, and scored 17 points in the second game, despite shooting just 1-9 from three. Gaines had four rebounds, three steals, and took seven free throws in that one.
Josh Oduro: Oduro was very efficient in Spain — 65% from the field (15-23), while finishing with a pair of double doubles (13/10 and 10/10). Oduro stuffed the stat sheet in the second game of the trip, going for 13 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, four steals, and three blocks. The graduate transfer center ended the week averaging 3.3 assists per game, while turning it over just twice. He took five 3-pointers and made one.
Corey Floyd Jr.: Floyd’s best game came in the opener, when he scored 17 points on 5-8 shooting from beyond the arc. He added five assists in that game and didn’t turn the ball over. Floyd’s jumper wasn’t falling at the same clip the rest of the way, but he still ended the trip by shooting 44% from the field, 35% from three, and averaged 11 points, 3.6 assists, and 2.0 rebounds, while turning it over just twice in three games.
Rafael Castro: Perhaps no individual game caught the eye of Friartown more than Castro’s opener in which he scored 16 points on a perfect 8-8 from the floor. Castro didn’t miss much this week, shooting 14-17 (82%). He took just one shot from beyond the arc. Turnovers were a bit of a problem, as Castro had a team-high ten on the trip, but he had a 15-rebound game to close out the week on Wednesday and finished with averages of 10.6 points and 9.6 rebounds.
Will McNair Jr.: The big man, who spent three years at New Mexico State and last season at Mississippi State, put up 9.3 rebounds and 8.0 rebounds on 54% shooting (12-22). McNair had a 10-point, 11-rebound double double in the opener, and scored in double figures twice.
Donovan Santoro: The freshman from Los Angeles was billed as a shooter and connected on 4-8 from beyond the arc in Spain. Santoro had five steals on the trip, and averaged 4.6 points per game.
Takeaways to Close Out the Summer…
1. Perhaps no other position comes with more intrigue for the 2023-24 Friars than the point guard spot — and for good reason. Skeptics will point to the lack of experience Providence has returning at the college game’s most critical position, and understandably so. Conversely, the upside for this team could be incredibly high depending upon what they get from Jayden Pierre and Garwey Dual. There’s a lot to be excited about here.
I watched Pierre maybe a dozen times while he was at Long Island Lutheran, running the show for a top 25 team nationally. I still remember calling Craig Leighton during one of our walk-and-talk phone calls and saying I hadn’t been as excited about an incoming recruit in quite some time.
The term “feel for the game” is an overused one, but that’s what made Pierre stand out to the extent in which he did in high school. At LuHi he would play the role of a table setter for a quarter plus, then rip off four or five straight buckets to give his team a boost heading into halftime. He did so against elite competition — All American type guards like Arterio Morris and Simeon Wilcher. Pierre has a very good mid-range game that we didn’t see much of last year, and is an undervalued shooter. Kim English told us that he found himself wanting to see more and more of Pierre when watching film of last year’s Friars.