The Week Ahead: The Hall of Fame Tip-Off is a Critical Part of Providence's Non-conference Schedule
We’re about to learn a lot about the 2022-23 Friars.
Ed Cooley’s bunch is off to a 2-0 start to the season following wins over Rider (66-65) and Northeastern (89-65) in the opening week of the season. Much stiffer tests await in the season’s second week, however.
Cooley’s Friars will take on his alma mater, Stonehill, on Tuesday night (Fox Sports 2, WPRO: 630 AM/99.7 FM) in a rare 5pm weekday tip. The Skyhawks are in their first season of Division 1 basketball, but they have been fairly competitive through three games.
They simply had no answer for Adama Sanogo when they took on UConn in their season opener. The Big East’s Preseason Player of the Year finished with an easy 19 points in 19 minutes in an 85-54 Connecticut victory.
Stonehill then fell in a track meet, 102-95, to a Quinnipiac team that was coming off a win over Rhode Island. Saturday night brought their first win as a Division 1 program, as they picked up an 82-77 road victory over Army.
Providence actually played Stonehill in an exhibition last season, in which they won 95-71 behind a balanced scoring attack. Seven Friars scored at least nine points in that game. PC led 42-34 at halftime before ripping off 53 points in the second half.
From there, the Friars will have a pair of critical games at Mohegan Sun. On Saturday, they open with a Miami team that features one of the best backcourts in the country, and then will take on either Maryland or St. Louis on Sunday.
Saturday, November 19: Providence vs. Miami at 4pm (ESPN News, WPRO: 630 AM/99.7 FM)
Miami will offer a stiff early season test for a Providence team that has struggled to keep guards out of the paint and in defending the 3-point arc.
The Friars and Hurricanes were a game away from meeting in last season’s NCAA Tournament. Miami went on a surprise run to the Elite Eight by knocking off seventh seeded USC, second seed Auburn, and then 11 seed Iowa State, before falling to Kansas in the Elite Eight.
Jim Larranaga’s club was picked to finish 12th in the ACC last season, but had a dream season, winning 26 games, including victories over North Carolina and at Duke.
Their backcourt is lethal, featuring All ACC guard Isaiah Wong and Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack.
Wong is a Piscataway, New Jersey native who was pursued by Villanova and UConn, before deciding on the Hurricanes. He was AAU teammates with Nova center Eric Dixon. Wong averaged over 17 points per game as a sophomore, and 15.3 as a junior.
Backed by massive NIL money, Larranaga struck gold on the transfer market this offseason, highlighted by the addition of former Kansas State guard Nijel Pack. Pack put up over 17 points per game as a sophomore at K-State last year, and did so while shooting 43% from deep.