Friar Basketball

Dunn, Friars Forging Identity

Dunnscoopshot

Providence is now playing with what it lacked in their three straight losses in early December — an edge.

There’s too much physical talent on this roster to surrender 47 second half points against Brown or get out-rebounded by Boston College 41-28. In the Friars’ last three games — wins against Rhode Island, Stony Brook and yesterday versus UMass — the focus has been on making life much more difficult on the interior for their opponents.

“The one thing we’re trying to coach our team on is our interior length and our toughness,” Ed Cooley said after PC’s dismantling of Massachusetts Saturday. Cooley spoke of how he believed rebounding has been the Achilles heel for this group, so that was a huge point of emphasis in the week leading up to UMass’ visit.

This might be part of the reason why Ben Bentil was inserted into the starting lineup. A starting five of 6’3 Kris Dunn, 6’7 Jalen Lindsey, 6’6 bulldog LaDontae Henton, 7’0 Carson Desrosiers and the powerful Bentil isn’t just long, but athletic and physical. The result was a fast start for Providence as they never trailed once against Massachusetts.

It also doesn’t hurt when Kris Dunn plays like an All American. There’s no bigger physical mismatch than the New London point guard who has been on an absolute tear since a nightmarish afternoon in Kentucky.

Over the last five games Dunn is averaging 18.6 points, 6.2 assists and 6 rebounds per game. And he’s been a menace defensively, with at least three steals in each of those contests (averaging 4 steals per game during the stretch).

Dunn is now leading the Big East in both steals and assists while playing under 30 minutes a night. More impressively, he’s now sixth in the country in steal percentage (steals/defensive possessions) and third in the nation in assist rate.

Behind Dunn’s penetration (11 assists) and a 17-9 advantage on the offensive glass (6 for Carson Desrosiers) PC held a 46-28 advantage in points in the paint and physically punished a Massachusetts team that had defeated PC in the final seconds off of offensive rebounds the previous two seasons. They also held Cady Lalanne — UMass’ double double machine — to season lows in both points (4) and rebounds (4) yesterday.

Cooley once again called Dunn the best defensive guard in the country after the game.

Over the past five games he’s been one of the best point guards in the country overall.

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

Twitter: Kevin_Farrahar

 

 

9 Comments

  1. Joseph Gregory

    December 21, 2014 at 4:29 pm

    Luke Arnold

  2. Mike Delehanty

    December 21, 2014 at 5:01 pm

    he played great yesterday.

  3. Jack Durkan

    December 21, 2014 at 6:54 pm

    important victory

  4. Michael Caldwell

    December 21, 2014 at 7:59 pm

    I’ve been telling people for years Dunn had NBA talent now that he is healthy you all can see it’s only the beginning !

  5. Marion Feitelson Winkler

    December 21, 2014 at 11:17 pm

    Outstanding performance. Go PC!!!

  6. Derec Lamendola

    December 21, 2014 at 11:52 pm

    LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Providence College Friars Mens Basketball #BIGEAST And Let’s Make IT All Away This Year Let’s Make IT HAPPIN IM Geting Nervis Tommmerrow MY Birthday 1 MORE DAY

  7. Ann Iannotti

    December 22, 2014 at 2:31 pm

    Go Friars and congrats Kris on your great stats!

  8. Mario Teixeira

    December 22, 2014 at 5:07 pm

    If we are going to talk about stats then bring up his turnovers as well!

  9. Jeremy Nunes

    December 23, 2014 at 1:23 am

    The Friars will go as far as Dunn takes them

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