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Friars Look to Snap Road Skid at Butler

Kellen Dunham

There have been stretches this season in which Providence has looked outstanding — none of those have come on the road.

The Friars are 0-3 in true road games and have quite often looked like a different team in someone else’s gym. They executed their game plan well against Kentucky, trailing by just six with roughly 10 minutes remaining in Lexington, but in losses to Boston College and Marquette Providence was disorganized and flustered as they played from behind throughout both of those games.

PC shot just 28% at Kentucky, 39% when visiting BC, and in their most recent road game on Saturday at Marquette they made just 40% of their shots and turned the ball over 17 times.

Providence isn’t solely reliant on the Dunkin Donuts Center for success, in fact their best performances of the season came away from the Dunk (wins over Notre Dame and Miami in neutral courts), but they’ll need a strong effort away from home to defeat Butler (11-4, 1-1) on Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs are the only Big East team to earn a conference road win, coming away with a 73-69 victory over St. John’s behind 28 points from Kellen Dunham — the third leading scorer in the league. Dunham is a three point marksman who made 6-7 from deep against the Johnnies and is part of an experienced core that includes point guard Alex Barlow (48 consecutive starts), forward Roosevelt Jones (over 80 career starts) and the league’s leading rebounder in Kameron Woods.

Jones missed all of last season and his return has provided a physical presence to a group that was often bullied in Big East play last season (PC’s Kadeem Batts had a career high 17 rebounds against them at the Dunk). This isn’t a soft team anymore, however, with Woods, Jones and Rhode Island native Andrew Chrabascz all willing to mix it up inside.

Butler may be the surprise team of the league and they set the tone for an impressive non-conference showing for the Big East when they defeated North Carolina in November. That was Butler’s first of three wins over teams that have spent time in the top 25 this season (St. John’s and Georgetown).

Defense has been the calling card for Chris Holtmann’s club, as they’ve held 10 of 15 opponents under 60 points and are tops in the Big East in points against at 57.7 per game. According to kenpom.com they are 16th in the nation in defensive efficiency.

Looking for a potential difference maker? Freshman Kelan Martin has been among the best newcomers in the league. He’s averaging just shy of nine points per game while playing about 15 minutes a night. His production has fallen off since conference play began (1-8 shooting and just two points), but he’s already scored in double figures on eight occasions, including 40 points combined points in back to back games against North Carolina and Belmont in November.

For Providence, it will be interesting to see who can emerge outside of LaDontae Henton, Kris Dunn and Carson Desrosiers. Henton has been stellar all season, leading the Big East in scoring and averaging over 30 points per game in conference play so far, while Dunn has excelled in games in which he avoided turnover issues. Desrosiers has been the defensive anchor (19 blocked shots over the last five games) and an occasional offensive contributor.

PC needs more consistency from the rest of the core and if they are to win on Tuesday they’ll need a lift from Tyler Harris, Jalen Lindsey or Ben Bentil.

The game begins at 9pm EST and can be seen on CBS Sports.

Twitter: Kevin_Farrahar

 

4 Comments

  1. Derec Lamendola

    January 6, 2015 at 3:36 am

    Every Every Evrery Every ONE Lsting UP DONT LISTING To Them Providence Colllege Friars Going Make The All Thing This Year YOU Madder What We Are What You Saying TO US And All Good Teams BIG East Lost Vilnovia Lost And Crghton Lost And Now We Won’t Buttler Luse And MARQEETTE Luse And Xavwr Luse And Providence College Friars Going SMATCH Buuttler And Providence Colllege Going Beet The CRAP OUT OF Gogetown And LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO We Got This You Know Providence Colllege Friars Going IN Thag Dance

  2. Michael Caldwell

    January 6, 2015 at 8:02 am

    They are a young team they get better every day be patient the have a great coach

  3. Jeremy Nunes

    January 6, 2015 at 1:09 pm

    I got a feeling the Friars play well tonight and pick up a much needed road W

  4. Anne Carroll

    January 6, 2015 at 2:06 pm

    Is it on TV ??

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