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3 Up vs. Stonehill

Stonehill

Three up versus Stonehill on Saturday.

1. Rodney Bullock. This wasn’t Bullock’s first time playing at the Dunkin Donuts Center. Prior to his team suspension two seasons ago, Bullock scored six points and grabbed five rebounds in 15 minutes against Rhode Island College in 2013. After two long years away it was hard not to wonder what difference he might have made for Providence over the past two seasons.

If you weren’t in the building on Saturday, this wasn’t a case of overinflated stats against an overmatched opponent. Bullock scored inside and out, bringing a calmness and poise to a green Friar team that desperately needs a veteran presence alongside Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil.

In the preseason Associate Head Coach Andre Lafleur told Friarbasketball.com, “We think that we can isolate him in a lot of different places on the court because of his ability to score, and with his size he will create a lot of mismatches depending on where we play him.”

Bullock showed that ability on Saturday, lining up from beyond the arc and making 2-3 from deep, looking very comfortable facing up from 18 feet, and scoring inside.

The thought here was that Bullock would need weeks to shake the rust off, but he looks ready to go. It wasn’t just the 26 points and 11 rebounds on 10-14 shooting, but the manner in which he did it. This was a very impressive return from the redshirt sophomore.

2. The assertiveness of the freshmen. It wasn’t always crisp (Ryan Fazekas made 2-7 from deep, Drew Edwards drew Ed Cooley’s ire when he let up two offensive rebounds on a possession, and on a few occassions Quadree Smith allowed men to bat rebounds away from him from behind), but this was an assertive group that didn’t hesitate to look for their offense.

Fazekas drilled the first good look he saw, a quick release 3 pointer, and soon after that Ricky Council knocked down his first jumper.

Edwards finished three layups, while Smith delivered punishment early.

A pair of encouraging signs from Fazekas? He kept firing away from deep after missing a few in a row, and when the shot wasn’t falling he twice cut and converted layups late in the second half. He’s not just a shooter.

Their defense and glasswork were an eyesore, and Cooley wasn’t happy with the rookies’ collective energy level early on, but the Friars could get a scoring boost out of this group earlier than expected.

3. The old reliables. This was a three point game in the second half (PC defeated Stonehill 94-49 last October, mind you), which was partially due to the Friars’ inability to defend the 3 point arc or settle into their press, but once Dunn and Bentil stepped out of their secondary roles the Friars cruised over the final seven minutes.

Bentil missed a hook shot early, but connected on his next six shots to finish 6-7 from the field for 15 points and seven rebounds. His best finish was a rolling post move in the game’s final 10 minutes. It would have been reassuring to see him dominate the glass, as rebounding is a concern for an undersized team.

Dunn was Dunn. 15 points, 12 assists, five rebounds, and three steals. He could have scored 40+ if he so desired.

Concerns: Not surprisingly, there is much work to be done before the season opener in two weeks. Cooley will be tasked with sorting through a young roster to build some sort of early rotation, while the defense leaked throughout, giving up corner 3s all afternoon.

Jalen Lindsey (0-3) struggled to find a rhythm, while Kyron Cartwright (2-6 shooting, 4 points, 6 assists) could not duplicate last season’s exhibition game effort in which he scored 18 points.

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