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Dangerous Stretch Ahead for Friars

Edwards Hall

At 15-3 on the season, these are supposed to be heady days in Providence, but the Friars’ play since the calendar turned over to 2016 has concern growing in Friartown.

After a stirring comeback victory on the road against then #9 Butler to push their record to 13-1, Ed Cooley’s Friars have struggled. They’ve struggled to score, they’ve been slow out of the gates, they’ve had trouble keeping opponents out of the paint, and on Saturday afternoon they were dominated on the glass by Seton Hall.

Their 15-3 record certainly puts Providence in an enviable position, but they haven’t played well in four games — and they had better figure it out soon considering the schedule ahead. The Friars’ next four opponents? Home against Butler, at #6 Villanova, home versus #7 Xavier, and a trip to D.C. to take on Georgetown.

Butler comes to town on Tuesday night, and Providence will look to fix a few recurrent issues that have crept up quickly since the beginning of January.

Starting slowly: Providence trailed 18-11 early against a St. John’s team that has started 0-6 in Big East play. Marquette led 7-0 at the Dunkin Donuts Center, holding PC without a basket until under 16 minutes to play. PC went over six minutes without a point to start the game against a Creighton team that was equally off-kilter.

And while the Friars didn’t struggle to score early against Seton Hall, the Pirates set the tone for the rest of the day by grabbing four offensive rebounds in the first four minutes of the game.

Managing the game. Providence came up with an offensive rebound on what figured to be the final possession of the first half against Seton Hall. That was until Rodney Bullock fired an ill-advised 3 pointer with 13 seconds on the clock that gave the Hall the final possession.

A segment of Friar fans were upset about Kris Dunn’s fifth foul on Saturday, but he’s found himself in foul trouble oftentimes this season not only from aggressive plays, but on grabs and reaches far from the basket. The most egregious came in the closing minutes against Marquette. Marquette was in the double bonus, had cut PC’s eight-point lead to two with under five minutes to play, and the Friars were whistled for a reach-in foul 85 feet from their basket. Two free throws later, the game was tied.

Throughout a majority of this season, if there was a play to be made late PC made it. There was Dunn taking over in the closing minutes against Arizona, Bentil’s two baskets in the final 30 seconds in a wild Ryan Center, Bullock carrying a short-handed group against Boston College in the second half, and Dunn’s late block against Illinois.

They’ll need to start making those plays again soon with four difficult opponents ahead.

Getting Fazekas up to speed, Edwards more looks. They need Fazekas. Big East opponents will continue to dare Junior Lomomba and Jalen Lindsey to beat them from beyond the arc. Lindsey’s 3 point attempts look rushed this season, and he’s making just .262 on the year on 84 attempts, while Lomomba hadn’t connected on a deep ball since the Evansville game prior to knocking down 3-5 against the Hall. To be fair, Lomomba attempted just six in that span, but his offensive game is more effective from 15 feet and in, so teams will continue to dare him as the Hall did on Saturday.

Drew Edwards is a shooter; Cooley made sure everyone understood that in a post-game press conference in December, but Ryan Fazekas showed the makings of a game changing outside shooter before missing a month with an illness.

He buried huge threes in the second half against URI, Michigan State and Arizona, and was connecting at a 47% clip before going out. Since returning he’s made just 1-12 from beyond the arc, and while the assumption is that he’ll get it going again at some point over the next month, the Friars desperately need a lift during this upcoming stretch against the Big East gauntlet.

Will Cooley alter his rotation to provide better spacing? Edwards has taken just five 3 pointers since making two huge shots to trigger the Butler comeback. Since starting the season 0-5 from deep, Edwards has since gone 8-20.

The freshmen were brought in to be difference makers from deep, and both have swung games with key shots. The Friars will need them to do the same over the next two weeks.

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