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Newcomers Impress in Debut

Ed Cooley Closeup

Picked to finish 9th in the Big East by the league’s coaches, Providence looked the part as they struggled through an ugly first half against Carleton University.

The Canadian powerhouse had the Friars on their heels through 20 minutes, just as Ed Cooley feared coming in.

Entering Saturday night, Carleton had been 12-0 in their exhibition games and in recent years defeated Wisconsin, Baylor, Memphis and Wichita State.

PC trailed 41-30 at halftime and the numbers were ugly: 7-27 shooting from the field and 1-10 from beyond the 3 point arc. Plus, Providence let shooter Connor Wood get loose (18 first half points).

Of the Friars’ seven made field goals in the opening half, five came from newcomers. Freshman point guard Maliek White drained a 3 pointer from the top of the key (more on his outside shooting in a moment) and fellow freshman Alpha Diallo scored in traffic inside, but junior college transfer Emmitt Holt was the bright spot early.

The burly power forward scored 11 points on 3-4 shooting from the field and 5-6 at the free throw line. He also grabbed four rebounds and blocked a shot.

Throughout the night Holt played with poise on the offensive end and force on the glass. He finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds on efficient shooting from both the field and the charity stripe (5-7 FG, 1-1 from 3, 8-10 FT).

While Holt was Providence’s best player on Saturday night, he wasn’t part of its most effective combination — a combination that turned a close game into a blowout.

Cooley rolled with three freshmen, a transfer playing in his first game at the Dunk, and a veteran wing and was rewarded handsomely.

Providence outscored Carleton 57-28 in the second half, and if you weren’t in the building you can expect to hear a lot over the next couple of days about the freshmen.

There was a lot to like about each of them.

Massive center Kalif Young played sparingly in the first half after picking up two fouls immediately after entering the game, but he flashed major potential.

His first basket came on a quick spin move in which he was fouled.

Next he threw down a one handed tip dunk in which he came out of seemingly nowhere.

Moments later Young zipped a pass out of the post to Ryan Fazekas for a wide open look in the corner, and he finished his scoring by hitting a hook along the baseline. He made three of four shots from the field in the second half and swatted a shot out of bounds.

After Providence struggled through a horrible outside shooting season last year, the natives grumbled as the Friars clanged their way through the 1-10 start from deep, but White offered hope by catching fire in the second half.

The 6’2 freshman out of Virginia scored 10 second half points on 4-4 shooting from the field. Those four makes included a pair of 3 pointers and a difficult left handed layup to finish off a pretty drive.

Diallo played to his scouting report. The top 100 prospect from Brewster Academy was billed as a smooth scorer who defenders can’t speed up. He did a bit of everything in the second half, making 3-5 shots from the field, snaring four boards, and handing out a pair of assists. Diallo connected on his only 3 point field goal of the game (PC went 5-10 from deep in the 2nd half) and finished on a tricky left-handed drive as PC pulled away for the 87-69 win.

If 2016-17 is going to be about finding building blocks for the future then Saturday night was a good start.

* * *

Additional thoughts from this one…

  • Saturday was a struggle for junior point guard Kyron Cartwright. He made two of his seven shots from the field in 27 minutes and forced a few passes into traffic.
  • It was surprising to see Isaiah Jackson’s stat line after the game. The transfer from George Mason was credited with just three rebounds and a steal, but in person it felt like he had a larger impact. He and Jalen Lindsey were on the floor with the three freshmen in the second half as PC pulled away, and he seemed to be in the middle of the action (especially on the interior) often. We’ll very likely hear the “glue guy” moniker that stuck with Junior Lomomba last year, but if you haven’t seen Jackson yet, this is a very different player. He is a physical wing who will pull loose balls out of traffic and dribble the ball the length of the floor. We didn’t get to see his jump shot on Saturday night (he took just two shots from the field), but he can have an impact without putting up huge numbers.
  • Rodney Bullock’s jumper was off early, so he went inside for his four field goals in a relatively quiet eight point, three rebound night.
  • The bad news for Lindsey? His jump shot was way off and he finished 1-6 from the field. The good? He was more aggressive in the paint, diving for loose balls and getting to the free throw line. Lindsey played a key role in slowing Wood in the second half, as he was held scoreless after his 18 point opening stanza. Lindsey blocked two shots, came up with two steals, grabbed four rebounds and took 13 free throws on Saturday. For a player who had been relegated to spot up shooter for much of his first two years, the junior was very active.
  • While White shot the lights out, Saturday did little to alleviate fears about this team’s outside shooting ability. They went 6-20 from deep, made 69% of their free throws, and the returning players went just 1-14 from 3. On the bright side, the newcomers shot 5-6 from deep.
  • Sophomore Ricky Council scored a tough layup late and played five minutes on the night.
  • Providence shot 20-31 from the field in the second half and grabbed eight offensive rebounds. They turned the ball over just four times over the final 20 minutes.

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

Twitter: @Kevin_Farrahar

2 Comments

  1. Dex

    October 30, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    Tip Of The Hat to Kfar

    Your game article is absolutely 100% spot on in every single aspect.

  2. Pingback: Friar Starting Five: Sunday Edition - Friar Basketball

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