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Sunday Notebook

Maliek White Dunk Alumni Gazelle Group

News and notes from around Providence and the Big East…

This had the makings of a scary week for the Big East.

The early results were ugly as the league took on the Big Ten in the 2017 Gavitt Games.

Minnesota pulled away from Providence in the closing 10 minutes Monday night, and Tuesday brought Purdue’s rather easy dispatching of Marquette on the road. The Big East notched its first win on Wednesday (Seton Hall over Indiana), but Maryland was too big and athletic for Butler in the fourth game of the series later that evening.

That was the theme early. The Big Ten looked simply too physical for the Big East in three of the first four games of the series. Minnesota power forward Jordan Murphy had his way inside against PC (23 points, 14 rebounds), 7’2 Purdue center Issac Haas was good for 22 points in 20 just minutes in Milwaukee, while Maryland doubled up Butler on the glass.

Late Wednesday night brought a tide-turner for the Big East, however, when Creighton went on the road to take out #20 Northwestern.

It’s mea culpa time for this writer.

Those high on Creighton pointed to their backcourt of Khyri Thomas and Marcus Foster. Thomas is a terrific talent, and perhaps the best two-way player in the Big East. My questions about the Jays? They went from a top 10 team nationally to a .500 group after point guard Mo Watson was lost last season with a knee injury. Then star center Justin Patton left for the NBA after his redshirt freshman season.

The win at Northwestern was an eye opener, not just because it came on the road against one of the media darlings of 2017. Foster (who many think will lead the league in scoring) was held to just one field goal over the first 37 minutes of the game, yet Greg McDermott’s group still scored 92 away from Omaha.

Thomas has taken yet another leap. He was simply unstoppable on Wednesday night with 24 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists while guarding Northwestern star Bryant McIntosh. Thomas made a number of critical baskets to slow Northwestern runs.

Perhaps most encouraging for Creighton was the play of a pair of freshmen. Ty-Shon Alexander made his first three 3-point attempts and finished 4-6 from deep, scoring 14 points in the process. Mitchell Ballock may be the next Roosevelt Jones — a 6’5 guard/forward who carves out space and seems to find his way to the basket methodically. Both were top 100 talents.

McDermott also got a season high from sophomore big man Martin Krampelj who scored 17 points and put Northwestern away in the closing seconds.

The floodgates opened a bit from there, as the Creighton win sparked a three game winning streak for the Big East. Xavier went on the road and took out Wisconsin (and JP Macura did JP Macura things), while St. John’s made an early statement by rolling Nebraska 79-56. The Johnnies have gotten an early lift from Arizona transfer Justin Simon, who is averaging 11 points and nine rebounds per game this season.

The Big East and Big Ten once again split all eight games of the series (Illinois beat DePaul at home on Friday night), but the road wins by Creighton and Xavier evened out what could have been a tough start for the league.

White Stabilizing PC Off the Bench

We’re only eight days into the season and I’m apologizing for the second time already.

Maliek White frustrated quite often during his freshman season. While many were intrigued by his ability to make difficult shots in traffic, I was more encouraged by the shooting stroke he showed in the exhibition season. We didn’t see that jumper consistently last year.

Playing in a backup point guard role as a freshman, he seemed uncertain when to attack or when to distribute, which is to be expected for a first year player. What was troubling were the unforced errors that cropped up at times last year.

In speaking with Kyron Cartwright at a media session in October, the senior guard point emphasized how he thought the addition of Makai Ashton-Langford would free White up to do what he does best — score.

He’s done that well through four games, twice putting up double figures off of the bench, including a 4-4 shooting night in the championship of the 2K Classic on Friday.

White has the type of scoring ability to win Providence a game or two this season, and while much of the focus is on the impact he can have as a microwave scorer, he’s playing with poise as a sophomore.

White has turned the ball over just twice in 70 minutes this season, and when the Friars were puzzled by Washington’s zone on Thursday night he stabilized the offense and dished out six assists in 19 minutes.

It’s been an encouraging start for the sophomore.

Backhanded Pitino

Maybe it sounded different in person, but I’m not sure how the following quote from Minnesota head coach (and PC graduate) Richard Pitino came off as a compliment, “The thing about Providence is the people never leave. I might be the only one who who got out of here because everybody is the same and that’s 12 years ago. I love that about Providence.”

The quote came from Bill Reynolds’ column on Saturday. 12 years? That was two head coaches and four NCAA Tournament appearances ago. And the current head coach didn’t get out, he came back.

DePaul Flashbacks

The low point of the 2016-17 season came when the Friars lost a double digit lead at DePaul after a series of almost unfathomable bad breaks and sloppy plays.

When Washington closed to within one with under three minutes to play on Thursday night, flashbacks of DePaul came racing back. Much like against DePaul last year, the Friars controlled the Washington game throughout, but couldn’t get enough separation to close comfortably.

Providence returned home the weekend following the DePaul loss 1-4 in Big East games, yet they played incredibly well in beating a good Seton Hall team their next time out. The long climb back to NCAA Tournament contention began that Saturday afternoon in January.

The Friars bounced back similarly on Friday night and St. Louis didn’t have a chance.

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