How Providence Rebounded in December
A Power 5 conference team starting the season losing 3 games in November is not usually a sign of success. Especially considering they had no wins in the top 200 at KenPom, Providence seemed to be gearing up for an ugly season, and a far departure from their Big East regular season title from the year prior. However, Head Coach Ed Cooley’s team turned it around in December. The Friars won their 6 December games - including a double overtime victory over a strong Marquette team - and now look poised to contend for the moniker of Big East’s #2 team (since UConn is likely not being caught for a while). How did Providence go from a November slog to perfection in December? Their rebound comes from their incredible offensive rebound efforts.
Providence’s MTE (multi-team event) in November was the Hall of Fame Tip-off, where they competed against St. Louis and Miami. The Miami game was not close, with Providence losing by double digits to the best university in the country. Their game against St. Louis, however, was a bigger spectacle. The 76-73 loss was a good effort, but leaving the Hall of Fame with an 0-2 record stung for the Friars. They had a chance to end November with a bang by beating a criticized TCU squad that lost to Northwestern State and barely got past Arkansas Pine Bluff. The Friars were dismantled easily, however, losing 75-62 after taking the trip to Forth Worth. Considering they lost to every team remotely in contention to make the tournament, and only defeated significantly weaker teams, the season looked bleak. They could get back on track in December with 3 separate sub-200 KenPom teams, but they then had a 3-game stretch against Seton Hall, Marquette, and Butler that would likely squash their postseason hopes should it go poorly.
Fortunately, Providence rebounded. The Friars eked out a close win against Seton Hall, beating first year Head Coach Shaheen Holloway’s Pirates 71-67. The Pirates are going through some growing pains of their own after a head coaching transfer, so this win, while definitely a positive, was not enough to turn their season around. What Providence needed to do was get a home win against Marquette. This was not just any Marquette team, however. Marquette gave undefeated Purdue their closest game of the season, and blew the doors off of Scott Drew’s strong Baylor team. After double overtime, however, Providence had emerged victorious 103-98, and they did so with some of the best rebounding in the country.
KenPom currently ranks Providence as the #3 offensive rebounding team in the country, and it showed against the Golden Eagles. Bryce Hopkins had an outstanding 29-23 double double, with 15 defensive rebounds and a staggering 8 offensive rebounds. Altogether, Providence had 15 more rebounds than Marquette, and although Marquette kept them close, this was the main reason Providence managed to win the game in the end. This was not based on a height disadvantage on Marquette’s end: Bryce Hopkins netted 23 rebounds at a moderate 6’7” height. Cooley - last year’s Big East coach of the year - is a disciplined head coach, and it shows with Providence’s rebounding discipline as well. Due to their volume of second chance points on the back of their offensive rebounds, Providence got to the free throw line quite often. While Marquette attempted just 19 free throws, Providence attempted an audaciously large 49 free throws, scoring 35 of them. For reference, Providence scored 39 points in each half of regulation, meaning they scored nearly a half’s worth of points off of free throws. After a big Marquette won, Providence stormed into Butler with newfound confidence, beating the Bulldogs by 20 points. With just a single strong rebounding effort - predominantly off the efforts of one player - Providence successfully turned things around.
Providence still has a lot of games to play throughout the season. To start the new year, they play DePaul in an away game, before they will host the undefeated UConn team, which will probably end their winning streak. Due to Big East titans such as Villanova and Creighton having lackluster starts, Providence’s strong December will be very important to monitor as March rolls around. The Friars have a legitimate shot to make the 2nd weekend of hte tournament, so long as they can continue this rebound and their rebounding!
