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Hokies are playing Providence in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip Off at Mohegan Sun Casino at 4pm showing on Peacock. Even though the Hokies are listed as the home team it is likely to be a very pro-Providence crowd considering the short trip from Rhode Island to Connecticut. We will get a chance to see how the Hokies deal with a road environment.
Providence started their season with an 89-79 win over Holy Cross (341 Pomeroy Ranking). They are coached by Kim English who is 34-34 in his third seasons with the Friars. He coached two seasons at George Mason before coming to Providence. Last season was an ugly 12-20 mark for the Friars.
They have back about 36% of scoring from last season. The Friars start four Seniors and a Sophomore. Point guard, Senior Corey Floyd is the calming force for the Friars and will start but the Friars rotate heavily at guard. He put up a dozen points in game one. Jaylin Sellers will be the starting Shooting Guard and also had a dozen points. Jason Edwards put up 11 points between the 2/3 spots. The two starting forwards are Duncan Powell and Oswin Erhunmwunse. They combined for 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Similar to the Hokies the Friars brought in an Uber talented Freshman from Europe. Stefan Vaaks at PG that led them in scoring in the first game with 19 points off the bench. Jamier Jones was the 38th ranked player in the Class of 2025 as a Wing and put up 16 points in game one as well off the bench.
Cole Hargrove is in the forward rotation and had 6 rebounds. Rounding out the bench is a big body Wing Ryan Mela who plays more a forward role when Providence goes with a smaller lineup. Daquan Davis is kind of an afterthought as the tenth man that played in game one but had very little impact.
The Friars on offense start with three guards and two forwards but their roster forces them into a smaller lineup for at least a couple stretches in game one. As a team they shot 50% from the floor but only 27% from the perimeter. The big stat that jumps out early is the 11 steals that led to 15 transition points. Also the hidden bench scoring, 44 of the teams 89 points.
Sellers and Erhunmwunse had foul trouble that limited their time on the floor. Erhunmwunse got several in the paint grabbing an arm after poor positioning to defend the lane.
The player rotation is unusual. Floyd played the most of any player at 26 minutes. Eight players played 20 or more minutes. Only Hargrove and Davis played fewer than 20 minutes.
On defense expect to see the Friars in an aggressive man-to-man defense that frequently extends 3/4 court. They employ traps in the corner frequently as well.
Friars Lineup
Corey Floyd
#14 SR G 6-4 210
12.0 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 3.0 Ast
Jaylin Sellers
2 SR G 6-4 180
12.0 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Jason Edwards
#1 SR G 6-1 170
11.0 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Duncan Powell
#31 SR F 6-8 225
6.0 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Oswin Erhunmwunse
#55 SO F 6-10 220
4.0 Pts, 8.0 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Off the Bench
Stefan Vaaks
#7 FR G 6-7 206
19.0 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Jamier Jones
#5 FR F 6-6 218
16.0 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Ryan Mela
#11 SO F 6-6 200
9.0 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Hokies Lineup
Toibu Lawal
#1 SR F 6-8 200
20.0 Pts, 12.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Amani Hansberry
#13 JR F 6-8 240
19.0 Pts, 13.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Jailen Bedford
#0 SR G 6-4 181
13.0 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Tyler Johnson
#10 SO G 6-5 215
9.0 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 5.0 Ast
Neoklis Avdalas
#17 FR G 6-9 215
8.0 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 9.0 Ast
Off the Bench
Ben Hammond
#3 SO G 5-11 170
9.0 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 3.0 Ast
Christian Gurdak
#32 FR C 6-10 260
8.0 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Izaiah Pasha
#4 SO G 6-4 190
6.0 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Jaden Schutt
#2 JR G 6-5 185
6.0 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Antonio Dorn
77 FR C 7-0
The Hokies are coming off a 98-67 win over Charleston Southern (329 Pomeroy Ranking). Funny stat, 98 points was only good for 55th in basketball after game one. It was a bit of an ugly first half but they quickly separated in the second half with a 27-4 scoring run. The game was on cruise control at that point. Hansberry went from pressing in the first half to finding his stride in the second. He and Lawal teamed up with the Double Double-Double with a combined 39 points and 25 rebounds.
Those two will play a major role against Providence in that the Friars struggled inside to defend against a much smaller Holy Cross lineup. Get them started early and disrupt the Friars player rotation with early foul trouble.
Neo did not disappoint in his debut at Point Forward. 8 points and 9 assists is a wake up call to the ACC.
Seven players scored at least 8 points ad five players had 5 or more rebounds in a very balanced effort. 46% from the floor, 32% from 3 and a respectable 70% from the line.
The good news is Providence isn't much of a perimeter shooting team and the Hokies will give them trouble inside with a significant height advantage, especially now that Dorn is available to play. Gurdak played a great first half and was the star of the show at that point but Young played him sparingly in the second half.
It will be interesting to see how the Hokies do in the turnover department. They only turned it over seven times in game one but Providence is much more active and tougher defensively than Charleston Southern.
ESPN matchup analysis heavily favors Providence but the betting line still has the Hokies as slight favorites. Providence is currently 64th in Pomeroy Ranking and Hokies are 70th.
Until they show me otherwise, I think the Hokies are the more athletic team with better speed and scorers than the Friars.
Hokies win 82-71.
Will be tuned in from my phone on a camping trip.
