PROVIDENCE – Mission accomplished.
Five games into the season, that’s how Providence men’s basketball coach Kim English viewed the start of the season.
Tuesday night’s 78-48 win over Delaware State gave him reason to believe as much. On paper the game should have been a rout and with the way the Friars played in both halves, they made sure it was one. They were bigger, stronger, faster and flat-out better and showed as much, giving the team some momentum as it heads to the Bahamas for a mini-tournament that will help teach everyone what this iteration of Providence is.
“I’ve never said it publicly, but we got to get some really good reps,” English said. “… Unfortunately, we had to get those reps during a time where the main mission is to win the game. We had a bunch of different lineups, bunch of different groups, ore guys than we wanted to play because we’ve had a lot of competition.
“… I think we’ve gotten better over this five-game stretch.”
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Providence guard Bensley Joseph said. “We’re still trying to build and find out who we are each game and today was another example of finding out who we are and we’re looking forward of the challenges and pushing each other in practice every day to find out.”
While Providence men’s basketball star Bryce Hopkins went through warmups prior to Tuesday’s game against Delaware State, he still wasn’t given the green light to make his 2024-25 debut.
Based on the crowd – especially in the student section – at The AMP, Tuesday’s biggest question hanging over Providence was whether or not the men’s hockey team could come away with a win over No. 2-ranked Boston College.
But the second biggest was about Bryce Hopkins and if he would get a chance to finally step on the court this season. While Hopkins did go through a pre-game workout and warmups, he didn’t get in the game.
Much like the Friars’ previous four opponents – none of whom are exactly NCAA resume builders – he wasn’t needed and his teammates made sure of it.
Anything and everything that has gone wrong in the first four games wasn’t completely fixed on Tuesday night, but things looked better. English has praised his players hustle and toughness in the early goings of the season and against Delaware State, it looked like they’d all listened intently.
Jayden Pierre and the Providence men’s basketball team had themselves a night from outside on Tuesday, knocking down 11 3-pointers in their 78-48 win over Delaware State.
Providence was crisp. Offensively, the ball movement was impressive to watch, as players worked the ball almost to the point of a fault. There wasn’t a single player looking to get his; it was five players doing whatever possible to make sure whatever shot went up was unchallenged.
Did the Friars burn The AMP down with their shooting? Not exactly, but they made enough and it was a group contribution. Seven different players knocked down 11 total 3-pointers, which was 10 more than Delaware State and if you do the math on the final score, you see how important making those shots can be.
“The go-to guy on our team is the open man,” English said. “It’s very simple – if you’re open, shoot it. If you’re not, pass it.
“We kind of overpassed some in the second half. We had some really good possessions where I don’t think we got a shot off, but that’s good. We’d rather that early in the season than guys taking tougher, contested shots. When our best shooters take good shots, we feel really good about the chances of them going in.”
Christ Essandoko used his size to his advantage on Tuesday night, grabbing 12 rebounds to go with nine points in the Providence men’s basketball team’s 78-48 win over Delaware State.
Physically, Providence did what a Big East team is supposed to do against a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference team.
The Friars were bullies. Their physicality turned the Hornets into gnats and the numbers told the story anyone’s eyes were telling. Providence had 48 rebounds, doubling Delaware State, and had 16 offensive rebounds to the Hornets’ 17.
Christ Essandoko, all 7-feet, 290 pounds of him, was something DSU just couldn’t match. He had nine points, 12 rebounds and played in a manner that had English thinking of a former Friar.
“I challenged him before the game to get three offensive rebounds and he got six,” English said. “With that size … he should be Ed Croswell, I’m not going to say ‘on anything,’ but like Ed Croswell plus, just going to the glass.”
He wasn’t the only big with a big contribution. Oswin Erhunmwunse also used his size to his advantage, grabbing six rebounds and scoring a team-high 13 points while making all six of his shots from the floor.
“I’m learning every day,” Erhunmwunse said. “It’s a really good experience and I’m loving it so far.”
Freshman Oswin Erhunmwunse had his best game of the season for Providence, scoring a team-high 13 point while ripping down six rebounds in the Friars’ 78-48 win over Delaware State.
It wasn’t just the bigs throwing their weight around. Joseph played with linebacker energy and set a tone early, diving all over the court and making the plays that keep teams from falling flat.
“That’s what we live by – glory diving on the floor when the ball is on the floor,” Joseph said. “It’s just doing the hustle plays, just doing the little things to get my team going and putting my body on the line for a win.”
Thursday didn’t happen because Providence suddenly decided to play well.
The Friars’ level of competition wasn’t great to start the year, but it was almost necessary for what they were trying to accomplish. If Hopkins is playing, any growing pains the team would have could be erased easily because they could lean on the best player on the court and let him go to work.
Without Hopkins, players had to figure things out on their own. So did English, who talked about experimenting with rotations and roles and how those would be tightening up as the team gets ready to go up against teams like Oklahoma, who PC plays next Wednesday in its first game of the 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis.
“We’ve been a little loose with the ball. Our shot quality hasn’t been the best and our free-throw shooting hasn’t been the best and we want to be the opposite of those things,” English said. “I do think we’ve established a baseline with how hard we’ll play and what the standard is.
“But that cup is limitless – how hard you can play and how together you can play. That’s something we want to keep growing.”
The trip to the Bahamas is hardly a vacation. It’s a chance for Providence to find out who it really is at this point of the season, a question English didn’t answer but said he would ask of his team.
Through four games, it was tough to answer. After the fifth, it’s a little more clear – because while the play hasn’t been perfect, the Friars have done exactly what they intended to.
“I thought our guys responded really well to some preseason adversity, some teams that came into our building and played well,” English said. “But at the end of the day, the mission was accomplished in five games as we head to the next part of our season.”
