PC Basketball 2015-16 Season Preview
Saturday, November 14, 2015
The Providence College Friars men's basketball team is set to tip-off their season tonight against Harvard at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. Last season, the Friars went 22-12 overall and 11-7 in the Big East, making it to the NCAA Tournament for a second straight season before falling to Dayton.
This season, PC returns with a young team built around redshirt junior Kris Dunn, considered one of the best players in the country by experts.
"Dunn is a terrific player as we all know, and he is a great kid too. But basketball is a team game and the supporting cast around him is going to have to be good. Three-point shooting is going to be important this year. I think Kris is going to draw double teams and other guys are going to be open and they are going to have to make shots," said Friars radio analyst Joe Hassett.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTDunn averaged 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds for the Friars last season with eight double-doubles and one triple-double.
Lack of Size
Over the off-season, Providence saw center Paschal Chukwu transfer to Syracuse leaving PC with a lack of size. Ben Bentil is PC's tallest player at 6'9."
"I think the Friars with their size are going to need to speed up the game and get easy baskets, as they don't really have the half court game that they had last season. Something that will help is that Dunn can grab the defensive rebound and push the ball up the floor himself, take it coast to coast if he has too," Hassett said on the Friars style of play.
PC has two players at 6'8" in Rodney Bullock and Quadree Smith, however, neither of them have ever played a college basketball game.
Guards
Dunn will be the focal point of the Providence offense, and defense but around him will be sophomores Kyron Cartwright and Jalen Lindsey.
Cartwright played in 34 games started eight, for the Friars last season and averaged 3.5 points in 19 minutes of play time per game.
Jalen Lindsey played in 33 games, started 13, for the Friars last season and averaged 3.8 points in 18 minutes of play per game. Lindsey shot 33 percent from three-point land.
One player to watch for at the guard position is 6'8" freshman Ryan Fazekas. Fazekas averaged 25 points, four assists and ten rebounds as a high school senior at Marquette Catholic High School and was ranked as the 29th best prospect at his position by ESPN.com.
Forwards
The PC forwards come into the season with question marks and unknowns all over. Sophomore Ben Bentil leads the forward group after playing in 34 games last season, starting 23 of them, and averaging six points and five rebounds in 21 minutes of play per game.
Redshirt sophomore Rodney Bullock and freshman Quadree Smith will have to contribute this season as well, but neither have ever played a college basketball game.
"The Friars have a lot of talent, just have a lot of young guys and this season is going to depend on how well they do," Hassett said.
The Schedule
After the game against Harvard, PC will host Illinois on November 18th followed by Brown and NJIT on the 21st and 23rd, respectively.
Providence will travel to Anaheim, California for the Wooden Legacy tournament before returning home on December 2nd to face Hartford. The Friars will not play a true road game until December 5th when they visit URI.
PC will open up conference play on December 31st on the road against Butler with their conference home opener coming January 2nd against St. John's.
PC closes the regular season on March 5th when they face St. John's at New York's Madison Square Garden.
As the season starts, Providence will look to get to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.
Related Slideshow: Providence College Friars 2015-16 Projected Starting Lineup
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