Providence Preview

Let's have a home game tomorrow, shall we?

After two weeks of traveling, the Irish return to the friendly confines of the Joyce Center with a 4-2 conference record. Providence is 3-4 in the league with a two game losing streak.

Starters for the Friars:

#1 Jeff Xavier- 13.1 PPG, 2.1 APG, 36.8% 3-PT
#13 Weyinmi Efejuku- 11.7 PPG, 2.5 APG, 33.9%
#23 Brian McKenzie- 11.7 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 44.2%
#5 Dwain Williams- 11.0 PPG, 39.8%
#11 Geoff McDermott- 10.9 PPG, 8.5 RPG

Bench-

#32 Randall Hanke- (the starting center in name only, has only played 6 minutes the past two contests and averages 13.6 a game)- 6.9 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 13.6 MPG
#34 Jonathan Kale- 5.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 15.9 MPG
#15 Jamine Peterson- Freshman- 5.4 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 11.2 MPG
#33 Charles Burch- 1.8 PPG, 1.6 RPG, 12.2 MPG

McDermott (at 6'8") is the only key player taller than 6'5". Hanke is 6'11". McKenzie is a very good three point shooter, but no other player on the Providence roster shoots over 40%.

The Friars have certainly fallen from their early high rankings after playing a solid nonconference schedule. They beat #18 Arkansas and a decent Boston College team on the road. Their loss to Marquette at the Bradley Center was even worse than ours. The Irish should certainly expect a win tomorrow and look to extend the streak.

EDIT: For some more info on the Providence team, check out www.blackpadres.com. They were kind enough to post a link to here over on that blog, so I will do the same.