Huge opportunity awaits Friars

Sellout crowd at Dunk should help PC as conference kingpin Villanova visits

PROVIDENCE – When you’re a program that’s looking to right the ship after dropping back-to-back games on the road, you can’t help but hear the loud knock of opportunity like the one that awaits the Providence Friars Saturday afternoon (1 p.m. tipoff).

Home game, national television audience – it’s not every day you land an appearance on a big-boy, non-cable network in CBS – plus the chance to make a statement against the program that’s pretty much been calling all the shots during this Big East reconfigured era. The Dunkin’ Donuts Center crowd has fulfilled their end of the bargain as all available 12,410 tickets are accounted for.

Now, the onus is on PC to deliver what would be (insert the adjective that you believe best encapsulates the moment-at-hand) win with Villanova serving as the opposition.

“We’re always ready for a tough game at The Dunk,” said Villanova coach Jay Wright during Thursday’s Big East conference call.

The Friars did not pass their initial test of the season against a Top-10 Big East opponent at home; then-No. 6 Butler came to the Dunk three Fridays ago and came away with a 12-point win. If you own a glass-is-half-full outlook, you undoubtedly have the mindset that PC has a prime chance to author a script that would be the polar opposition of the Butler game with the ninth-ranked Wildcats supplying the opposition.

For those with a pessimistic view, you’re gladly pulling out the trump card that denotes the Friars’ recent struggles after starting out 3-0 in league play. In your eyes, now is not a good time to see Villanova on the schedule. Then again, when is it ever a good time to step in the same area as the Wildcats? Since the 2013-14 season, PC has dropped 14 of 16 matchups to Villanova.

With a 10-9 overall record (4-3 Big East) and a NET ranking in the low 80s, the Friars have a garden that needs plenty of tending to in order to be mentioned in the NCAA Tournament discussion. That’s why a win on Saturday over the lords of the Big East holds the promise of catapulting Providence into a softer, more forgiving landscape.

By no means would a loss to Villanova serve as a death knell on the season. It would simply mean the Friars will be kicking the can down the road when it comes to obtaining a signature victory.

As fate would have it, PC’s last win at home against a Top-10 Big East opponent came with Villanova supplying the opposition. On Valentine’s Day in 2018, the Friars knocked off a Wildcat outfit that would go on to claim their second national championship in three years. Just like then, getting past this current ‘Nova outfit will prove to be a tall order.

Winners of five straight and 11 of their last 12 games, Villanova (15-3 overall, 5-1 Big East) has gone from surrendering an average of 69.3 points per game in their first 10 outings to 61.5 ppg in its last eight games. For

b an offensively-challenged team like the Friars, coach Ed Cooley knows a repeat of Wednesday’s 73-64 loss to Seton Hall cannot happen. On the Pirates’ home floor, the rims proved to be most unfriendly to the frosty tune of 36 percent from the field, 17 percent from three.

“I thought we continued to show some inconsistencies offensively and put a lot of pressure on our defense,” said Cooley. “We’ve got a tough game coming up on Saturday against a talented Villanova team. We’ve got to be able to make some shots. Hopefully we can find a rhythm offensivelyp so our defense doesn’t have as much pressure on it.”

Villanova owns a win over thenNo. 1 Kansas and is coming off a 76-61 win over No. 13 Butler thatb saw five of Wright’s players score in double figures and limit the Bulldogsp to 38 percent shooting. The Wildcats feature as potent of a trio you’ll find in Saddiq Bay (15 ppg), Collin Gillespie (14.9 ppg), and Jermaine Samuels (11.4 ppg). Of the 174 threes that Villanova has swished to date, 101 have been off the combined fingertips of the aforementioned three players.