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Providence Battles RutgersFRIARS VERSUS SCARLET KNIGHTS...The two teams have met just four times in the all-time series with all four meetings coming since the Knights joined the BIG EAST for the 1995-96 season. The Friars have won all four meetings, including three last year. The two teams have played just once at the Louis Brown Athletic Center with the Friars winning, 79-74, last February 18th. The Friars have two wins in Providence and one win at Madison Square Garden in the BIG EAST Tournament last March. Today's game is the only regular season scheduled meeting between the two teams. FRIAR UPDATE...The Friars are in the midst of a three-game road trip which started on Wednesday with a 64-54 loss at Miami. Game three is scheduled for Wednesday at Seton Hall. The Friars are in the midst of a four-game losing streak, their longest since January of 1992. Besides the loss to Miami, PC has also lost to West Virginia (81-68), Connecticut (63-56) and Seton Hall (68-56). SCORING SHORT CIRCUIT...The Friars have been held to 60 points or less in five of their last six games. The Friars scored just 56 points in three of those meetings. They were held to a season low 54 points in Wednesday's loss to Miami. The lone win came when the Friars defeated Boston College 58-54 on January 20th. THOMAS TIME...Junior Jamel Thomas has scored in double figures in all 20 of the Friars games this season. He had 15 points and nine rebounds in the loss at Miami on Wednesday night. For the year he is averaging 17.5 points and 6.8 rebounds to lead PC in both categories. Thomas has already registered career highs in free throws (108), free throws attempted (140) and percentage (.771). Thomas has led PC in scoring 12 times and in rebounding eight times on the year. MOORE POINTS...Junior guard Kendrick Moore scored a career high 21 points in PC's loss to Miami. Moore was 9-12 FG, 1-4 3PT and 2-2 FT in recording his career best. Moore scored PC's first 11 points in the second half, keeping the Friars in the game.
BIG EAST FAXBACK ...(201-947-3918) - Allows you to access PC's short notes (1721); PC's full game notes (1722); PC's statistics (1723) or Box scores (1724)\. Also the BIG EAST is on the Internet at www.bigeast.org PROVIDENCE COLLEGE BASKETBALL MONTH BY MONTH (1997-98)...2-1 in November...3-3 in December...3-7 in January...0-1 in February PROVIDENCE...All-time record: 1090-677 (.618) - Best in New England...Home record: 646-206 (.760)...Civic Center record: 322-125 (.724). PROVIDENCE IN BIG EAST...115-182 in regular season and 128-199 overall in 19 seasons ... Eighth all-time in wins and percentage. HOME COOKING...The Friars are 5-6 at home this season after going 12-3 at home last year. The last season the Friars had a losing record at home was the 19984-85 season when they were 5-10 in games at the Civic Center. That was also the last time that PC lost more than six games at home. On the plus side, the Friars are 62-21 (.747) record over the last 83 games at the Providence Civic Center (dating back to January 25, 1993). Over the last five full seasons plus 11 games this year, PC is 69-24 (.742) at the Civic Center. PC is 36-5 (.878) in its last 41 non-conference games in Providence dating back to the start of the 1992-93 season. Two of the losses have come in the NIT (Virginia Tech -1995, St. Joseph's - 1996) and two losses have been to Rhode Island (1992, 1996). The loss to Iona (1/5/98) broke a streak of seven straight wins against non-conference teams. CIVIC CENTER RECORD...PC owns a 322-125 (.724) record at the Providence Civic Center since the building opened in 1972. The Friars recorded their 300th win on January 8, 1996 against Canisius (91-63). INJURED LIST...Junior forward Waleed Driscoll (torn ACL - right knee). Expected to miss the entire 1997-98 season. NAIL BITERS...After losing two close ones in a row to Purdue and Georgetown, PC won its third close (five points or less) game of the year, 58-54, at Boston College (1/20/98). The win improves the Friars to 3-2 in "close" games this season. The Friars are now17-13 in games decided by five points or less in Pete Gillen's four seasons at PC. CAPTAINS...Three juniors will serve as the Friars tri-captains this season. Kendrick Moore, Jamel Thomas and Corey Wright were selected as captains prior to the start of the 1997-98 season. FRIARS IN THE NBA...Providence College currently has seven players in the NBA. They are:
PLAYER SIGNING...Sean Connolly, a 6-4, 190-pound guard from Peabody, Massachusetts and Bishop Fenwick High School has signed a national letter of intent to attend Providence College for the 1998-99 school year. Connolly has scored over 2,000 points in his high school career. FAMOUS RELATIVES...Junior guard/forward Jamel Thomas is the cousin of the Minnesota Timberwolves' Stephon Marbury. WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES...The Friars return just one starter (Jamel Thomas) from last year's Elite Eight and 24-12 team. Gone to graduation are Austin Croshere (Indiana Pacers -12th pick overall), Derrick Brown (Europe), Ruben Garces (recovering from leg surgery) and Jason Murdock (out of basketball). Sophomore guard God Shammgod (Washington Wizards) opted for the NBA Draft where he was selected in the second round by Washington. Those five players accounted for 75.9% of PC's scoring and 68.1% of the Friars rebounding last season. ATTENDANCE MARK...The 1996-97 Friars averaged more fans per game that ever at the Providence Civic Center. PC played 15 home games in front of 165,447 fans for an average of 11,030 per game. The previous best year was 1993-94 when the Friars averaged 10,882 per game. CLASS BY CLASS..This season's Providence College roster features one senior, seven juniors, one sophomore and five freshman. FRIAR FIRSTS...PC's loss to URI marked just the first time since the 1980-81 seasons that the Friars had lost two in a row to the Rams....The loss to URI dropped PC to 2-3 on the year marking the first time that the Friars have been below .500 in Pete Gillen's four seasons at Providence. FRIARS VS. RANKED TEAMS....The Friars are 1-5 this season in games against ranked teams after losing a 63-56 game to #9/#8 Connecticut on January 27, 1998. PC has now lost to: then #11- Utah (64-58), #7 Purdue (81-79), #18 Syracuse (77-59), and #21 West Virginia. PC's lone win against a ranked team came on January 13th at #15 Syracuse by a 76-64 margin.
BOARD GAMES...The University of Miami won the battle of the boards Wednesday night by a 41-31 margin marking the fifth time in the last six games that PC has been beaten on the boards. After losing the battle of the boards in four straight games, the Friars outrebounded Seton Hall by a 37-30 margin. In the previous four games, the opponents had outrebounded PC by a 141-103 margin. The Friars have won twice when they were outrebounded and are 2-7 in games that the opposition has won the battle of the boards. Overall, the Friars have won the battle of the boards ten times and are 6-4 in those games. Here is the Friars versus their opponents on the boards through 20games. PC has been out rebounded in eight of its 12 losses (Utah, URI, Purdue, Georgetown, St. John's, West Virginia, UConn and Miami) by a 310-179 margin.
DOUBLE-DOUBLES....Friars with double-doubles this season:
ON THE LINE....Freshman guard John Linehan saw his streak of 35 consecutive free throws snapped against Connecticut. After missing his first of the game, he made three in a row. Linehan has now made 38 of his last 41 and 40 of 44 (.909) on the season. In BIG EAST games, Linehan has made 26 of 29 (.897) on the year. DOUBLE FIGURES...Junior swingman Jamel Thomas is the lone Friar to score in double figures in every game this season. Thomas has scored 335 points in 19 games for a 17.6 ppg average. Versus Syracuse he became the 34th player in PC history to go over 1,000 points in his career. Here's where he stands on the all-time scoring list:
FOR STARTERS.....The Friars entered the 1997-98 season with just two players who had ever started a college basketball game. Jamel Thomas had 33 starts last season and Corey Wright had three in 1996-97. Ben Perkins, John Linehan and Llewellyn Cole all made their first starts in PC's win over Vemont. Kendrick Moore and T.J. McKenzie made their first career starts in the Great Eight Tournament against Utah. Erron Maxey made his first two starts against Cleveland State and Georgetown. MORE JAMEL....Thomas picked up his fourth double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds versus Iona. That's the seventh double-double of his career. DEFENSE... The 33 points that Providence held Brown to on November 25th were the fewest given up by the Friars since December 5, 1992 when PC defeated New Hampshire, 56-27. Brown scored 13 points in the second half. In the 12/5/92 game against UNH, the Wildcats were held to just 12 points in the first half. MAXEY EFFORTS...Freshman Erron Maxey (Lake Elsinore, Cal.) picked up his first career double-double against Iona with 11 points and 12 rebounds in a career high 31 minutes. Maxey had started six games in a row until the January 17 game against St. John's. In three early games this season, he scored more points than minutes played. Versus Brown, in nine minutes, Maxey scored 11 points with three rebounds. Against Boston College, Maxey came in off the bench to spark the Friars. In 13 minutes against Boston College he had 12 points and, against Loyola Marymount, he scored 19 points in 17 minutes. In the three game span, over 39 minutes, Maxey scored 42 points. MORE MAXEY...Erron Maxey had the best BIG EAST game of his young career against Connecticut. The Elsinore, California native scored 16 points and added five rebounds to help keep the Friars close in the game. He and Jamel Thomas combined for 42 of PC's 56 points. FRIARS IN SEASON OPENERS..... Providence is now 63-8 overall in season opening games. When that season opening game is at home, PC is 49-3 and the record is 14-5 when the first game occurs on the road. In home openers, the Friars are 66-5 all-time. Providence has now won four season openers in a row. The Friars have now won 13 straight home openers dating back to November 29, 1984 when they lost a 70-67 decision to Assumption at the Civic Center. BIG EAST OPENERS...PC's game against Boston College marked just the fifth time in 19 years that PC opened the BIG EAST schedule at home. With the loss to Boston College, the Friars have now lost eight straight BIG EAST openers. The last time PC won was in December of 1989 when they beat Boston College at home. That was also the last time the Friars opened the league schedule in Providence. PC is now 8-11 overall in home openers and 3-16 overall in season opening games. TRANSFER NIGHT...PC's two transfer players carried the scoring load for PC in the win over Pittsburgh (1/10/98). Kendrick Moore (Missouri) and Justin Farley (Evansville) combined for 37 points in the Pittsburgh win. Moore had a career high 19 points and Farley added 18 while pulling down a PC game high seven rebounds. Both players are in their first year of playing for Providence. LAST MAAC LOSS...The last time that Providence had lost to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference team was November 30, 1988 when the Friars lost a 99-98 decision at Holy Cross. Since that time, PC has gone 5-0 against teams from the MAAC. PC VERSUS THE BIG 10...The Friars loss to Purdue (81-79) snapped a two-game PC winning streak against the BIG 10. The Friars had won two in a row against Wisconsin (1995 and 1996). PC is now 10-12 all-time against teams from the BIG 10. ROSTER CHANGES...Sophomore center Ndongo N'Diaye (Dakar, Senegal) and sophomore forward Kofi Pointer (Baltimore, Md.) have decided to transfer at the end of the fall semester (December 19). N'Diaye has decided to attend the University of Delaware and Pointer will attend Coppin State. THE WRIGHT STUFF...Junior point guard, Corey Wright came to life against Loyola Marymount as he equalled a career high for scoring with 11 points. Wright also had five steals in that game, a figure he matched in the win over Cleveland State six days later. SHOOTING WOES...For just the third time this season, the Friars shot better than 50% from the floor in the Pittsburgh game. The Friars made 28-54 for a 51.9% shooting percentage. When PC makes more than half its shots, the Friars are 3-0. Against Iona, PC shot just three-for-22 (13.6%) from the floor in the second half. For the game, PC shot just 32.7%. Against Syracuse, the Friars shot five-for-26 (19.2%) in the first half and finished the game with a 17-59 mark (28.8%). The 19.2% shooting is a PC record for a low half as well as a BIG EAST record. The previous PC record was eight-for-32 (25.0%) against Georgetown on March 9, 1991. BEST THIS SEASON...PC shot a season high 52.1% (25-48) in the win over Cleveland State. MAKING A PASS...PC guards Kendrick Moore and Corey Wright combined for 13 of the Friars' 20 assists in the loss to Purdue. For Moore, his game high seven were also a career best. Wright dished out six helpers which was a season high for him and equalled his career best. MORE ON MOORE...Junior guard Kendrick Moore scored a career high 21 points at Miami. That game came on the heels of a strong performance against Seton Hall where he had 11 points, six rebounds and six assists in the loss to Seton Hall. In his last 13 games, Moore is averaging 11.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists while shooting 49-for-97 (50.5%) from the floor and 12 of 33 (37.9%) from the three point line. Against Pittsburgh, Moore led the Friars with 19 points, including 17 in the first half. BAD NIGHT...The Friars 18-point loss to Syracuse on January 7th was PC's worse home loss since a 20-point (82-62) loss to St. Joseph's in the 1996 NIT Tournament. The worse loss in Pete Gillen's four years at Providence came on February 8, 1995, a 100-76 loss at Syracuse. FRIARS AND THE RANKED...There are currently six teams (eight games) ranked in the top 25 by the Associated Press that the Friars have faced or will face at sometime this season. PC's schedule includes Utah (#5), Connecticut (#7) for two games, Purdue (#8), West Virginia (#15), Syracuse (#17) for two games, and Rhode Island (#23). Six of Providence's 12 losses have come to nationally-ranked teams - Utah (64-58), URI (69-58), Purdue (81-79), Syracuse (77-59), West Virginia (81-63) and Connecticut (63-56). TURNOVERS...The Friars forced the University of Pittsburgh into a season high 27 turnovers on January 10th. Panther guard Vonteego Cummings set a BIG EAST record in that game by making 12 turnovers. The 12 turnovers were the most ever by an opponent against the Friars. NO EX'CUSES...Providence has had its share of problems in the all-time series against Syracuse. PC has now won just twice at the Carrier Dome (2-15) and is just 7-34 in the all-time series. GREAT START...The Friars used an 18-0 start at the beginning of the game to get off to a fast start against the Orangemen. The 18-0 run is the Friars biggest uninterrupted run this season. PC made its first six shots to start the game and eight of its first ten for the 18-0 lead. Syracuse got its first basket with 14:01 left in the first half. SUPERPEST...PC guard John Linehan is gaining the reputation of a top notch defender. So far this season he has taken on two of the BIG EAST's best players and shut them down. On January 10, against Pittsburgh, Linehan held Pitt's Vonteego Cummings to 11 points and helped force him into a BIG EAST record 12 turnovers. On Tuesday, January 13, Linehan (5-9) guarded Todd Burgan (6-7) most of the game and held him to 10 points. Against Pitt, Linehan had a career high nine steals and added four more against Syracuse. He also had a career high eight assists in the win at Syracuse. ST. JOHN'S LOWDOWN...The 56 points that the Friars scored versus St. John's was a season low as were the 16 fieldgoals and the 24 rebounds equalled a season low set against Utah. On the other hand, Felipe Lopez' 27 points was the most by any player against the Friars this season as were his ten field goals. The loss to the Red Storm snapped a four-game PC winning streak against St. John's. COME BACK KIDS...The Friars rallied from a 12-point second half deficit to defeat Boston College, 58-54. That was the biggest deficit that the Friars have rallied from this season. The previous best was an eight-point deficit at Canisius. FREE THROW TIME...The Friars were 9-for-9 in the second half from the free throw line against Boston College. All nine free throws came in the last six minutes. During that same time period, the Eagles were just two-for-four from the line. BENCH STRENGTH...Llewellyn Cole and Erron Maxey came off the bench to combine for 25 points and 16 rebounds in PC's win over Boston College. Cole equalled a career high with 15 points and nine rebounds. Maxey scored ten points and added six rebounds. Both players set career highs for shots taken as Cole tried 14 and Maxey tried 12. JAMEL FOR THREE...Jamel Thomas converted on four of nine three point attempts against Boston College. The four threes are the most by any Friar this season. SCORING DROUGHT'S...The Friars went the first five minutes of the second half against Boston College without scoring. The Eagles led 35-31 at the half and opened a 43-31 lead before PC would score...With 9:48 left in the game, PC trailed Boston College, 50-40. The Friars would outscore the Eagles, 18-4 the rest of the way, holding the Eagles to one basket and two free throws over the final 9:48. NIGHT AND DAY....PC opened the West Virginia game by making its first six shots. PC ended the half shooting 52% on 13 for 25 attempts. In the second half, the Friars shot just 34.6% making only nine of 26 shots. For the game, PC shot 43.1% (22-51). Meanwhile, West Virginia shot 73.1% in the second half and 61.1 % (33-54) for the game. PREDATOR PIRATES...The Seton Hall Pirates have the Friars number in recent years. The Hall has now won four in a row in the all-time series and 10 of the last 13 meetings. LOSING SKID...The Friars are in the midst of a four-game losing streak. The last time that PClost four in a row was back in 1992 from 1/4/92 to 1/14/92. That was the first four games of a six game losing streak. The Friars have not been four games under .500 since the 1987-88 season when they finished the year at 11-17. BOMBS AWAY...Seton Hall connected on a season high ten three-pointers in the 68-56 win over Providence on Sunday. Friar killer, LevellSanders led the way with five in the game, also an individual season high against the Friars. NO FUN IN THE SUN...The sun has very seldom shined on the Friars in Miami against the Hurricanes. Wednesday's loss to the Hurricanes (64-54) was PC's third straight loss in the series and the fourth straight loss at Miami. PC has not won at Miami since 1994. The Friars play the Hurricanes in Providence on February 18th. SELLOUT....PC recorded its first sellout crowd (12,993) of the season in the loss to Seton Hall. For the year, the Friars are averaging 10,152 per game. CONGRATS...Providence College basketball coach, Pete Gillen, and the 1996-97 PC men's basketball team will be honored by Words Unlimited - the Rhode Island organization of sportswriters, sportscasters and publicists - on Sunday, February 1 at the Radisson Hotel in Warwick. Gillen was selected as teh organization's Coach of the Year for taking the Friars to the Elite Eight. The Friars' team was selected as Words Unlimited's "Team of the Year" for their exciting 1996-97 season and run in the NCAA Tournament. BIG EAST TICKETS...Tickets for the BIG EAST Tournament can be ordered through the Providence College Ticket Office. The cost of the package for the March 4-7 Tournament is $200.00 plus a $10 handling fee per order. For information on the BIG EAST Tournament tickets call 865-GOPC (4672) or stop in the Alumni Hall Ticket Office to fill out an order form. Mastercard and Visa accepted. Tickets will be mailed prior to the BIG EAST Tournament. YOUTH WILL BE SERVED The Friars open the 1997-98 season with one of the youngest and most inexperi -enced teams in the nation. The lone senior is a four-year walk-on. Jamel Thomas (33) and Corey Wright (3) are the only returning players to start games last year. Here is a look at the games played by members of this year's team: PRESEASON HYPE
Junior guard/forward Jamel Thomas is the Friars' top returning player and has already caught the eye of the national media.
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