Providence basketball coach Ed Cooley knows Friars still have work to do. Here's what he said
PROVIDENCE — Thanksgiving morning will begin with Ed Cooley and his players on their campus practice floor.
Turkey and all the fixings will wait. Providence remains in search of something approaching a cohesive unit, and Wednesday night’s meeting with Merrimack didn’t do much to advance the cause.
The Friars rode their considerable advantages in length and strength to what felt like an inevitable victory at Amica Insurance Pavilion. Nothing short of a catastrophe would have prevented this 71-57 stroll past the Warriors. More difficult opposition could better expose the areas Providence needs to improve – two weekend losses to Miami and Saint Louis provided perfect examples.
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“I thought we’d be at a better place as far as continuity and chemistry,” Cooley said. “But if we’re being real and open and honest, we’ve still got some work to do.
“It’s a reason why we scheduled the way we scheduled. We’ve been doing it too long to think poof, it’s going to happen overnight. Let’s be positive with it. Let’s understand change is hard for everybody with the expectations on our organization – and we should have high expectations.”
Devin Carter’s final line speaks generally to where the Friars (4-2) find themselves at the moment. You love the 12 points, 10 rebounds, 5-for-8 shooting and plus-17 rating in 34 minutes. But the seven turnovers – half of his team’s final total of 14 – hindered at times what could have been a cleaner effort.
Those are the fine margins in which Cooley hopes to make incremental improvements. The next chance comes Saturday against Columbia, another team that figures to have difficulty matching up with Providence's overall talent level. Let’s take a look at this result against Merrimack (1-5) with respect to the bigger picture.
Merrimack would not go away easily
The Friars could never fully shake one of the projected contenders in the Northeast Conference.
Ziggy Reid’s 3-pointer with 8:17 to play made this a 55-48 game, and the announced crowd of 8,269 fans on hand was doing its fair share of grumbling. Providence eventually pushed the advantage to double digits for good on a driving layup by Bryce Hopkins.
Ed Croswell closed with 17 points and seven rebounds, helping the Friars to a 50-18 gap on points in the paint. Providence dominated the glass overall to the tune of 43-21 and grabbed 16 offensive rebounds – those translated to a 14-3 advantage on second-chance points. That’s what a Big East roster is supposed to do in circumstances like these.
“We didn’t have a lot of energy out there today, which I was disappointed with,” Cooley said. “Some turnovers. It wasn’t what I thought.”
The Friars seemed to have a window late in the first half to make this one a blowout. Croswell’s putback in the lane and bucket off an assist from Jared Bynum capped a 10-0 run, and Providence enjoyed a 35-21 advantage. A turnover out of a timeout on the final possession led to a Javon Bennett layup the other way, and the Friars settled for an 11-point lead at the break.
“Most of the time you do get carryover,” Cooley said. “I don’t know. Again, there are so many new pieces, new game attitudes – and I’m not saying they’re bad attitudes. We’ve just got to try to bring them all together.”
Friars rely on 9-man rotation
Providence stuck with a nine-man rotation in this one.
Alyn Breed was first off the bench and played 18 minutes as a reserve guard. He didn’t see action in Sunday’s 76-73 loss to the Billikens, snapping a 53-game appearance string dating to December 2020.
Corey Floyd Jr. was left out this time via coach’s decision. The transfer guard from Connecticut logged a season-high 14 minutes against Saint Louis, playing in his fourth straight game. Floyd finished with five points, an assist and a turnover in that finale of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament.
“It’s just very difficult to play a 10-person rotation,” Cooley said. “The biggest thing we’re dealing with here is rotation – how do we get to that rotation. And most of the time early in the season we try to give everybody an opportunity before we get to the meat and potatoes of our schedule.
“Everybody has an opportunity. Put stuff on tape. And then little by little we wriggle that down to the number you need to be successful.”
Cooley’s answer to a following question implied there are ongoing conversations with players at the back end of his roster regarding consistent playing time. Hopkins, Carter, Bynum, Croswell and Noah Locke are the only current Friars on the floor more than 58% of the time.
“You’ve got to keep yourself in the game by doing things that make us want to put you back in there,” Cooley said. “And again, I’m not always correct. Maybe we should have played somebody different.
“We won the game and we’ll move forward. Let’s try to get better. It’s going to be a moving target with this group every single game until we know who we are. We don’t know who we are yet.”
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
MERRIMACK (57): Derkack 1-5 2-2 4, Derring 3-5 0-0 8, McKoy 0-4 0-0 0, Stinson 3-6 0-0 7, Reid 7-14 4-4 21, Bennett 4-12 1-2 11, Savage 2-6 0-0 6, Etumnu 0-0 0-0 0, Filchner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-52 7-8 57. PROVIDENCE (71): Croswell 7-10 3-4 17, Hopkins 5-15 3-5 13, Bynum 2-3 0-0 5, Carter 5-8 2-3 12, Locke 6-12 0-0 14, Breed 1-2 2-2 4, Pierre 1-4 0-0 2, Moore 2-5 0-0 4, Castro 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-60 10-14 71.Halftime_Providence 37-26. 3-Point Goals_Merrimack 10-23 (Reid 3-5, Derring 2-3, Savage 2-4, Bennett 2-6, Stinson 1-1, Derkack 0-1, McKoy 0-3), Providence 3-11 (Locke 2-6, Bynum 1-1, Carter 0-1, Hopkins 0-3). Rebounds_Merrimack 18 (Derkack 10), Providence 39 (Carter 10). Assists_Merrimack 10 (McKoy, Stinson 3), Providence 18 (Bynum 6). Total Fouls_Merrimack 14, Providence 12. A_8,269 (12,410).
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence basketball coach Ed Cooley knows Friars have work to do
