After an 0-3 trip to the Battle 4 Atlantis last week, Providence returns home to begin an important week with a Tuesday night date against BYU in the Big 12-Big East Battle.
The Friars (5-3) opened the season with five straight home wins but fell to Oklahoma, Davidson and Indiana during their stay in the Bahamas.
The Tuesday matchup begins a key stretch for second-year coach Kim English’s Friars — a visit to rival Rhode Island (Saturday) and the Big East opener at DePaul (Dec. 10) follow.
“It was obviously a difficult, disappointing trip for us,” English said. “We’ve gotta get back and regroup. We’ve gotta get back to the basics.”
English believed his Friars showed offensive improvement in their final game in Nassau. Although Providence lost 89-73 to Indiana, Jayden Pierre (13.1 points per game) netted a career-high 22 points and sank five of the team’s 10 3-pointers.
The season debut of Bryce Hopkins, recovering from an ACL injury, could come on Tuesday, though the Preseason All-Big East honoree did not see any action in the Bahamas after he was slated to be a game-time decision last Wednesday.
“Obviously who we are without Bryce is a bit different than who we are with him, but even without him who we are should stand true,” English said. “We’re still trying to find that rotation. We feel we’re a little bit closer to it.”
BYU (6-1) is coming off a 72-61 win over North Carolina State on Friday in the third-place game of the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego. The Cougars took their first loss, 96-85 in overtime, to Ole Miss a day earlier.
BYU is set to play its first road true game of the season at Providence.
Against the Wolfpack, Richie Saunders scored 13 points as the Cougars sank double-digit 3-pointers for the sixth time in seven games. BYU amassed 17 assists on 25 total made field goals on Friday.
“Really unselfish group,” Cougars coach Kevin Young said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can make baskets. When we’re sharing the ball, we are really hard to stop.”
Egor Demin, a 6-foot-9 freshman who already has been a two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, had a team-high four assists while posting eight points and 11 rebounds against NC State.
“Demin affects the game in so many ways,” Young said. “I think you forget, because he plays as a guard, you forget how long he is.”
