LINKS: Georgetown Opens Conference Play at Providence

The Georgetown Hoyas travel to Rhode Island to face the Providence Friars on Tuesday, December 31, 2019 at 5:30 PM as their opening game in the 2019-2020 BIG EAST Conference.

The Friars beat the Texas Longhorns last week, holding them to just 48 points in their own gym.

Here are the links:

Hoyas Open BIG EAST Play at Providence | GUHOYAS.COM

Providence comes in with a 7-6 overall record, most recently defeating Texas 70-48 on Dec. 21 at the Barclays Center.

The Friars average 72.7 ppg, while allowing opponents to score 65.6 ppg. They are second in the BIG EAST with 9.8 spg.

Alpha Diallo leads Providence in both scoring (14.1 ppg) and rebounding (9.2 rpg), and also has team highs of 27 steals and 11 blocks. David Duke (12.3 ppg) and Nate Watson (10.0 ppg) round out those in double figures...

Tuesday will be the 75th all-time meeting between the longtime conference rivals with the Hoyas holding a 46-28 series advantage. Georgetown won both matchups last season, which snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Friars.

Friars to host Hoyas in Big East opener | PROVIDENCEJOURNAL

“We’ve played more like a team. Sometimes less is more,” Ewing said. “Losing four significant parts of our team has galvanized our guys and they’re trying to pick up the slack for what we’ve lost.”

Cooley says Yurtseven, a 7-foot transfer from North Carolina State, “is as skilled as any big man there is in the country,” and noted that guards like McClung “know what their roles are now and are playing with a lot of confidence.”

Men’s Basketball Game Notes vs. Georgetown | FRIARS.COM

Senior forward Alpha Diallo (New York, N.Y.) is averaging 14.1 points and 9.2 rebounds through 13 games this season. He leads the team in scoring and rebounding. Diallo has posted a double-double in six of the Friars’ 13 games, including a 14-points, 12-rebound effort versus Texas on December 21. On December 17, he scored 20 point and grabbed 12 rebounds versus Florida. He had 19 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks, three steals and three assists in a 106-60 win over Sacred Heart on November 5. On November 9, he recorded 15 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and three steals in a 76-47 victory over NJIT. Diallo recorded his third consecutive double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds in a loss at Northwestern on November 13...

Longhorns embarrassed in 22-point loss to Providence | Fansided.com

Texas was dominated from the opening tip-off by the Friars. Providence went into halftime with a 43-28 lead. They even won the second half by a score of 27-20. Smart never saw his team get going consistently. Their offensive woes also kept in this game, as Providence held Texas to a dreary 31.7 percent shooting from the field and an even worse 14.3 percent from beyond the arc.

The solid defense that the Longhorns are known for didn’t stick in this game either. The Friars only turned the ball over 11 times, compared to 13 from the usually stout Longhorns. And Providence shot better than 38 percent from three-point range, which was a real killer for Texas.

Florida Trounces Providence in Brooklyn | Friar Basketball.com

A Providence season that was off to a bad start took a turn for the worse on Tuesday night when Florida ripped the Friars, 83-51, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The numbers tell the entire story.

Providence shot 25% from the field, made one of the 18 3-pointers they attempted (5.6%), and missed 14 of 34 from the free throw line. PC found a way to trail by 15 at halftime, despite taking 21 free throws in the opening 20 minutes. That’s bound to happen when you miss nine of those free throw attempts, all nine 3-pointers you hoist, and shoot an unthinkable 5-28 from the field.

Mac McClung stands front and center as thriving Georgetown enters Big East play | Ava Wallace/The Washington Post

Lately, McClung also looks more like the fun-loving guard who thrilled Georgetown fans as a freshman with his dunks and trick passes. Georgetown’s improved spacing on offense suits him well, and he has heaped praise on Allen as a pass-first point guard...

“It’s hard being inside and then looking outside like Coach is, watching,” he said. “But I could definitely feel it the last few games, after listening to Coach. I feel like everybody could see it, and we felt it as a team. We felt more connected, putting the we before me, and it got us two wins. . . . I found a little bit of a rhythm, and I expect myself to keep the rhythm, for sure.”

Hoop Thoughts: Why refs were told to call more fouls, my holiday mailbag, top 25 and more | The Athletic

However, another trend line has emerged that is unexpected and problematic: Refs are calling fewer fouls. And the number fell steadily, from 17.9 per game in the opening week to 16.8 during the week ending Dec. 15...

That was enough of a concern that the chairmen of the men’s basketball committee, the competition committee and the rules committee distributed a joint memo by email on Dec. 20 to coaches, commissioners, officiating coordinators and referees across the sport, sending a clear message that the rules needed to be enforced more strictly. Translation: Call more fouls. The NCAA has worked hard over the last several years to re-establish freedom of movement in order to reverse a scoring death spiral that had been gathering for a couple of decades.