Friartown Remains Rhode Island’s College Basketball Capital

Billy Ricci writes about how Rhode Island basketball still runs through Providence.

134 times. The men’s basketball programs at Providence College and the University of Rhode Island have squared off against one another 134 times in what I like to call “The Battle for Rhode Island.”

The Friars took care of business on Saturday with an 88-74 win thirty miles south of Providence at the Ryan Center, and now PC is 76-58 all-time against the “Running Rams.” Much like the final score of Saturday’s game, and as the all-time record of the series portrays, PC continues to be a step above its competition in the ocean state — well mostly…

In each of the last five meetings prior to Saturday between Rhode Island’s most storied college basketball programs, the home team had taken the win. And since the Ryan Center opened its doors back in 2002, the Rams are 6-4 at home against our Providence College Friars. Ed Cooley even admitted maybe he hadn’t given the rivalry as much credit as he should have in the past on a zoom prior to the game on Saturday. But, the Friars backed up Cooley’s past claims on Saturday that for us “It’s just another game” whereas for URI the matchup represents something much more. Sorry URI, but Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry will not be sitting courtside come the start of A-10 play on Jan. 4 against Fordham.

Saturday’s game began at a rapid pace, and seeing some early threes go down for both Jared Bynum and Noah Locke was encouraging, but for a team that has had its struggles scoring the basketball, URI took the first round 14-11 at the first media timeout. The Friars were actually down on the boards as well until Bryce Hopkins stepped in and started being as aggressive as we have seen him this year. When Abdou Samb and Josaphat Bilau of URI were forced to sit with two fouls a piece, the Friars attacked inside, and Clif Moore was huge in his minutes, efficiently scoring the basketball both inside and out. The Friars scored 13 points off turnovers and ended the first half on a 17-2 run, the score of 43-27 was just enough for the Friars to feel comfortable going into the second half. 

The second half did see the Friars get outscored by the Rams, and yield a 48% field goal percentage, but PC played about as tough and strong-willed as we have seen them all season. Bynum looked much more comfortable, and appeared almost relieved as he knocked down another three in the second half. Ed Croswell really came alive and matched his fellow big Clif Moore in putting in five field goals to pair with his 6 boards. 

Off the bench, Alyn Breed stole the show and was 4-4 in a key second half stretch in which he scored nine points. Breed looked about as in-tune as we have seen him since his stretches of success last season. Breed and Carter looked a step ahead defensively, especially against Ish Leggett, URI’s best player and leading scorer. 

A handful of good Friar team’s have gone into Kingston and not completed the objective in recent years, but this group can now say it snapped the streak with a win in South County — PC’s first win down there since 2015.

Remembering URI is 2-6 and clearly rebuilding these days, the key takeaways for me are that we saw what this offense can be when Bynum is not pressing and Locke was able to put in some in threes early. Hopkins has far from shown us what he is fully capable of, but to see him be so aggressive, at points grabbing multiple boards in a possession and absorbing contact, was exactly what the doctor ordered in a hostile environment. PC is starting to figure out how Croswell and Moore can be two of the more efficient big men field goal percentage-wise in the country, and how to continue to play both in relief of each other and together. 

And then there is Devin Carter. With his dad courtside, Carter didn’t have his best game shooting-wise, but his intensity and that steal-run-out-dunk where he walked back up the court right in front of the URI bench is everything this team needs right now. There are some pieces really falling into place for the Friars on the offensive end, but with this team defense still a little bit of concern. I am curious to see how much we see of Breed and his defensive prowess moving forward. 

To close here, with Brown’s recent win over Bryant, and Jared Grasso shrugging at Jim Boheim after Bryant’s one-point win over Cuse on Nov. 26, there has been a lot of talk around Rhode Island about how there aren’t just two teams in our small state. With all due respect to those programs, Ed Cooley is now 9-3 vs. URI, 5-2 vs. Brown and 3-0 vs. Bryant, so until further notice Rhode Island college basketball still proudly runs through the west side of Providence.