Player Preview: Cole Hargrove will bring grit to the Friar frontcourt
After barely playing for two years, Hargrove broke out as a junior at Drexel. Previewing what's ahead for the senior big man at Providence.
Expectations were relatively low for Cole Hargrove entering his junior season at Drexel. The 6’8, 245 pound big man played less than five minutes a night through the first two seasons of his college career — years spent primarily backing up star center Amari Williams.
Williams left a significant void behind when he departed Drexel for Kentucky. He was three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year, and showed well enough at UK for Brad Stevens and the Celtics to take a shot on him in last year’s NBA Draft.
Hargrove stepped in ably, however, helping lead Drexel to 18 wins — their second highest total since 2012.
A dirty work big man, he’ll be asked to help solidify the center spot at Providence (where the Friars didn’t get the type of production they’d bargained for outside of the emergence of young center Oswin Erhunmwunse last year).
Erhunmwunse returns for his sophomore season, and has the talent to emerge as one of the breakout players in the league after being named Big East All-Freshman last year. But there’s a ceiling on teams with just one legitimate big man, and Hargrove brings characteristics that were missing from PC’s other centers last season.
Breaking Down Cole Hargrove:
On paper, Hargrove is about as different as it gets from the massive Christ Essandoko and Anton Bonke. Essandoko was listed as 7 feet and 290 pounds, while Bonke was simply an enormous human being at 7’2.
Essandoko struggled from opening night and never found his footing, while Bonke was a long-term project who spent the year drinking from a firehose.
Providence looks to have gone away from the bigger, more lumbering big men, giving up size for mobility.
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One of the biggest questions facing Hargrove this season will be his size at 6’8, but he’s far more capable of holding his own when switching or hedging on pick and rolls than last year’s departed bigs. This could offer the coaching staff more options on the defensive end following a season in which they leaned heavily on drop coverage.
And while he’s not the supremely bouncy athlete that Erhunmwunse is, Hargrove gets off the floor well and blocks shots with both hands. A right-handed shooter, he’s a natural blocking shots with the left.
He blocked 1.8 shots per game in 32 minutes a night last season, and Drexel’s Net Rating was +11.9 when Hargrove was on the floor, so he was obviously key to any success.
Hargrove held up pretty well as a post defender (58th percentile), while his block percentage (6.2%) ranked just outside of the top 100 nationally.
Offensively, Hargrove broke out a bit last season, after taking just 30 field goal attempts combined during his freshman and sophomore seasons.
He averaged 9.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game on 58% shooting from the floor, 68% at the free throw line, and 20% from three (where he spotted up from occasionally).
His 7.6 paint points per game ranked in the 89th percentile in the country. Almost 80% of his field goal attempts came in the paint, and he shot 76% at the rim (the national average is 62.3%). Hargrove found his way out to the perimeter at times, but this is primarily a player who lived inside.
Hargrove scored 1.101 points per possession last year — a great number that ranked in the 92nd percentile in the country. He ranked in the 80th percentile in post-up scoring (on 75 possessions) and 82nd as a roll man on pick and rolls.
A non-shooter last year, he went just 8-41 (19%) on jumpers.
Hargrove could also bring offensive rebounding punch to PC, as he averaged 3.0 offensive boards a game. He ranked #160 in the country in Offensive Rebound Percentage.
His season highs included 15 rebounds against La Salle, four blocks (in four different games), and 19 points (which he had three times).
How does Hargrove fit in at Providence this year?
The biggest questions regarding Hargrove surround his size and the jump from the CAA to the Big East.
Ideally, he’ll allow Providence to do more with their big men defensively. He moves well laterally. When compared to Essandoko and Bonke, he’ll bring a more ready-made physical presence and a measure of experience to the frontcourt. Hargrove is shorter than those two, but he’s in tremendous condition. In one game I watched, the color man joked that Hargrove “might have one percent body fat.”
He had 12 games of three (or more) blocks, and has some impressive tape as a rim protector:
Offensively, Hargrove could give this team a lift by creating extra possessions off the bench (much like Ed Croswell in 2022), while Friar fans may be surprised by his ability to pass. He can pass with both hands, and has potential to make plays for PC’s shooters by finding them off short rolls in the pick and roll game.
Hargrove had 57 assists last season. To put that in perspective, that number matches Corey Floyd’s total, while terrific passing big man Josh Oduro had 68 two seasons ago. Here’s a look:
Transfer Tape: Hargrove versus Temple
Here’s a look at Hargrove in a 15-point, 12-rebound effort against Temple (featuring old friend Quante Berry).
We also had transfer tape articles on him earlier in the offseason against Elon and Towson in the CAA tournament.
The Bottom Line:
Kim English toyed with the idea of playing Bryce Hopkins at the five (before his injuries), so it’s natural to wonder if he’ll look into a lineup with shooting big man Duncan Powell at the five in spurts. If that’s an effective look, it could impact Hargrove’s playing time, but Hargrove seems like a high-floor big man who rarely turned the ball over and will do the blue collar things that Friartown loves.
Hargrove steps into a good situation at Providence. If he brings energy, consistency, and physicality he’ll have done his job.
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