3 Things We Learned: Providence 69 Creighton 80

The look ahead to next season has officially begun

It is a story that has become all too familiar in Friartown this season. Kim English’s crew is more than capable of playing a competitive 35 minutes against vastly more talented teams, but the final 5-8 minutes has repeatedly doomed this team this season, and it did against Wednesday night in the annual Pinkout game. To my eye this one was pretty straightforward, Providence simply ran out of gas. With Jabri Abdur-Rahim out for the season due to a knee injury suffered in the St John’s game, Providence was down to just 9 regular rotation players, and none of them stood a chance against Ryan Kalkbrenner who finished with 35 points (13-23 FG, 2-5 3PT, 7-10 FT), 12 rebounds and 3 steals. The Friars lack of top end talent (and depth) was hard to ignore in crunch time as Providence was held scoreless for the final 3 minutes and 41 seconds of game time. You read that right, it was 74-69 with 3:41 left on the clock and the Friars did not score again. If that doesn’t sum of the season I’m not sure what does.

Here’s 3 things we learned from an undermanned Providence’s loss against Creighton.

1. Ryan Mela is feeling Kim English’s influence on offense.

   Here’s a stat I had to look up twice to make sure was true. Ryan Mela has attempted more 3s in the last 6 games (9 attempts) than he did in the first 15 games combined (8 attempts. I’m not sure what was said or when it happened, but it’s clear that the coaching staff has been in Mela’s ear recently to try and get him to expand his range to beyond the 3 point line. In a lost season, that is exactly the right approach. One of the biggest determining factors in how successful next year’s Providence team can be is the development of Mela and Erhunmwunse, and if Mela cannot be a reliable 3 point shooter, his ceiling will always be limited. The Natick, MA native has already proven this season he is an effective playmaker with the ball in his hands, and has the size to be a pretty good finisher around the rim, expanding his range to beyond the arc is the natural next step in his development.

   

   Mela still has a long way to go to be a threat from beyond the arc (for starters his release needs to get much quicker), but if defenses are going to continue to pack it in against him this season, letting it fly is the right approach. One of the things I’ll be looking at over the next 4 weeks is how many attempts he gets up, and whether or not he can bring his percentages up to within the D1 average from anywhere of the 3 point shot zones outlined above.

2. When Kim English performs his end of season diagnostic, the strength and conditioning program is worth a look.