Friars' top goal: replace A.J. Reeves
PROVIDENCE — Ed Cooley has enjoyed better exam breaks in his 13 seasons as a college basketball head coach.
Instead of taking a few relaxing days off and maybe fit in a load of recruiting while his Providence Friars grind over term papers and Western Civilization exams, Cooley and his staff faced some major obstacles over the last nine days.
First, the staff needed to don its psychologist cap and make sure the team didn’t overreact to its last outing, a devastating 79-78 loss to Massachusetts. Blowing a 20-point lead at home is one thing but stewing on such a defeat isn’t easy.
Cooley is also facing his team’s first major injury of the season. Freshman shooter A.J. Reeves had been complaining about mild foot soreness for a while and continued problems necessitated a decision to move him to the sidelines. Doctors are prescribing a 4-6 week rest. Reeves is wearing a walking boot and his team-leading 3-point shooting stroke will be missed.
The Friars are back in action on Sunday (2 p.m. tip) against Central Connecticut State.
“It’s been a rough week,” Cooley said. “What people don’t realize is exams here are a big deal. We don’t have 300 majors like some schools so our guys will be really happy to get through exams. Then we have to get ready for a busy week.”
Cooley was asked how he mixed time for practice, studying and moving his team forward mentally.
“It’s never easy,” he said, “and we haven’t had a chance to flush the last game out. We’ll see what happens.”
That last game was a doozey, a loss that left players, coaches and fans seething. Cooley has little choice but to simply use the lessons learned in that defeat as a teaching tool for a young team that is still clearly maturing. The loss highlighted issues such as shot selection, turnovers, pressuring the ball and guarding ball screens. They became main focus points all week.
“We need to get better defensively, it’s that simple,” Cooley said. “We certainly need to guard the ball a lot better. On offense we’re still having trouble creating easy baskets.”
A potent shooter such as Reeves solved a lot of offensive issues. As the leading scorer among all Big East freshmen (14.2) and PC’s top 3-point shooter, Reeves provided an invaluable weapon. He’ll be replaced in the starting lineup by Maliek White. Isaiah Jackson will remain as the team’s sixth man and senior Drew Edwards and sophomore Makai Ashton-Langford should also see their opportunities to make an impact increase.
While no one offers the outside shooting prowess of Reeves, Cooley is hoping for a grittier defensive contribution.
“The good thing is between Maliek, Drew and Makai we have experience,” he said. “We’ll see what happens production-wise. Now we have to pull together and become better.”
The Friars face a CCSU team that’s coached by former Connecticut and NBA star Donyell Marshall. The Blue Devils played Georgetown tough early in the season and nearly won (76-74) at Loyola-Marymount. PC will have only one day to prepare for a visit from Albany, on Tuesday, and then it will wrap up its nonleague schedule on Friday at the University of Texas.