Since the 2019-20 basketball season tipped off back in November, there have been a plethora of storylines emanating from the BIG EAST.
There’s unsung Butler’s meteoric rise through the national rankings. Villanova being, well, Villanova. Again. New episodes of the “Markus Howard Show,” which honestly, is better than anything network TV has offered up this season. There was Creighton and DePaul taking down No. 12 Texas Tech, and drama in New Jersey that saw Myles Powell miss two games with a concussion but seeing the Pirates knock off No. 7 Maryland even without their All-Everything stellar senior.
Those are just a few of the highlights that created lots of buzz so far this season.
Providence, on the other hand, generated little buzz. The Friars stumbled through a 7-6 non-conference portion of their season, a period which featured a home loss to Penn, a 1-2 trip through the Wooden Legacy tourney in Anaheim, which included losses to both Long Beach State and College of Charleston, and a 14-point loss to Rhode Island for bragging rights in the Ocean State.
All that came before a 32-point loss to Florida in the Hall of Fame Invitational in Brooklyn on Dec. 17.
Buzz around the Friars? Try crickets.
But things soon began to change for the Friars. Since that loss to the Gators, Providence has strung together five wins in their last six games with their lone blemish being a loss to then-No. 6 Butler (no shame in that). And it all started with a 70-48 rout of Texas, four days before Christmas.
It was a win that made the holidays much more festive for the Friars and it’s a feeling that has extended into the new year. So tell us, David Duke, how did that Texas win change the trajectory of the Friars’ season? Regale us with tales of how corralling the Longhorns fixed all that was wrong with Providence earlier in the season. Tell us all about how winning cures all ills.
“No, it wasn’t the win over Texas. I’d say it was the loss to Florida that changed things,” said Duke, the Friars’ stellar sophomore guard. “Mainly because going into that game we knew it was a really big opportunity for us, to be on a big stage like that (at the Barclays Center). But the way we came out and the end result kind of left a bitter taste with us. So the next few practices were very detail-oriented, very hard. It was kind of like putting a battery in our backs. So I think that Texas game was a result of the practices after that Florida game. That’s what really turned things around for us.”
Those spirited practices Duke alluded to have led to a strong start to the BIG EAST season for the Friars. They opened things up with a 16-point win over Georgetown, then strung together back-to-back, one-point road victories at DePaul and Marquette. Then after the loss to Butler, the Friars rebounded with a home win over St. John’s in their latest outing and currently sit at 4-1 in the conference and in a second place tie with Villanova, one game behind front-running Seton Hall.
Talk about a turnaround.
“We knew that we had to get back to work and try to focus on the little things,” said Duke, who is averaging 11.7 points and is tied for the team lead with 68 assists. “Not just scoring the ball, but doing all the little things on every single possession. So as a group we decided we needed to go back to basics and get back to work.”
But perhaps nothing strengthened the Friars’ conviction more than those one-point wins against the Blue Demons and Golden Eagles.
“It did a whole lot for us,” Duke said. “Those are two very talented teams. We knew we had two very big games in front of us and we knew if we could get those two wins it would definitely do a lot for our confidence. Just prove to ourselves just how good a team we are and understanding that we are as talented as any team we’re going to play.”
Duke is the lone local talent on the Friars’ player roster, making him and head coach Ed Cooley the only two Sons of Providence. So any success the Friars enjoy is felt maybe just a bit more by Duke.
“I was a Providence fan growing up. It definitely was one of my favorite schools,” Duke said. “But I can’t lie and say I knew I’d be playing college basketball when I was little. I was into a whole bunch of sports. But once I started getting serious about basketball I definitely had a couple of daydreams of seeing myself in a Friars uniform. It was definitely something that I wanted to happen.”
And it doesn’t hurt that any Friars’ game instantly becomes the biggest game in town.
“PC is the closest thing to a professional sport here in Rhode Island so everybody in Providence supports PC,” Duke said. “So now being able to wear the uniform and play for them, it’s just a different type of feeling. There’s a different kind of pride that I have.”
Cooley sings the praises of Duke as a defender, calling him one of the conference’s best in that category. And while playing defense might not be as sexy as a Markus Howard 40-point game to some, Duke knows it’s a vital component for a winning program.
“It’s one of those things that very few like to do but it’s probably one of the most important things in the game of basketball,” Duke said. “That’s one thing you can control, how hard you play. So to be able to consistently give your max effort on defense translates to winning and that’s what every coach wants.”
Duke knows the Friars are about to face their stiffest test of the season as they embark on a stretch of five straight games against ranked opponents, beginning with a trip to No. 25 Creighton on Saturday (FS1 at 4:30 p.m. ET). After that the Friars will see Seton Hall, Villanova and Butler before facing the Bluejays again on Feb. 5.
Pressure? Maybe, but Duke sees it as another chance to prove to the rest of the league that the Friars’ early-season struggles are a thing of the past.
“We’ve definitely talked about the (Creighton) game coming up but we haven’t talked about any games after that,” Duke said. “We just take one game at a time. But these are definitely five opportunities that are just waiting for us and we just have to come in and take advantage of them.”
With a huge chunk of the BIG EAST season still to be played, Duke thinks his Friars have as good a shot as anybody in claiming the regular-season title. Who would have expected that kind of talk coming out of Providence a month or so ago?
“I think the BIG EAST is the best conference in the country,” Duke said. “Top to bottom there are very, very talented teams, very talented players and very, very good coaches. It’s just such a tough league. Every single game is a grinder that comes down to the last four minutes of the game. But I think it’s a pretty open league. At the end of the day I think it’s going to come down to the little things and the team that does a lot of the little things right is going to come away with the wins most of the time.”
And right now, that team is the Providence Friars.