Friday, December 12, 2025
Super Freshman Jamier Jones PHOTO: PC
As mentioned towards the end of the last installment, this year’s Providence College men’s basketball squad didn’t have a lot of options left for what they had to do in terms of their mental and physical approach for the remainder of the season.
By the time they returned home from a difficult Thanksgiving San Diego trip, losing two tough games to Wisconsin and Florida, they found themselves 4 and 4, facing 3 winnable home games vs FDU, URI, and Brown. Yes, winning them was the primary goal, but they also needed to win them in a way that restored a good amount of confidence, by winning them in a way that showed they were on the right trajectory in terms of improving as a team on both ends of the floor.
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And for the most part, they did accomplish that. First up was FDU. Granted, FDU is not a very good team, but it was evident that PC came out with the right mental approach and aggressiveness necessary to get the season back on track. They did not play down to the level of the competition, which can happen if you haven’t shaken off the bad parts of the previous two games. The guys played hard, they played unselfishly and with a real purpose:
Jaylin Sellers: 8/10 FG’s; 5/6 3’s; 21 points
Corey Floyd Jr: 4/8 FG’s; 3/4 3’s; 11 points
Stefan Vaaks 4/9 FG’s; 2/4 3’s; 10 assists, 2 steals, 10 points
Oswin Erhunmwunse: 4/4 FG’s; 4 rebounds; 6 Blocks!; 8 points
Jason Edwards: 8/14 FG’s; 4/9 3’s; 3 assists; 4 steals!; 24 points
They shot 58% from the field( 35/60 FG’s), and an excellent 55% from 3 (15/27), 82% FT’s (9/11), and most impressively, had 28 assists and only 10 Turnovers for an almost 3 to 1 ratio as a team! They never let up on the gas for a 94-64 win.
It doesn’t matter who you’re playing against, those kind of numbers will not happen unless you approach the game with the right competitive attitude.
Next up was the URI game, which provided some early drama from the onset. URI appeared very comfortable and aggressively took it to PC early behind the hot 3-point shooting of guard Jonah Hinton, sending Providence reeling to an early timeout down 12- 2. Things got even worse, when after that timeout URI struck again with another hoop leaving PC down 14-2 as some boo birds began to percolate amongst the crowd Then almost on cue, as some script writer would ideally imagine, Freshman Stefan Vaaks, stepped up and took over the game in a way not seen in the AMP since Devin Carter had done at times 2 years ago, connecting on four consecutive long range 3’s, a couple with a hand in his face, almost to defiantly chastise the crowd for their impertinence as their boos quickly transformed to raucous cheers, righting the ship and tying the game 14-14.
After things were put back in balance by Vaaks, the game was competitive for the rest of the half, ending with PC up 37-41. With another solid team effort, Providence was able to outscore URI 49-34 in the 2nd half, leading to a comfortable 90-71 win. Just about everyone played well. Oswin continued his conspicuous improvement, showing how he’s learned to not be quite so reactive on defense, always going for the 1st fake, staying ready, grounded, and on vertical plane to stay better out of foul trouble. He had 10 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal, and 6 blocks.
Vaaks finished with 18 points, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 Block, 18 points. Sellers(14 points), Edwards(13 points), and Floyd Jr (9 points), all had very solid games, contributing to a team 57.4% from the field, including 48% from 3 and a respectable 74% from the line
But it was another freshman, Jamier James, the 6’6” 218 lb, forward from Sarasota, Florida who was also able to impose his will on this game, as his comfort level increases with the increase in well-earned playing time
His stat line vs URI:
22.38 minutes:
7/7 FG’s; 1/1 3’s; 3/4 FT’s; 3 Rebs; 2 assists; 2 steals; 18 points with an analytics total of a plus 24 reflecting his positive impact on the game And a lot of what he does is not always evident on a stat sheet His physical, uber athletic displays on both ends of the floor have been a welcomed addition to a team attempting to establish its identity Not to mention the entertainment value the fans are finding in his creative drives to the hoop and his cleverly getting behind the defense on the baseline, moving without the ball and finishing well above the rim for a dunk.
In the following game vs Brown on Tuesday night, Jones continued to produce a statistical anomaly with another 16 points on 7/8 FG’s; 2/3 FT’s; 6 rebounds( 5 offensive), 1 steal, for 16 points in only 18:51 minutes of playing time
So in the last two games vs URI and Brown, Jones has compiled a combined 14/15 from the Field, 1/1 from 3, 5/7 FTs, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, and 34 points in 40.89 minutes of playing time!
The Brown game was interesting for me in that they had a lot more very good athletes and talent than I anticipated, having not yet seen them up until Tuesday night.
Brown going into the PC game was ranked 14th nationally defensively, allowing only 63.5 points/game to their opponents.
Providence so far this year was averaging 90.4 points/game, 19th nationally in offensive output.
Something had to give. Providence’s overall physical, athletic advantage, the aforementioned effort of Jamier Jones, another very solid, efficient game from Jaylin Sellers who scored 16 points on 5/9 shooting, 3/5 from 3, and 3/4 from the line proved to be the difference, along with Cole Hargrove putting in his best performance of the season so far with 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 key blocks, while making 5 of 6 FT’s, in just under 21 minutes of Playing Time This was especially important since Oswin got in early foul trouble limiting him to only playing 15 minutes for the night
It’s also been encouraging to see Duncan Powell, the 6’8” 240 lb transfer from Georgia Tech, begin to get some minutes, running up and down, trying to get his rhythm back. Providence desperately needs another big active body like his to mix it up and give some assistance to Oswin as they enter the heart of the Big East schedule.
On Saturday Providence will begin their inaugural Big East game for this year in the iconic venue of the Butler Field House in Indianapolis, made famous by Gene Hackman and the classic movie “Hoosiers”, replete with its signature overhead steel beams and stands and fans encroaching which feel to be only a few feet from the out of bounds lines It’s one of the best home court advantage arenas in all of college basketball.
Butler appears to be off to a decent start. Their record stands at 7-2 with the usual bunny wins for this time of year (Southern Indiana, IU Indy, Chicago St., Wright St., Eastern Michigan), but also with a couple of decent W’s vs an SEC team ( South Carolina), and an ACC team ( Virginia). Their two losses are not really bad ones- at SMU (85-87), and to Boise State at home (68-77).
Their best returning player from last year’s team is # 11 Junior Finley Bizjack, 6’4”, 190 lb G from Trophy Club, Texas. He’s averaging 18 points/game. He’s also shooting 50% from the field and 42% from 3-point range.
Butler’s next two best players are portal finds Michael Ajayi, 6’7” 235 lb F from Kent, Washington, and Jamie Kaiser Jr, a 6’6”205lb redshirt sophomore from Burke, Virginia, who was a top 75 recruit out of IMG Academy, and beginning his college career at Maryland.
Ajayi, a transfer who started out in Pepperdine, where he was 1st team all WCC, leading the Conference in scoring at a 17.2 clip while also 2nd in rebounding at 9.9 boards a game. From there, he went on to Gonzaga for a more limited role last year, averaging only 6.5 points/game and 5.4 rebounds/game in 18.8 minutes/game. This year at Butler, through 9 games, he’s back to form, averaging 16.2 points/game and 2nd in the Big East in rebounding at 11.6/game.
Kaiser Jr appears from his stats to be a shooting specialist and someone for PC to keep an eye on since he’s averaging 10 points but on a gaudy 56% FG, and 46% from the 3 point line
In fact, Butler is shooting 40% from 3 as a team – something that I’m sure Coach English is preparing his team to anticipate as they scheme the game preparation defensively
As alluded to, this Butler gym is one of the more challenging venues for a visiting team in the Country, and Coach Kim English is very familiar with its challenges, but I think there’s a very good chance this group is up for it.
Oswin has come a long way since last year, Floyd Jr is an experienced senior playing very solid, Jaylin Sellers has been as good as advertised and has done well in pressure situations, Edwards is another senior who has the perfect scorers’ mentality and could care less where he plays, Vaaks and Jones are a freshmen duo as precocious as any around, Hargrove is coming off his best game, Mela always gives effort and chemistry, and Pinnis, even in his limited minutes has shown signs of getting a bit more comfortable, rebounding his area and providing a much needed additional physical presence around the basket, along with a now near recovered Duncan Powell.
This group has absorbed a lot in these 1st 11 games, and they seem collectively to be of a mind to grab the opportunity of their first Big East win of the season, and that would not surprise me at all.
Kevin Stacom is one of the most accomplished Providence College basketball players in history. An All-American at Providence, Stacom was a second-round NBA draft pick, played six years in the NBA, and won an NBA championship as a member of the Boston Celtics.
After his playing career, Stacom coached at the college level and served as an NBA scout for nearly 30 years for the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks.
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