After suffering a frustrating loss to TCU in the opening round of the Rady Children’s Invitational the Florida Gators (4-2) will be desperate for a win in the consolation game against the Providence Friars. As it currently projects the Friars will be close to the cutoff between a quad-2 and quad-3 opponent for the Gators on the neutral floor in San Diego which makes it a game that doesn’t have a ton of upside with a win, but one that would make for a bad loss if they were to lose. Providence falls to the consolation game against Florida after getting blasted 104-83 by Wisconsin.
Providence is in year three of the Kim English era, and the passionate Friar fans have not been all that happy with the results so far. This was a big year for Coach English to win back the trust of the fan base, and loaded with a solid NIL allotment he was able to put together a talented roster–though that has not yet turned into quality wins. After losing to Wisconsin the Friars have fallen to 4-3, with their two other losses coming to Virginia Tech and Colorado–both teams outside the top-60 in KenPom. For a team desperate to make the NCAA Tournament, this suggests the goal could be slipping out of reach. This will be a hungry Friars team but one that hasn’t shown they can beat a quality team, so this should be a fascinating matchup of two teams desperate to save some face in the opening month of the season.
Much of the enthusiasm for this year’s Providence team came from the pieces they acquired in the transfer portal. One huge pickup was Jason Edwards, who you might remember as a starter for Vanderbilt last year during their huge turnaround season. For Edwards to flip to a team like Providence after the year he had at Vanderbilt speaks to the Friars’ ability to get players, and though the team isn’t doing great so far–Edwards has been playing excellent basketball. The speedy 6’1” ball handler has 20+ points in four of Providence’s seven games and has been able to do it efficiently despite the fact that his three-point shot has been crooked, and if he can recapture his 35% stroke from the year prior he could be an even more lethal scorer. Given how Florida just struggled to contain smaller guards against TCU there could be some concern at their ability to slow down Edwards, and he will be at the top of Florida’s scouting report.
Jaylin Sellers was another big-name pickup coming from UCF, where he missed most of the 2024-25 season due to a hand injury, but was a productive scorer in 2023-24 when he averaged 15.9 points per game. A 6’4” off guard, Sellers is wired to score and is looking at the rim whenever he catches the ball which means he might not set up teammates for too many open looks, but if he gets hot he can put up points in a hurry.
Some of Providence’s early season struggles have come due to injury. Duncan Powell, a key frontcourt piece who came from Georgia Tech, has missed games, as has Daquan Davis who was a bright spot for Florida State as a freshman last season. Both of these players would be playing significant roles, and their missed games have not been helpful to a Providence team who is yet to find their rhythm.
Offensively, Providence’s biggest strength comes in transition where their guards can create advantages against backpedaling defenders and get paint touches which lead to driving layups or kickouts to open shooters. Right now the Friars are 22nd in offensive possession length and they’ll look to play fast, something the Gators will likely happily entertain.
Putting points on the board hasn’t been an issue for the Friars so far, but their problems have been mounting on the defensive end. In their three losses this year they have given up 104, 97, and 107 (in overtime) points, and in two of those games they did it against teams who are below-average offensive performers. This isn’t a team with many proven stoppers who take pride on that side of the floor, and building the roster through offensive mercenaries has not led to a culture of toughness on the defensive end. The Friars are also relying on some young pieces in the frontcourt who aren’t yet at their muscular peak and also don’t have the kind of defensive knowledge an older player might, and it has resulted in a lot of points in the paint that didn’t see enough resistance.
After playing a TCU team that is excellent at creating turnovers (something that ultimately was a big reason the Gators lost the game), Florida will be happy to know that Providence does not create many turnovers which has made them easy to play against.
If Florida wants to be a team that can make any amount of damage in March they’ll need to be able to take care of teams like TCU and Providence on neutral floors. They already have one swing and a miss with the loss to the Horned Frogs, which makes this game incredibly important. After this the Gators will play arguably their toughest two-game stretch of the entire season against Duke and UConn, both away from home, and if they can’t beat TCU or Providence you might expect things to get ugly in the upcoming weeks.
Florida and Providence will tip off Friday, November 28th at 3 PM ET and it will be televised on Fox.