Rhode Island supremacy was on the line Tuesday night when Bryant and Providence matched up for the first time in 11 years.
Providence defeated Bryant 78-55 and gained some in-state bragging rights. Devin Vanterpool led all scorers with 21 points, and Malik Mack added 19 for the Friars. Each hit three 3-point shots. Duane Thompson led Bryant with 15 points. The Friars are now 2-1 on the season while Bryant dropped to 1-3.
The last time the two faced off since Dec. 12, 2015. Providence also won that
game 74-67 and has now won all six of their matchups. Both programs have found success in between their meetings — as the Friars have made six NCAA Tournaments and Bryant has made two. The Bulldogs have the most recent appearance, coming in 2025. Since it’s been such a long time and these schools are only about a 20-minute drive apart, both programs had a strong amount of fan support, and it made for an incredible hometown, early season matchup.
“Any game within close proximity like this has some sort of different level of intensity to it,” Providence head coach Bryan Hodgson said. “When you’re another Division-I basketball program and you’re down the road, you know you feel some type of way towards that other program, right? That’s just human nature.”
“This is a great platform for us,” Bryant head coach Jamion Christian said. ”A great way for us to celebrate basketball in the state of Rhode Island. I think our two programs have the two best records in Rhode Island over the last five years.”
While Providence never lost the lead and led by double digits for a good portion of the game, each program saw this game as a big opportunity. This was a good way for the Friars to rebound after a tough 67-58 loss to Nebraska in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun Arena on Nov. 7.
On the flip side, Bryant, a member of the America East, competed with a power-conference program. Christian expressed gratitude to Providence for getting this game scheduled. The Bulldogs have other notable non-conference matchups with Rutgers, Kentucky, George Mason, Fordham and another fellow Rhode Island program in Brown. Christian explained how games like this can help them come to the America East play and once it comes to March.
“If you want to be a great team and play in March, you can never be scared,” Christian said. “We want to be able to judge ourselves against the very best teams. That’s the most important thing that we can do. I always want to put our team in that position where we’ve prepared the right way. Win or lose, we’ve prepared.”
Mid-major teams playing high profile games like this one can help under-the-radar programs get some more recognition. Thompson, Elijah Crispin and Onyx Nnani all had big moments against Providence. The Bulldogs were also without Georgia Tech transfer Eric Chatfield Jr., who’s still day-to-day with a lower-body injury. He can potentially return against Rutgers on Friday. Once at full-strength, Christian is confident the Bulldogs are going to be a very strong team.
“We would have loved to beat Providence,” Christian said. “We need to beat a team like Providence in March, and we need to know what that feels like.”
Providence looked miles better compared to their loss against Nebraska. The Friars shot 48% from the field and smothered Bryant’s offense by forcing 25 turnovers. A big piece of this big bounce back is Vanterpool’s health. The Florida Atlantic transfer missed the season opener against Maine with an ankle sprain and shot 3-for-11 from the floor in 26 minutes against Nebraska. Hodgson explained that he was still dealing with pain in both of his games so far this season but felt much better against Bryant. He expects Vanterpool to still have some soreness over the next week or two.
However, the Friars have some things to clean up, as they turned the ball over 16 times and had 18 fouls. Hodgeson also pointed out some defensive mistakes that carried over from Nebraska’s loss. They have a strong remaining non-conference schedule including a game against Colorado and a spot in the Maui Invitational to clean things up before Big East play.
“We get stagnant offensively, it happens way too much,” Hodgson said. “It’s a problem against Nebraska, and Nebraska caused that. And Bryant caused it at times, quite frankly.”
Clyde Walters was a difference maker against Bryant and can potentially be a huge piece for Providence. After not playing against Nebraska, he had nine points and six rebounds off the bench and played huge minutes for the Friars. Hodgson gave him a lot of credit for providing them an important spark throughout the game.
“I don’t think Clyde enters the game thinking about scoring the basketball,” Hodgson said. “I think he thinks about ‘what can I do to help my team win?’ And as a result he found his way into nine points and won the hard hat.”
Tuesday was a perfect example on why playing teams so close in proximity can be so important even when they may be at different levels in the Division-I landscape. Said games come with bragging rights and can help uplift basketball in that area. Both Providence and Bryant play Rhode-Island-based teams later in non-conference play, where we really see who the ultimate Rhode Island team will be.
