Providence @ Massachusetts preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 10, 2016 ) Massachusetts 69, Providence 75

Needless to say, Providence coach Ed Cooley isn't happy nine games into the season. His team has won seven times, but Cooley is hoping for a better performance Saturday against host Massachusetts.

The Friars' last game was a 77-72 overtime win against Brown, which had lost to Central Connecticut its last time out. Yet, the Bears gave the Friars everything they could handle - and led by 15 at one point - in a performance that left Cooley displeased despite the victory. “I don’t think we played well. We played well enough to win,” Cooley said. “We have a long way to go, a long, long way to go. We have to find out who we are as a team and right now our identity is in shambles. Hopefully over the course of the next 48 hours we’ll get some things right.” Perhaps Providence can get its act together against UMass, which had dropped four in a row before slipping past Holy Cross its last time out.

TV: 3 p.m. ET, NESN

ABOUT PROVIDENCE (7-2): The Friars' non-conference schedule has included wins over Washington and Saint Louis and losses to Minnesota and Rhode Island as the team continues to battle ups and downs in the season's first month. Rodney Bullock averages a team-high 15.1 points and also leads the squad with 6.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals. Jalen Lindsey has a team-best 20 3-pointers and is shooting 55.6 percent from the arc - ranking him in the top 30 nationally - while attempting only five two-point shots all season.

ABOUT MASSACHUSETTS (4-5): The Minutemen rank 243rd in the nation in scoring (71.6) as only one player on the roster averages more than 9.4 points per game. Luwane Pipkins, a 5-11 guard, averages 17.7 points for UMass but has struggled mightily with his shooting in three of the last four games and is shooting only 38.2 percent on the season. He is 7-of-32 from 3-point range in the last five contests after a three-game stretch in which he knocked down 15-of-27 shots from the arc.

TIP-INS

1. Providence leads the Big East in 3-point shooting (43.2 percent).

2. Providence G Kyron Cartwright (10 ppg) has totaled four points on 1-of-8 shooting in the last two games.

3. Friars G Alpha Diallo is averaging 11.4 points - twice his average from last season - and has registered double-figure points in seven straight contests.

PREDICTION: Providence 83, UMass 73