Men’s Basketball Winter Break Recap

by Andrew Vines ’29 on January 22, 2026

Men's Basketball

The Friars’ men’s basketball team tipped off Big East play on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 at Butler University. Coming into conference play with a record of 7–4 and only one major win over Penn State, a below average Big Ten team, Kim English and his team needed to start conference play hot. At the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse the Friars had a halftime lead of four points and things looked promising. At the end of regulation, the score was all tied up at 89–89. After the first overtime, it remained tied. The Bulldogs would win the game in double overtime with a score of 113–110. Jason Edwards ’26G had a huge game in the defeat where he scored 32 points off of the bench, shooting 6–13 from beyond the arc to go along with six assists.

The Friars conference home opener was against Seton Hall University. Shaheem Halloway and his squad came into the game 10–1 after a strong non-conference campaign. The Friars looked to bounce back in front of a home crowd that was without students. The game was close the whole way through, but the Pirates pulled through in the end, winning 72–67. Once again English and his squad could not pull out a win in a close game. With the fanbase upset after a rough start to conference play English needed a win.

After a 15-day break English and his team were headed to Madison Square Garden to face Rick Pitino, Bryce Hopkins, and the St. John’s Johnnies. Despite the team being 7–6, the fans showed up for this big game. St. John’s took a 13–0 lead and things did not look good. The Friars took their first lead of 25–24 with 4:44 to go in the first half. By the end of the half this lead was gone and would not return until Stefan Vaaks ’29 hit a three to take a 72– 70 lead with less than two minutes to go. The Friars held the lead the rest of the game, with the final score being 77–71. Vaaks had 16 points shooting 4–6 from the three-point line and Jamier Jones ’29 had 15 points and led the team in rebounds, leading the way to a Friar victory. The belief was back in the fanbase after this huge win.

This belief and momentum were heard at the Amica Mutual Pavilion when No. 4 University of Connecticut came to town. This game was controlled by the Friars who had the lead from about five minutes left in the first half up to 13 seconds left in the game. This lead peaked at 13 points. The Huskies ended up winning 103–98 in overtime. Ryan Mela ’28 had a very impressive game off of the bench with 19 points, which included some big buckets late in the game. The fanbase was crushed after this loss. Things only got worse as the Friars would then drop their next two games. These included a road loss to Xavier University, which was never close, and ended in a 97–84 Musketeers victory. The next loss came at home to a strong Villanova University team. Jaylin Sellers ’26G had an impressive 24 points in the loss.

The Friars hosted Creighton University on a Friday night with the fanbase very upset with English. The team put up a great performance against a bubble team. Oswin Erhunmwunse ’28 played a great game where he grabbed 13 rebounds, which had been a struggle for the team all season. Vaaks once again put up a great performance with 24 points and seven assists in a 93–88 victory.

Overall, the team has looked talented in conference play, but the results have been disappointing. The team has been in most of these games yet has not been able to pull out wins. The rest of conference play and the Big East tournament will be very important for the future of this team.

Minaya Continues to Shine for PC

by npatano on February 10, 2022

Sports - Friar Sports

Friars Transfer Earns Big East Player of the Week

Justin Bishop ’24

Sports Staff

The Providence College Men’s Basketball team has been one of the hottest teams this year, currently on a seven-game win streak having won 15 of their last 16. The team, as of Wednesday, Feb. 9,, sits at 20-2 overall and are 10-1 against opponents in the Big East Conference while being ranked 11 in the country. The updated rankings, by the Associated Press, are released every Monday and the Friars will certainly rise in the rankings. Multiple teams ranked ahead of Providence lost over the past week along with the team’s 86-82 win over St. John’s University and their 71-52 thrashing of Big East bottom feeder Georgetown University this week.

Since the last Friars basketball recap, the team took on two ranked conference rivals in No. 21 Xavier University and No. 22 Marquette University. Providence survived both teams but did not go without any excitement, as a clutch Jared Bynum three-pointer with 1.5 seconds left lifted the Friars past the Musketeers 65-62. The team effort of graduate student Al Durham’s 22 points, Noah Horchler ’21’s 11 rebounds, and Justin Minaya ’21’s four blocks was able to muscle past a disciplined Xavier team. If the three-point margin of victory was not close enough for you, the Friars slipped past the 22nd-ranked team in the country again putting up 65 points, but this time allowing 63 points. The 65-63 win for Providence was thanks in part to Nate Watson ’21’s 17 points and Horchler’s double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Although the Friars improved to 10-1 in Big East Play and 20-2 overall this week, the big story from the team was transfer grad student Justin Minaya being named Big East player of the Week. Minaya, who transferred from the University of South Carolina this past off-season, averaged 10 points and six rebounds while playing the entirety of both games, 80 total minutes, where the Friars beat Xavier and Marquette. Minaya also shot 50 percent from three point range and played lock-down defense against everyone he guarded, including Marquette’s star player, Justin Lewis. “All credit to my teammates and Coach Cooley to allow me to play that well and that much…” Minaya said during the interview we had this week. “The biggest thing is that we got the two wins this week, and it’s also an honor to be recognized as the player of the week in a great conference like the Big East,” Minaya said.

This is exactly what Head Coach Ed Cooley had in mind when recruiting Minaya when he entered the transfer portal. “I could tell it was time for a change,” Minaya said. He mentioned that Coach Cooley was heavily involved in the recruiting process: “I had a great relationship with Coach Cooley and felt great when deciding to come [to Providence], plus it’s close to home” said the New Jersey native. When asked about the specific reason for choosing PC over other schools, the fifth year said, “I felt I could complement great players like Nate [Watson] and shooters like A.J. [Reeves] and be a fifth of this team.”

The grad student, son of former New York Mets’ general manager Omar Minaya, played at South Carolina all four years but suffered a knee injury early in his second season which sidelined him for the entirety of that season. Justin was a reliable piece during his time at USC but has found that he is playing his best here at PC. With a hand injury to A.J. Reeves ’22, Minaya stepped up and has started every game since then, averaging 8.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.0 block, and shooting 47 percent from three over those 12 games.

Recently, Justin was snubbed of the Naismith Top 15 Defensive Players list—and that is the correct use of the word “snubbed.” The college basketball writers released their consensus list of the top 15 defensive players in the country this year, and Providence’s Justin Minaya was not on it. Coach Cooley was furious about this, and rightly so. “I do not know if [the writers] watch the Big East or if it’s about the steals… it’s about who impacts the game defensively,” Cooley said in a press conference on Sunday, Jan. 30. “For [Justin Minaya] to not be in the top 15 or top five is an absolute joke,” and finally, “Open your eyes,” he said to the writers who were listening and watching the press conference.

When asked what it meant to have Coach Cooley stick up for him publicly, Minaya responded by saying, “To have Coach Cooley stick up for me publicly and go in front of the media and say those things, I know he has my back, and it means the world to me that he would say those things publicly.”

Justin also added that the home court advantage at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center is unlike anything he has been a part of. “We are so appreciative of the fans and how much energy we are able to feed off of as players,” said Minaya. “You definitely felt it at that last Marquette game, just the level of energy in the building is such an advantage.” Coach Cooley has also praised the crowd after every home game and credits some wins to the fans because of how they impact the game.

“We are coming for that Big East Championship, but we just want to go 1-0 every day and get better as a team,” Minaya responded regarding the goals he and the team have for the rest of the season. The 20-2 Friars are a projected four seed in the National Tournament as of Sunday, Feb. 6, but this will most likely change throughout the rest of the season and how the Big East Conference tournament plays out.

The Providence College Men’s Basketball team takes on DePaul University on Saturday, Feb. 12 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.