Bryan Hodgson brings fast pace as Providence opens vs. Maine

Providence College men's basketball head coach Bryan Hodgson. The Bryan Hodgson era at Providence begins Monday night, when the Friars open their season at home against Maine. Hodgson was hired in March after Providence parted ways with former head coach Kim English. Hodgson guided South Florida to a 25-9 record and the American Conference championship last season. South Florida was a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament and lost a first-round matchup with Louisville. The Friars will play an up-tempo style and will likely lean heavily on 6-foot-6 guard Miles Byrd, a transfer from San Diego State. Byrd was the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year last season, when he averaged 10.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. Byrd scored a team-high 19 points when Providence beat Georgia Tech 101-73 in an exhibition game Oct. 24. The Friars also beat Pitt 87-64 during the preseason. "Six weeks ago, I didn't know if we were really good defensively or horrible offensively," Hodgson said. "We're beating each other up every day in practice. That's why we play these. "This is the quickest that I've gotten there, getting guys to buy into that (fast) pace. We have to recruit to this." The Friars should have two other impact transfers in Malik Mack (Georgetown) and Devin Vanterpool (Florida Atlantic). Vanterpool led Florida Atlantic in scoring (15.8) and rebounding (6.3) last season. He didn't play against Georgia Tech because of an ankle injury, but Hodgson said he's hopeful Vanterpool can contribute against Maine. The Black Bears have eight new players on their roster and were picked to finish eighth out of nine teams in the America East Conference. The returnees include Ace Flagg, Cooper Flagg's twin brother. Ace Flagg averaged 6.7 points in 24.2 minutes per game as a true freshman last season. "He kind of grew as the year went on," Maine coach Chris Markwood said. "He's a more confident player." Killian Gribben and Darius Lopes are also back with the Black Bears after both missed almost all of last season with lower-body injuries. The additions via the transfer portal include Villiam Garcia Adsten (Drexel) and DeAndre Williams (Holy Cross). "(Williams) is our type of guard," Markwood said. "He's a physical, two-way guy. Just a pit bull on both sides of the ball. "If we can max out (Garcia Adsten's) potential our ceiling certainly goes up a lot." --Field Level Media