By BRENDAN MCGAIR

Sports writer

This is the time in the college basketball season when teams look to make their biggest leaps. With final exams in the rear view and conference play on the horizon, schools like Providence College are looking to take full advantage of what this portion of the schedule has to offer.
PC has three non-conference games remaining, including tonight’s game at The Dunk against Jackson State, before St. John’s comes to town on New Year’s Eve. That’s three chances for the Friars to iron out any kinks and acquire a hearty dose of confidence before the 16-game conglomerate of a Big East slate arrives.
The Friars’ final push also includes a road trip to Boston College to face Pawtucket’s Rakim Sanders this Saturday. Next Monday sees Division I newcomer Bryant University come downtown. 

“It’s not only important to improve right before conference play, but you also want a little momentum from a win-loss perspective,” said Friars head coach Keno Davis, “but we’re looking forward after a long week of finals to get going again.”
Davis admits the 10-day exam break was beneficiary to a Providence team that had undergone a grueling stretch of compacting 10 games in 21 days. The busy stretch included taking a trip to the West Coast and surviving a pulsating finish against in-state rival Rhode Island.
“It was a break we needed physically and mentally to rest up,” said Davis. “Sometimes you look around the country and you find that upset because teams aren’t as sharp because finals week can disrupt momentum.”
If Davis’ cautious tone is a byproduct of Syracuse falling to Cleveland State at the buzzer earlier this week, the PC coach should take in account the Orange delivered a lackluster performance in their second game off exams. Syracuse blitzed Long Beach State by 24 over the weekend.
The Friars put in enough work during the period of idleness that Davis believes rust shouldn’t be a major concern. “We spent less time on the court early in the exam period, but wanted to make sure we got something accomplished,” he said. “By (last) Thursday or Friday, we’ve been working pretty hard.”
A trouble spot for PC has been shooting, which to date has been ice cold (28 percent collectively). Getting players such as Pawtucket’s Jeff Xavier (24 percent), Brian McKenzie (20 percent) and Sharaud Curry (25 percent) on target continues to be one of Davis’ main points of emphasis during this three-game stretch.
“We’ve got to be in a good rhythm in order to win games in the Big East,” said Davis, whose other chief problem spot includes defense (PC ranks dead last in the Big East giving up 71 ppg. and 44 percent shooting). “We were able to survive some nights when we’ve shot the ball poorly, but I think the shooting will improve.”
The Friars are the healthiest they’ve been to date as the physical ailments of Curry (foot) and Geoff McDermott (ankle) benefited from the time off. The only concern of note is sophomore big man Alex Kellogg, who has logged just 18 minutes this season and is still slowed by a sore knee. Kellogg’s uncertainty leaves both Jamine “Greedy” Peterson and Bilal Dixon in limbo. Both players appear heading toward becoming redshirted, but Davis won’t make a final call until the St. John’s contest.
“We hope to have Alex back by the conference play, but there has been a few setbacks,” said Davis. “We’re taking a long-range view of his health.”
The Red Storm descend upon Providence two weeks from today. In a worse-case scenario the Friars enter at 8-4. Best case, providing they knock off BC, is 9-3. Any way you slice it, this is a point in the season that cannot be overlooked.
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It should be interesting this Saturday when URI heads out to the Midwest to face familiar face Travis Ford and Oklahoma State. After letting a pair of golden chances slip through the cracks (Duke, Providence), the Rams need in the worst way to strengthen their resume with a noteworthy win, particularly one coming on the road.
Penn State, which URI knocked off last month, may hail from a BCS conference, but wins over Virginia Commonwealth and Northeastern offer little in the ways of telling us the Rams are NCAA Tournament material.
The difference from URI and PC is that the Friars have a chance, with the Big East being loaded with top-25 clubs, to nab a noteworthy win or two. The Rams will likely face just one nationally-ranked club in the Atlantic 10 (Xavier), but UMass and Temple showed recently that there are some other teams to pay attention to.
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School officials at Rutgers must have done a double take Tuesday morning when they glanced at the scores and saw Cleveland State bop off No. 11 Syracuse. Curiousness was no doubt raised when the Orange fell at buzzer, 72-69, courtesy of a 60-foot prayer, but what likely caused eyebrows to be raised in Piscataway was the architect behind the Vikings’ upset was once employed by the Scarlet Knights.
Once of Gary Waters’ biggest knocks at Rutgers is that he ignored the talent pool in the Tri-City region. When Waters was replaced with Fred Hill, the intention was that Hill would do a better job of fencing in the Garden State’s talent base instead of letting them flee to the likes of Duke and North Carolina.
Hill earned the reputation as a strong recruiter at Villanova, bringing in studs such as Randy Foye and Allan Ray. He hasn’t been able to work the same type of magic in Jersey as the Scarlet Knights are muddled in the same sorry predicament the program was in when Rutgers was dismissed in 2006.
Waters has been rejuvenated in his time at Cleveland State. He guided the Vikings into the NIT, the school’s first postseason appearance in 20 years. Playing in the Horizon League means you’re seeking to challenge the likes of Butler, but it seems the success that eluded Waters at Rutgers is appearing on the banks of Lake Erie.