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In three games of the Maui Invitational in Asheville, N.C., Providence got thumped by Indiana in the opener, eked by Davidson and was pasted by Alabama in the fifth-place game.
"I'm not very happy with the way we played in this tournament at all," Providence coach Ed Cooley said after the loss to the Crimson Tide. "There are so many holes in our team so I have to get with our staff and figure it out, rotations, whatever."
Providence (2-2) will try to figure it out when it hosts Fairleigh Dickinson (0-3) on Saturday.
The Friars struggled after the intermission against Alabama, which used a 16-2 run to take a 23-point lead midway through the second half and coasted to an 88-71 victory on Wednesday.
Starters not named Nate Watson or David Duke combined for 13 points and made 4 of 18 attempts from the field in 74 minutes. Watson finished with 17 points by making 6 of 8 attempts from the field, but he had just three rebounds. Duke contributed 19 points and six assists.
Rebounding has been a problem in the two losses, as the Friars surrendered 27 offensive rebounds and were outrebounded 77-58.
Watson, who has upped his average from 9.0 points last season to 18.5 on 61 percent shooting this season, and Duke, who averages 15.5 points, have been the only consistent contributors.
As a team, the Friars are shooting 24 percent from behind the arc, down from 33 percent last season. They have made just 8 of 40 attempts from 3-point range in their two losses. Duke has made 7 of 15 attempts from downtown, but the rest of the team has made 10 of 57 attempts (17.6 percent).
Fairleigh Dickinson has dropped all its games -- all on the road -- by double digits, the latest a 73-58 setback at Hofstra on Monday.
The Knights turned a nine-point deficit into a 40-31 halftime lead by holding the Pride to one field goal over the final 11 minutes, but Hofstra outscored FDU 42-18 in the second half.
"This team continues to get better every single day but it is going to take time to play consistently for the entire 40 minutes," coach Greg Herenda said following the game. "Everyone is getting so much valuable experience right now and this will help us in our upcoming conference season and beyond."
Brandon Rush leads the Knights at 17.7 points per game and a team-high eight 3-pointers, while Jahlil Jenkins averages 13 points per game.
--Field Level Media
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