Ed Cooley has quite the juggling act on his hands early this season. Unlike in years past, he has 11-12 players capable of giving him minutes, but capability hasn’t equated to consistent production (or defensive awareness) for much of the roster in November.
In Tuesday night’s win over Fairleigh Dickinson, Cooley sat veterans Maliek White and Emmitt Holt, and gave extensive playing time to sophomore point guard Makai Ashton-Langford. Notably, Ashton-Langford sat for the entirety of Providence’s previous game — a win against Iona in which White was a bright spot.
When asked about the decision, Cooley spoke in terms of wanting to get his younger guys on the floor, while noting that White was fighting through a stomach ailment: “We played a lot of guys — tried to give them an opportunity.