Providence Friars guard Devin Carter is the Big East Player of the Year

NEW YORK — Devin Carter officially joined the ranks of Providence College men's basketball greats Wednesday afternoon.

The junior guard was named the Big East Player of the Year, the second member of the program to earn the honor since the conference was formed.

Carter was a finalist with Marquette guard Tyler Kolek, Connecticut guard Tristen Newton and Creighton guard Baylor Scheierman. All four were unanimous selections to the all-conference first team earlier this week. Kolek, a Cumberland native who starred for the Clippers and prepped at St. George’s, took home the award for the Golden Eagles last season.

More: Here's what Providence basketball must do if it hopes to make the NCAA Tournament.

“I feel blessed,” Carter said. “Not a lot of people get to say they’re Big East Player of the Year. There are a lot of great people around the league.”

Kris Dunn was the first Friars player to claim the honor, sharing it with Villanova guard Ryan Arcidiacono in 2014-15 and winning it outright in 2015-16. Eric Murdock was voted the league’s best by the New York Post in 1990-91. Both, like Carter, were impactful backcourt players at each end of the floor.

How good has Devin Carter been this year?

“He plays to win,” Providence coach Kim English said. “His competitiveness is probably his best trait, along with a ton of skill. It says he’s focusing on the right thing.”

Carter averaged 21.4 points through 20 league games, winning the conference scoring championship. He added 8.6 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 38.5% shooting from 3-point range over the course of 31 games in the regular season. Carter racked up 12 double-doubles to rank third in the league — his latest included 24 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in a 74-60 loss to the Huskies.

“We saw exactly who he was today when we watched film,” English said. “It was about convincing him to play this way that we wanted him to play.”

What's Devin Carter's back story?

Carter transferred from South Carolina after one season and helped power Providence to an NCAA Tournament berth in 2022-23. His improvements from that Friars debut have been considerable — up from 29.9% in 3-point shooting, up 8.5% in assist rate and up 10.2% in defensive rebounding rate. He topped Providence in each of those last two categories.

“I put in a lot of work,” Carter said. “I’m not surprised by the outcomes. I’m very thankful to the coaches for voting for me.”

Carter is a Miami native — that was the first NBA home for his father, Anthony, and his game-winning shot in overtime helped the Heat to a playoff victory against the New York Knicks here at Madison Square Garden in 2000. He’s currently an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies and was at Amica Mutual Pavilion for that season finale against UConn. Carter prepped at New Hampshire power Brewster Academy and was a four-star prospect who selected the Gamecocks ahead of offers from California, Georgia Tech, VCU, Richmond, DePaul and others.

“He was excited,” Carter said. “He had a game-winner here. It was like a full life circle.”

Carter has helped the Friars maintain their chances of a March Madness berth into this week despite the long-term absence of Bryce Hopkins. The junior forward missed his 18th straight game Wednesday night against Georgetown as he continues a recovery from left knee surgery. It’s largely been Carter and Josh Oduro who have carried Providence to a 19-12 overall mark and a 10-10 record in conference play.

“It was actually his voice and his attitude in our practices,” English said. “He tried to pick up his teammates. He tried to have a better attitude — accept coaching more, accept the burden.

“We had some film sessions after losses this season where I went straight at Devin. It wasn’t his fault that we lost. If you’re the leader, you’re going to have to accept that responsibility, and he did. He took it.”

Who else earned Big East awards?

Carter was one of three major awards winners honored. UConn’s Dan Hurley was named Coach of the Year and Huskies guard Stephon Castle was tabbed Freshman of the Year. Hurley and Castle helped drive UConn to a first regular-season conference title since 2005-06 and have the Huskies in position to make a credible defense of the national championship they won last season.

It’s the second major conference honor for Hurley. He was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year at the University of Rhode Island in 2017-18. The Rams earned their first regular season crown in that league and reached a second straight NCAA Tournament before Hurley was hired away by the Huskies.

Providence is playing for its playoff life in New York this week, hoping to go deep into the tournament to secure a spot in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. PC's first game will be played Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. against Georgetown.

bkoch@providencejournal.com

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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence Friars guard Devin Carter is the Big East Player of the Year