PROVIDENCE — He’s far from perfect, but it is so far, so good for Sharaud Curry’s comeback from offseason foot surgery.

Curry started for the Friars and played 15 of the first half’s 20 minutes last night and appeared to move confidently most of the way. He did not shoot once and didn’t register an assist before leaving the game late in the first half. Curry didn’t play at all in the second half, but new coach Keno Davis said that was all part of the plan.

“I just decided this week that I wanted him to get a good half of work in,” Davis said. “I wanted him to get in front of the fans, get his feet wet, and no matter how good he looked, I was going to sit him the second half and give him a couple days to rest and recover.”

Curry said he was still nervous about the strength of his foot but said that “it’s getting better and better every time I play on it.”

Curry said he planned on seeing the Boston Celtics’ foot specialist this week to check on his foot. He hasn’t made a full week of practice yet but is hoping to work up to speed by the time the regular season rolls around, in two weeks.

“It’s going to be marathon for us,” said Davis. “I don’t need him to try to extend himself now. He didn’t say anything about any pain. He’s playing with some discomfort and he’s fighting a lot of rust as well. He’s a tough kid that will be there for us.”

Top guns

Davis has continually spoke of finding his top seven or eight players and he seems intent on paring his rotation down to that number over the next few weeks.

Davis started Curry, Weyinmi Efejuku, Randall Hanke, Geoff McDermott and Brian McKenzie last night. The first two subs into the game were Jeff Xavier and Jonathan Kale. Marshon Brooks has impressed in practices and looked much improved in his 24 minutes last night.

The one substitution decision that made fans scratch their heads was the exclusion of high-flying forward Jamine “Greedy” Peterson from the action all night. Davis played several walk-ons in front of Peterson but said he was considering redshirting the sophomore from Brooklyn and wouldn’t want to lose that opportunity by playing him in exhibition games.

“With the NCAA rules, freshmen and first-year players are allowed to play in the exhibition games and it doesn’t effect their eligibility,” said Davis. “Greedy is not in our top eight right now, so I wouldn’t want to waste his year. I’m not going to use him for just mop-up minutes. This gives us at least the option of a redshirt, but it’s no decision we’re going to make any time soon. He’s one of the guys who’ve improved the most since the time we’ve gotten here. He’s an incredible athlete and works extremely hard, and as he works on other parts of his game, I expect him to be a real good player for us.”

kmcnamar@projo.com