I know it's an exhibition.Native write up:
On Friday, 6-November-2015 at 7:00pm, the University of Rhode Island men's basketball team kicks off a new season in the Ryan Center with an exhibition game against a NCAA Division II foe, St Thomas Aquinas College.
Located in Rockland County, New York, St Thomas Aquinas College (aka STAC) is a private four-year liberal arts college that has a forty-eight acre campus in the suburban town of Sparkill, New York. Approximately 2400 students attend STAC.
The athletics teams at St Thomas Aquinas College are known as the Spartans. The Spartans play in the East Coast Conference, against other D-II teams like the University of Bridgeport, New York Institute of Technology, and Queens College.
The head coach for men's basketball at STAC is Tobin Anderson. Originally from Iowa, Anderson graduated in 1995 from Wesleyan University, where he was a four year starter and two year captain, and where he remains one of the top ten leading scorers in school history.
Anderson joined STAC in May 2013, after two years as an assistant coach at Division I Siena College. Prior to Sienna, Anderson had 14 years of coaching experience at the Division II and III levels, including head coaching stints at Hamilton College and Clarkson University.
Last year, the Spartans went 21-11 overall, advancing to the ECC Championship game. Head coach Tobin Anderson was honored by the Met Writers Basketball Association as its 2014-15 Coach of the Year.
So far this season, the St Thomas Aquinas College Spartans' M-BB team have themselves already played one exhibition game, a 90-58 upset victory Wednesday night over a Division I opponent, St. John's University of the Big East.
The Spartans' roster (with the starters from Wednesday's win over St John's shown in bold) is as follows:
- James Mitchell (5-9 160) Sophomore guard from Washington, DC. Point guard who can shoot the three. Don't let his height fool you: his 5 rebounds on Wednesday made him the Spartans second-strongest rebounder. He also scored 13 points, going 2-for-3 from beyond the arc.
- Peter Alkins (6-1 175) Redshirt freshman guard from Hempstead, NY, where he attended Holy Trinity High School. Little used garbage time player, who shoots poorly and is prone to turnovers.
- Aaron Cust (6-1 185) Junior guard from Uniondale, NY. A key part of the rotation for Coach Anderson, Cust had 9 points and 4 rebounds in 21 minutes on Wednesday.
- Chaz Watler (6-2 165) Junior guard from Brooklyn. Last season, Chaz Watler led the Spartans with 15.1 points per game, also averaged 2.5 assists and 4 rebounds. This season he is East Coast Conference preseason Player of the Year. On Wednesday in Carnesecca Arena, Watler started the new season off with a solid performance, scoring 18 points, and also adding 2 assists and 3 rebounds
- Jonathan Lawton (6-2 170) Freshman guard from Williamstown, New Jersey. Though just a freshman, he is part of the rotation. He had 8 points, and went 2-for-5 on treys against the Red Storm.
- Shaquille McFarlan (6-2 196) Sophomore guard from Mesic, North Carolina; he played his high school ball at St. Anthony. An aggressive defender, Shaq fouled out of Wednesday's game after playing for 23 minutes, scoring 7 points without attempting a three; he had one steal, one assist, and two turnovers.
- Adam Koziol (6-3 175) Freshman guard from Charlotte, North Caroline. Still learning college basketball, and not yet a member of the rotation.
- Ross Greenfield (6-3 200) Sophomore guard from Dix Hills, NY. Ninth man in an eight player rotation. He may see some time against Rhody, should the first eight guys get worn down.
- John Bradley Saxton (6-4 190) Senior guard from Hilliard, Ohio. Practice player who may see garbage time.
- Justin Reyes (6-4 196) Redshirt sophomore swingman from Haverhill, Mass, where he played for Whittier Voc Tech. Against St John's on Wednesday, Reyes was the Spartans' shining star: he played the most minutes (33), scored the most points (25), and got the most rebounds (12). While not much of a three-point threat, in the exhibition game against the Red Storm he shot 61% from the field and 60% from the free-throw line.
- Daniel Wilson (6-6 213) Freshman forward from Baltimore, Maryland, where he attended St Paul's School for Boys. Status unknown; he did not play on Wednesday night.
- Will Jenkins (6-7 215) Freshman forward from Baltimore, Maryland, where he played for Our Lady of Mt Carmel. Status unknown; he did not play on Wednesday night.
- Jules de Courtenay (6-7 220) Redshort sophomore forward from Brisbane, Australia; he played his prep ball at South Kent Prep. A bit of a banger, and somewhat foul-prone. Against the Red Storm on Wednesday, he had 4 points, and 4 rebounds, and 4 fouls in 14 minutes. Against Rhody on Friday, the Aussie Computer Science major will likely come off the bench to contribute strongly, unless fouls get in his way.
- Sam Berlin (6-10 240) The sophomore center from Manassas, Virginia, is tall and has some heft, but his stat line Wednesday night was not overly impressive: 6 points on 3-for-8 shooting; 2 rebounds, one each offensively and defensively; and 2 turnovers. But he is tall.
Coach Anderson likes to have his guys pressing on defense, and running on offense. In the upset win Wednesday, the Spartans used a full court press against St Johns, to the point where the Red Storm players had difficulty in-bounding the ball on multiple occasions due to their inability to separate themselves from Spartan defenders that were all over them.
On offense, the Spartans are a good shooting team. Wednesday night against the Johnnies man-to-man defense, the St Thomas Aquinas guys looked comfortable and were in sync, hitting 62 percent from the field and 63 percent from downtown in the first half, due perhaps to the fact that the Johnnies (with a bunch of untested players and a first-time coach) were giving the Spartans wide open looks all night.
For a Division II school, St Thomas has a decent amount of size. The Rockland county school has four players who stand 6’6" or taller, including a 6’10" center. On Wednesday against St Johns, the Spartans won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding their Division I opponents 43-41.
Look -- I know that the game Friday night is just an exhibition game, and that the 2015-16 season officially opens for the Rhody men's basketball team with the game next Friday against American. I am fully aware that STAC is a Division II team, and that there is no way that URI is going to drop a game in the Ryan Center by losing to a D-2 team. I just have two words for you: Lubbock Christian.
GO RHODY!
I know it doesn't matter.
I know it won't be competitive.
I know people will be saying how one of the bench players is WAY better than we thought he'd be.
BUT
It's an actual game, against an actual team, with real refs.
Is anybody else looking forward to it?
A 30+ pt loss to a Div 2 team could be unprecedented....even in an exhibition.
