12/21 | Western Kentucky | 2:00PM (ESPN+/YurView)

[Bill Koch]

Western Kentucky game story with video.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Worst officiating I've ever seen.

Yeah I mean I’m very cautious about blaming the refs but this one has been hard to ignore. I was saying it even when we were up double digits. It’s the white guy with the crew cut specifically who has made several calls that were indefensible.

I think he was the guy that made the call on Jeff (who was on the baseline) from half court...when the ref on the baseline was two feet away and saw nothing?

[Blue Man]

Late to the party here but Harris won us that game. Credit where it’s due;he made 3 huge winning plays it OT.

With the way walker played I wonder if it lit a fire under #0 - but if he plays with that effort all year we’ll have a serious shot to make some noise in March.

[PeteRI]

I was impressed with Walker, he is going to be a great addition.

I was questioning Cox putting in Harris for Walker late but Harris made two key plays at the end.

Some good FT shooting down the stretch to help close it out in OT.

Phew!

Correction - Jermaine Harris made THREE huge defensive plays in the span of 1 minute. He basically won us the game.

[urirx]

Harris had his best overall game as a ram. Making the 3 was icing, but overall I didn’t cringe each time the ball went near him. He made some smart plays in overtime
Walker has a shot that may help us get over dying to every time I see a team switch to zone. Small Sample size but he will he liked
Martin stepped up huge. Had a a game like we saw with fatts last year, lots of shots, that leads to lots of points. Hope he learns efficiency soon. Play overall was solid
Refs called a very lose game, very physical that real helped control Fatts for western Kentucky. My row mates were pretty convinced Fatts was a hand wave away from getting a T in overtime.

[Rhodyram]

I was impressed with Walker, he is going to be a great addition.

I was questioning Cox putting in Harris for Walker late but Harris made two key plays at the end.

Some good FT shooting down the stretch to help close it out in OT.

Phew!

Correction - Jermaine Harris made THREE huge defensive plays in the span of 1 minute. He basically won us the game.

Yes- those defensive plays were huge. Not sure they show up on the stat sheet.
It was also big that cox had him in at the end of the game which has not been the case. I’m happy for him.

[Dino611]

Appears to be a recruit in the house, first row behind bench. Anyone recognize him?

There might have been but I also recognized that Greg was behind the bench saw him walking out passed my seat at the beginning of OT

[Bill Koch]

Western Kentucky notes -- NET rankings, Antwan Walker and his debut, much more.

[theblueram]

Harris had his best overall game as a ram. Making the 3 was icing, but overall I didn’t cringe each time the ball went near him. He made some smart plays in overtime
Walker has a shot that may help us get over dying to every time I see a team switch to zone. Small Sample size but he will he liked
Martin stepped up huge. Had a a game like we saw with fatts last year, lots of shots, that leads to lots of points. Hope he learns efficiency soon. Play overall was solid
Refs called a very lose game, very physical that real helped control Fatts for western Kentucky. My row mates were pretty convinced Fatts was a hand wave away from getting a T in overtime.

Definitely with you RX. That ref put his whistle in his mouth watching Fatts and was just waiting to T him up.

[Urifan91]

Appears to be a recruit in the house, first row behind bench. Anyone recognize him?

There might have been but I also recognized that Greg was behind the bench saw him walking out passed my seat at the beginning of OT

Ok was likely him then as I noticed he left about that time too

[Da_Process_Survivor]

Not about to complain about any W we get with Jeff and Fatts combining for 8-33 from the floor

[section(105)]

.......great win and team playing with some toughness when needed to fend off the runs, liked Jermaines game today, if Walker delivers similar numbers going forward with his minutes, he will have to move into the starting lineup......

[section(105)]

I hope Rick Stansbury has a stroke. What a piece of shit this guy is. Has gotten every call and then some today, already got t’d up on a pedestrian call, then they call a foul at the end when WKU IS TRYING TO FOUL, and he loses his mind in a way that would make Tom Izzo blush. Fuck that guy.

........really?......

[Justns11]

I hope Rick Stansbury has a stroke. What a piece of shit this guy is. Has gotten every call and then some today, already got t’d up on a pedestrian call, then they call a foul at the end when WKU IS TRYING TO FOUL, and he loses his mind in a way that would make Tom Izzo blush. Fuck that guy.

........really?......

How is it okay for one of the message board moderators to say something like this? Pretty fucked up.

[RhodyRam86]

How did J. Harris play?

I thought he played well, but could have been better. He had several chances at easy baskets, but was just too tentative when he got the ball under the hoop. There were a few times that what should have been uncontested dunks ended up being contested layups. Otherwise i thought he was good and a major contributor in the first half. Agree with Blue Man...Harris did come up with some big defensive plays in the last 3 minutes of OT.

[section(105)]

I hope Rick Stansbury has a stroke. What a piece of shit this guy is. Has gotten every call and then some today, already got t’d up on a pedestrian call, then they call a foul at the end when WKU IS TRYING TO FOUL, and he loses his mind in a way that would make Tom Izzo blush. Fuck that guy.

........really?......

How is it okay for one of the message board moderators to say something like this? Pretty fucked up.

......it is not OK......

[TruePoint]

I hope Rick Stansbury has a stroke. What a piece of shit this guy is. Has gotten every call and then some today, already got t’d up on a pedestrian call, then they call a foul at the end when WKU IS TRYING TO FOUL, and he loses his mind in a way that would make Tom Izzo blush. Fuck that guy.

........really?......

Yes?

[Rhodyram]

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier but it looked like Toppin tweaked his back- was walking very gingerly after the game.

[RhodyRam86]

I knew nothing about Walker coming in. I thought he was going to be another Ryan Preston or Mike Leyssard. What impressed me most about him was he didn't let the game or his emotions speed him up. He was very under control whenever the ball found him. Looked like he had a smooth stroke on a couple of those jumpers. Jeff plays well in that high post against the zone, but it' would be great to have a guy with a bit more length that can distribute and make that 10-15 foot jumper.

[TruePoint]

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier but it looked like Toppin tweaked his back- was walking very gingerly after the game.

I saw the same thing. Not sure if it happened on the play or not, but when he had his offensive rebound and put-back and WKU called timeout, I saw him grabbing at it on his way back to the sideline. Hopefully minor.

[Urifan91]

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier but it looked like Toppin tweaked his back- was walking very gingerly after the game.

Yes he definitely did. Late in regulation he went up and got a rebound and put it back in over someone and then there was a timeout and he was grimacing a lot and someone came over with a handheld device and started working on his lower back. Then he actually went back in locker room for a bit before coming back to bench and reentering the game.

[theblueram]

It's so nice to win.

[Rhody72]

The team looked like that hadn't played in weeks and had a new player in the line-up. While they couldn't put WKU away, they showed that they were not just the Fatts, Jeff and Cyril show. URI has a lot of talent and just needs a few more games to gel. Walker is the real deal.

Too many bad shots off penetration. Jeff, Fatts and Tyrese need to be able to dish when they penetrate and get swallowed up by the defense. This is not just on them, our big men need to make themselves available to receive the pass.

Yes we won against a good team even if it was a good team without one of their better players. I'm optimistic - the game against VCU will be telling.

[theblueram]

The team looked like that hadn't played in weeks and had a new player in the line-up. While they couldn't put WKU away, they showed that they were not just the Fatts, Jeff and Cyril show. URI has a lot of talent and just needs a few more games to gel. Walker is the real deal.

Too many bad shots off penetration. Jeff, Fatts and Tyrese need to be able to dish when they penetrate and get swallowed up by the defense. This is not just on them, our big men need to make themselves available to receive the pass.

Yes we won against a good team even if it was a good team without one of their better players. I'm optimistic - the game against VCU will be telling.

The game against Dayton will be telling you mean.

[RhodyRam86]

i think we have a telling game with richmond before the telling games with VCU and Dayton.

[Joe95]

i think we have a telling game with richmond before the telling games with VCU and Dayton.

I think the Richmond game, might be one of the most entertaining matchups of the season on January 5th. Richmond will be a borderline top 30 squad coming into the Ryan Center.

[rambone 78]

Just win baby! I'm being sold on Cox....this guy knows how to win the close ones.

Something you don't see very often at URI.

A game like this, I don't care how they win, just that they won, especially without a great game from Fatts.

Just have to manage the dings and dents injury wise this season.

This team is showing toughness when it counts.

[MrRamsDen76]

He was trans Fatts today. Was pressing and shot selection was more like his sophomore year. But he did hit a big jump shot in crunch time, and he is one of toughest and most fearless players I have ever seen play for URI. With the game on the line, I want him to have the ball in his hands. Dowtin would be a very close second.

[Billyboy78]

Fatts was still shaking and rubbing his hand/wrist. It's still bothering him.

[TruePoint]

I didn’t think Fatts’ shot selection was too bad. A couple forces, but on this team he isn’t exactly taking food off anyone’s plate. Someone is going to have to press the issue to create offense sometimes, and he’s the most capable of doing that. I didn’t get the sense that he was forcing it for selfish reasons, but on this team some possessions are going to require him to do that.

[rambone 78]

If Fatts has a sprained wrist ligament it will be an issue the rest of the season.

Takes longer than a couple weeks for something like that to completely heal. At least there's not really much chance he could make it worse.

They have another 8 days off now, hopefully that helps.

After that, there aren't any breaks the rest of the way.

[Seawrightspostgame]

So much fun to sit there and watch this team. What a stocked roster. Harris has been fine and is really stepping it up. The guy is huge, shoots the best free throw on the team and plays defense on the ball like a dog. Anything lacking will come. Such an awesome roster.

[Billyboy78]

Fatts and Jeff both had 8 assists. That's outstanding.

[DeanDome88]

If Fatts has a sprained wrist ligament it will be an issue the rest of the season.

Takes longer than a couple weeks for something like that to completely heal. At least there's not really much chance he could make it worse.

They have another 8 days off now, hopefully that helps.

After that, there aren't any breaks the rest of the way.

Kind of hard to judge from the nose bleed section but he hit the court pretty hard on at least one fall after a trip.

[PeterRamTime]

So much fun to sit there and watch this team. What a stocked roster. Harris has been fine and is really stepping it up. The guy is huge, shoots the best free throw on the team and plays defense on the ball like a dog. Anything lacking will come. Such an awesome roster.

We still have Tate coming back too!

Has starter ability!

Then we will have at least 7 to 8 guys who can start. With Long being the last guy who proved he ain't scared and can make plays with his energy.

We can really out muscle the A-10.

We can beat anybody in the conference if Fatts and Jeff shoot well because we have power 5 athleticism and length with Harris playing well and the addition of Walker.


Can't forget about how well Martin played today!

He was more aggressive than I've ever seen. He has so much upside.

[JimSidd]

I hope Rick Stansbury has a stroke. What a piece of shit this guy is. Has gotten every call and then some today, already got t’d up on a pedestrian call, then they call a foul at the end when WKU IS TRYING TO FOUL, and he loses his mind in a way that would make Tom Izzo blush. Fuck that guy.

I thought the guy coached his ass off. First game without his star player (I’m not counting the exhibition game the other night), on the road against a good opponent and gave his team a chance to win. He stuck with the zone even when Rhody had a couple of runs to stretch the lead because he knew this would give his team its best chance to win. They scrapped for rebounds even though they were undersized. They hung in there and gave effort, which is usually a reflection on the coach. He used the type of offense they needed to best pull the game out.

Steve and Don were complimentary on the post game show.

[Rhody83]

Great to get the win. A lot of positives led by Harris and Walker.
Walker, Harris & Cyril 13-21 FG.
21 Assists and only 10 turnovers
Great plays by Harris in OT as mentioned. The tip back on Jeff’s missed FT was huge. How about only one foul for Harris!
Jeff & Fatts 8-33. Jeff was 3-11 in the 2nd half and missed a lot of open shots in the lane.
They started the 2nd half breaking down the zone and getting layups to build an 11 point lead. Then got happy with the outside shot.
Your three inside guys shoot 62% on 21 shots and your three outside guys shoot 30% on 56 shots. Need more shots from inside. I realize that is not easy to do.
Mekhi first off the bench but he didn’t do much.
Offense was really stagnant the last 5 minutes of regulation even before Cox called for them to use the clock (the last 3+ minutes).
Martin really struggled defending a G. He couldn’t stay in front of them which led to a lot of layups off drives.
The 8 man rotation looked good.

[Rhody83]

If Fatts has a sprained wrist ligament it will be an issue the rest of the season.

Takes longer than a couple weeks for something like that to completely heal. At least there's not really much chance he could make it worse.

They have another 8 days off now, hopefully that helps.

After that, there aren't any breaks the rest of the way.

Fatts hurt his wrist against PC on the last play of the 1st half. Then lit up PC in the 2nd half for 16 points. No concern.

[Billyboy78]

Jeff passed Tommy Garrick in career assists to move into 5th place all-time. He will end up at least 3rd with a chance to catch Silk Owens for 2nd. No one is catching Tyson.

[Billyboy78]

Also, Cyril passed Jimmy Wright in career rebounds to move into 7th place all-time. He will most likely pass Hass in the next game to move into 6th.

[JimSidd]

I was there. A few observations:

Decent crowd, but I thought there would be more. I realize it’s a tough time: the weekend before Christmas, students are away and the Patriots played today. However, it was a 4:30 start: enough time to get home or somewhere to watch most of it. I think the game was promoted well. I even saw a couple of tv ads and it was promoted on the local tv sports reports this week.

It was nice to see Harris make those big plays in overtime. It was interesting that they got him involved in the first two offensive possessions in both halves. All about trying to build his confidence.

Not much to add about Walker besides what’s already been stated. Excellent first game: didn’t look rusty at all.

I thought Fatts was hunting for points a bit on a couple of those late drives. He really had nowhere to go. On the other hand, as has been stated, the offense got stagnant late, so he probably felt he had to do something. It drives me crazy when either Jeff or Fatts is standing and dribbling at the top of the key and the other four players are just standing around. It reminded me of last year.

I agree with those who mentioned that Martin can’t defend guards. Hollingsworth took him to school twice on drives late. I give Stansbury credit for recognizing it, but I give credit to Cox for switching on the next possession and putting Jeff on him. I don’t know what Sheppard’s reputation is as a defender, but I felt at one point it would be nice to have a third guard as a defender.

Speaking of Jeff, I think he had some bad luck on some of his mid range shots: a few bounced around and out. He needs to keep taking them and they will fall.

[RamStock]

Nice start to his URI career for Walker. Nice offensive game for Martin and very solid overall game for Harris. It was nice to see other people contribute on the offensive game when Fatts wasn’t having his best day. It would have been nice to have Sheppard this year as he could have spelled both Fatts and Dowtin more and played plenty of minutes in a game that Western Kentucky used a smaller team. Much improved depth in the front court with Walker and Long playing a little more now.

[Section104]

Walker isn’t quite Langevine on the boards, but it appears he’s a clear #2 on the team in that category, which was much needed.

We have so much length with Walker, Martin, Dowtin, Harris, Langevine, Long, Toppin and Tate all completely capable of guarding numerous positions and posing matchup nightmares if we go big.

Our length will create some problems for smaller opponents. We can throw Dowtin, Martin, and 2 of Walker, Harris, Tate, Toppin, Long, with Langevine and we will have the edge from a size and athleticism standpoint.

Good win. Survive and advance.

[TruePoint]

I hope Rick Stansbury has a stroke. What a piece of shit this guy is. Has gotten every call and then some today, already got t’d up on a pedestrian call, then they call a foul at the end when WKU IS TRYING TO FOUL, and he loses his mind in a way that would make Tom Izzo blush. Fuck that guy.

I thought the guy coached his ass off. First game without his star player (I’m not counting the exhibition game the other night), on the road against a good opponent and gave his team a chance to win. He stuck with the zone even when Rhody had a couple of runs to stretch the lead because he knew this would give his team its best chance to win. They scrapped for rebounds even though they were undersized. They hung in there and gave effort, which is usually a reflection on the coach. He used the type of offense they needed to best pull the game out.

Steve and Don were complimentary on the post game show.

He’s a very good coach. I couldn’t believe the temper tantrum he had after they called the foul on WKU when they were trying to foul at the end of the game.

Also, I saw that some posters felt I shouldn’t have said I hope he has a stroke. I hope it goes without saying that I don’t really hope the guy has a stroke.

[PeteRI]

I thought you mistyped "I hope Rick Stansbury has a Coke."

[JimSidd]

I hope Rick Stansbury has a stroke. What a piece of shit this guy is. Has gotten every call and then some today, already got t’d up on a pedestrian call, then they call a foul at the end when WKU IS TRYING TO FOUL, and he loses his mind in a way that would make Tom Izzo blush. Fuck that guy.

I thought the guy coached his ass off. First game without his star player (I’m not counting the exhibition game the other night), on the road against a good opponent and gave his team a chance to win. He stuck with the zone even when Rhody had a couple of runs to stretch the lead because he knew this would give his team its best chance to win. They scrapped for rebounds even though they were undersized. They hung in there and gave effort, which is usually a reflection on the coach. He used the type of offense they needed to best pull the game out.

Steve and Don were complimentary on the post game show.

He’s a very good coach. I couldn’t believe the temper tantrum he had after they called the foul on WKU when they were trying to foul at the end of the game.

Also, I saw that some posters felt I shouldn’t have said I hope he has a stroke. I hope it goes without saying that I don’t really hope the guy has a stroke.

I think many of us posters watch a lot of college basketball. His temper tantrums put him in a club with at least 100 other coaches. I see a lot of whining, screaming, begging, etc from many coaches throughout the season. Even our own David Cox has had his share of blowups at officials. I think Stansbury took the first technical intentionally. The foul was committed at the other end from his bench, so he didn’t have a clear view. I was on that baseline and it was an obvious foul. He stepped well on to the court, so he had to know a T was coming. On that play in his corner late, they were about to trap Fatts and it looked from the other baseline that he was close to stepping on the baseline. I think Stansbury might have felt the whistle was a bit quick because they were ready to trap Fatts.

[reef]

The call where Stansbury went ballistic was a close one the ref gave us the benefit of the doubt as they were about to foul

Refs also Gave a continuation call to WKU that was awful

[Running Ram]

There were a few bad calls in favor of WKU, but none as bad as the phantom call they gifted us on that what should have been Fatt's turn over, I'll take it. It's not the first time a ref has made a call based on the game situation, but might be one of the few times we were the beneficiaries of such a call. Then Fatts calmly cans his free throws, I love it! 86% from the line, I'll also take that.

[URIRecruitingInfo]

I thought the guy coached his ass off. First game without his star player (I’m not counting the exhibition game the other night), on the road against a good opponent and gave his team a chance to win. He stuck with the zone even when Rhody had a couple of runs to stretch the lead because he knew this would give his team its best chance to win. They scrapped for rebounds even though they were undersized. They hung in there and gave effort, which is usually a reflection on the coach. He used the type of offense they needed to best pull the game out.

Steve and Don were complimentary on the post game show.

He’s a very good coach. I couldn’t believe the temper tantrum he had after they called the foul on WKU when they were trying to foul at the end of the game.

Also, I saw that some posters felt I shouldn’t have said I hope he has a stroke. I hope it goes without saying that I don’t really hope the guy has a stroke.

I think many of us posters watch a lot of college basketball. His temper tantrums put him in a club with at least 100 other coaches. I see a lot of whining, screaming, begging, etc from many coaches throughout the season. Even our own David Cox has had his share of blowups at officials. I think Stansbury took the first technical intentionally. The foul was committed at the other end from his bench, so he didn’t have a clear view. I was on that baseline and it was an obvious foul. He stepped well on to the court, so he had to know a T was coming. On that play in his corner late, they were about to trap Fatts and it looked from the other baseline that he was close to stepping on the baseline. I think Stansbury might have felt the whistle was a bit quick because they were ready to trap Fatts.

I know we can't really talk when it comes to coach tantrums but Stansbury repeatedly refused to leave the court, have no idea why the refs put up with it. Also, at the end, he completely bodied that ref as he screamed in his ear. Don't ever recall Hurley making that much contact with a ref. Stansbury also was clearly trying to distract our players when they took 3's in front of their bench in the first half, Toppin even gave him shit for it when he hit his 3. About a minute after that, Stansbury did it again to Tyrese.

[Billyboy78]

I have only one gripe about this game. Can we please stop the stall ball? It started when we were up by 7 with about 5 minutes left. All it does is create a forced shot at the end of the shot clock. Too many things can go wrong when the offense is initiated with about 10 seconds on the clock. Obviously it didn't work. It took away our momentum and let them back in the game. If we're up by 10 with 2 minutes left, fine. But I think up by 7 with 5 minutes left is way too early. Once again, this is my only gripe. I'm very happy with the win.