11/28 | University of South Florida | 5:30 PM (ESPN3) | Bubbleville – Mohegan Sun

[The Dude]

I think we'll look back on this win in a couple of months & will start to realize how big it is. I really think USF will be more like the team we saw in the 2nd half of the game & will really be a solid force in their conference. They have some talented big men & a stud guard in Caleb Murphy. I can see them being a tournament team.

[luke]

Better game today . It was encouraging to see them break out again when the lead dropped to 9 . Let's see if they can build on this win tomorrow.
good to se Harris get some minutes . He looked fine today . hope he is. A very nice game from Makhel Mitchell . Fatts and Sheppard led the way with
their leadership . Nice game from Walker too. great ft shooting today . I hope that is more indicative of what we can expect.

[Urifan91]

Maybe Coach had them shooting FTs all day on the day off yesterday.

Going to be fun to watch Shepard and Fatts rack up the steals this year.

Also the Human Tarantula DJ Johnson has a nice shot from the outside and the length to block some shots on the inside.

[ram1980]

Did we win? Were we in control the whole game? Did we score 84 points? Was our defensive intensity much better in the first half? Adding a healthy Harris only adds to the depth of this team.. definitely a strength. Yup too many fouls. Yup not a perfect win but I'm happy.. love to win. This team by far has more talent and depth than last year. How will it play out who knows but enjoy the wins when they come..

[SandorClegane]

Rhody wins by 16 and the comments on the forum seem like we lost by 16... Happy we’re in the win column. Let’s string together 15 more!

[reef]

Good solid win over a bad USF team

Nice to see JH get in there and contribute

30-35 from the line nice and let’s get out of Mohegan 2-2

[section(105)]

Good solid win over a bad USF team

Nice to see JH get in there and contribute

30-35 from the line nice and let’s get out of Mohegan 2-2

......yep on USF, not going to drive one hour plus, and pay $10 parking(on campus) this winter to see that slop......

[NYGFan_Section208]

I think we'll look back on this win in a couple of months & will start to realize how big it is. I really think USF will be more like the team we saw in the 2nd half of the game & will really be a solid force in their conference. They have some talented big men & a stud guard in Caleb Murphy. I can see them being a tournament team.

Murphy, with one of the more interesting 'do's in recent memory. When I first saw it, I thought, ok...double rooster. Then, after a couple more looks, it was like...whoa, is that a triple rooster? And then after enough good looks it became clear that what we have there is actually...a double rooster, with one of the roosters being two-headed.

[section(105)]

....so are you seconding my nomination for the all hair team, this season?....

[rambone 78]

I agree.....progress today....Mitchells way better.

What did I say earlier about our FT shooting?

30-35. That's crazy. Let's not regress back to the first 2 games, please.

[DC_Rams]

We won!

It’s the result we wanted.

On to the next.

Go Rhody!

[Rhodymob05]

We held a double digit lead all game and finished with a double digit lead and the Rams were the underdog.

[rhodylaw]

HARRIS FOR 3!!! My man!

Not a good thing. It is going to make him believe he should shoot more of them.

He has a good looking outside shot - I want him to keep taking (and making) those shots. Makes him such a better player to be able to play inside and out.

[NYGFan_Section208]

....so are you seconding my nomination for the all hair team, this season?....

He's the leader in the clubhouse for me at this point. Haven't seen a lot of games, but that thing is...something.

[ramster]

....so are you seconding my nomination for the all hair team, this season?....

He's the leader in the clubhouse for me at this point. Haven't seen a lot of games, but that thing is...something.

Also in the running....

[NYGFan_Section208]

not sure about that one, ramster....I don't see any real effort or imagination there...

[The Dude]

HARRIS FOR 3!!! My man!

Not a good thing. It is going to make him believe he should shoot more of them.

He has a good looking outside shot - I want him to keep taking (and making) those shots. Makes him such a better player to be able to play inside and out.

Jermaine can hit the 3pt shot in warm ups consistently. It's not like it hasn't been a part of his skill set. The lack of moaning fans every time he puts up a 3pt shot will probably be a blessing as far as his confidence in his shot is concerned. We saw him start to hit the 3pt shot during games last season, but he wasn't all that aware as to when the appropriate time to take that shot was. In my opinion, during this game he appears to have improved. He hit his first shot. He took one more & missed. He didn't take another. Both shots were when URI was up by a decent margin.
If he can hit the 3pt shot with any kind of consistency, it can only be a great thing for URI as it will spread the floor & open up the middle of the paint for the guards by drawing a big man outside. Plus, it adds yet another player who can hit a shot from the perimeter. It would make him a special talent who could score inside & outside, while also blocking shots & getting rebounds.
I'm excited to see what he can do as the season moves on.
In 11 minutes he was 1-2 FG, 1-2 3PT, 3-4 FT, & had 2 rebounds & 1 assist. That is some damn good work.

[ramster]

Not a good thing. It is going to make him believe he should shoot more of them.

He has a good looking outside shot - I want him to keep taking (and making) those shots. Makes him such a better player to be able to play inside and out.

Jermaine can hit the 3pt shot in warm ups consistently. It's not like it hasn't been a part of his skill set. The lack of moaning fans every time he puts up a 3pt shot will probably be a blessing as far as his confidence in his shot is concerned. We saw him start to hit the 3pt shot during games last season, but he wasn't all that aware as to when the appropriate time to take that shot was. In my opinion, during this game he appears to have improved. He hit his first shot. He took one more & missed. He didn't take another. Both shots were when URI was up by a decent margin.
If he can hit the 3pt shot with any kind of consistency, it can only be a great thing for URI as it will spread the floor & open up the middle of the paint for the guards by drawing a big man outside. Plus, it adds yet another player who can hit a shot from the perimeter. It would make him a special talent who could score inside & outside, while also blocking shots & getting rebounds.
I'm excited to see what he can do as the season moves on.
In 11 minutes he was 1-2 FG, 1-2 3PT, 3-4 FT, & had 2 rebounds & 1 assist. That is some damn good work.

Agree with you Dude. Excellent point that he didn’t have the Collection of Ryan Center Fans groaning (not all Ryan Center fans would groan) when he took the 3’s tonight. He looked smooth and comfortable with his release.
I’ve also seen him hit the 3’s with great consistency in warmups for the past two years. Cox and staff know he can hit the 3’s which is why they allow them. Will be interesting to watch Harris without fans this season to see how he does shooting.

[PeterRamTime]

Watched a replay of the game and then read through the thread here...

Most negative I've ever seen it during a double digit win over a team like USF... like I did not feel as upset as many of you guys lol. Sheesh!

We were sloppy but solid! Came out with some fire and bullied them early to get a big lead out of the gates. Its what we should have done against BC.

We didn't play quite as well as AZ St, but it was pretty significantly better than BC. All around better offensively and defensively.

I think this game showed how much we benefitted from playing AZ St and BC compared to how they played a bad game against an NAIA team.

They were not ready for us and it took them until the second half to get it in gear.

How about the twins people?! How were you all not freaking out about how night and day they were??? They played waaay better than I thought they could in this game. Don't know what they did in their hotel room yesterday but it work. Especially Makhel! Holy shit! He played raw in those first two games then comes out here today nailing a 17 foot jump shot, worked in the post for an and1, made most his free throws... Makhi 7-8 from the FT line!

Extremely encouraging play by both of them and I cannot understand how they can magically shoot free throws now.

Jermaine Harris looks like a different guy out there. Small sample size with a little injury, but he is way more comfortable out there. Looks stronger. Made a three. Positioned himself well. Looked strong defensively. He's a little bigger too.

Malik is struggling, but he's really doing a lot defensively that I like. He will settle in.

Our guards will overwhelm many with their quickness.

The BC game was rough, but we responded really well.

As for the announcers.... they could have talked about the team that was winning a little more....

I thought they were cool though! Said some funny things. They were being themselves, no cliches, I respect it!

Twan and them were makin me laugh at the end! Gotta love how much fun they were having!

[15 Year Lurker]

Great game start to finish

When was the last time we had 3 pretty good centers?

Guards look good. Shooting much improved. Lots of strong puzzle pieces potentially

[section(105)]

....so are you seconding my nomination for the all hair team, this season?....

He's the leader in the clubhouse for me at this point. Haven't seen a lot of games, but that thing is...something.

Also in the running....

.......being the unofficial official keeping of the votes here, this guy will be considered only cause it is early in season.....ya know, ........’it is part of the process......’

[ramster]

Going viral.....

[Section104]

Not sure if this has been stated yet, but I think Fatts will struggle this year without fans in the stands. His game feeds off a good atmosphere - whether our fans or opposing fans- and I think he takes a step back without having that shot of adrenaline.

He’ll still be our star guard, but i can see a scenario with a bunch of lackluster games.

[ramster]

Not sure if this has been stated yet, but I think Fatts will struggle this year without fans in the stands. His game feeds off a good atmosphere - whether our fans or opposing fans- and I think he takes a step back without having that shot of adrenaline.

He’ll still be our star guard, but i can see a scenario with a bunch of lackluster games.

He is (3-18) on 3 point shots for only 16%. I have counted 3 airballs among his 18 attempts. Unlike in the past when he often forced 3 point attempts, this year most all 18 of his shots have been open, not forced.
Sheppard is (5-11) for 45%
DJ Johnson is (5-9) for 55%

I'd like to see David Cox work with Russell to find Sheppard and Johnson for open 3's as opposed to taking so many himself. Leggett and Malik Martin can also hit the 3 with consistency, and Jermaine Harris is a good 3 point shooter as well.

[rambone 78]

Certainly nice to finally have several players who can shoot the 3 well.

Good point ramster about Fatts. The less 3 he takes, the better. He's got a lot more help now.

Although I doubt Cox will rein him in that much.

[Blue Man]

Much needed win against a really bad team. Good to not let them back in when the lead got down to 10.

Tough to pull a lot out of this one..but -

Both Mitchell twins showing a really high ceiling on the defensive and rebounding ends- despite the free throw shooting woes. If that’s all you get from them as “freshmen” then that’s great.

Harris looked to have a spark off the bench. More aggressive offensively than we’ve seen - if the lineups stay this way, he’s a great spark off the bench.

I liked Cox mixing the lineups around. Good to see he’ll make adjustments. Saw more timeouts which was refreshing.

Fatts is at his best when he’s not forcing up shots. Driving, slashing, dishing is what makes him a Naismith contender. He needs to stay within himself if we want to go anywhere.

Walker is a freak athlete. He’s going to help us a lot around the rim.

DJ is going to become a fan favorite. Kid can shoot. Can defend. Is PREPOSTEROUSLY long.

Wire to wire win against a bad team was just what the doctor ordered. Let’s go get SF and right the ship.

[UCH21377]

Agree with Peter. I thought the twins were the story of the game last night; they both played very well. Carey is going to be good. Leggett is impressive; he has played his first 3 college games against top notch competition and does not seem overwhelmed or intimidated. Sheppard very good too considering he's back from basically two years off from top level competition. Let's hope we can back it up with another win tonight.

[steveystuds06]

Not sure if this has been stated yet, but I think Fatts will struggle this year without fans in the stands. His game feeds off a good atmosphere - whether our fans or opposing fans- and I think he takes a step back without having that shot of adrenaline.

He’ll still be our star guard, but i can see a scenario with a bunch of lackluster games.

He is (3-18) on 3 point shots for only 16%. I have counted 3 airballs. Unlike in the past when he often forced 3 point attempts, this year most all 18 of his shots have been open, not forced. I have counted 3 air balls of the 18 attempts.
Sheppard is (5-11) for 45%
DJ Johnson is (5-9) for 55%

I'd like to see David Cox work with Russell to find Sheppard and Johnson for open 3's as opposed to taking so many himself. Leggett and Malik Martin can also hit the 3 with consistency, and Jermaine Harris is a good 3 point shooter as well.

I agree I would love Devele and Sheppard to have more plays drawn up for them. Malik Martin's 3 pt shot has looked bad so far. He's been a serious downgrade from Tyrese in the first 3 games. I'm hoping he's just in a slump but I'm not seeing any consistency with his shot.

[Rhody Sody]

Not sure if this has been stated yet, but I think Fatts will struggle this year without fans in the stands. His game feeds off a good atmosphere - whether our fans or opposing fans- and I think he takes a step back without having that shot of adrenaline.

He’ll still be our star guard, but i can see a scenario with a bunch of lackluster games.

Agreed, i’ve thought the same thing. His shooting gets hot with a rush of adrenaline from the fans. Not going to happen this year. I think he needs to concentrate on a few good 3 pointers a game instead of 6-8 , keep slashing and take mid range jumpers. He’s awesome just needs to eliminate those couple forced 3s each game. High stakes game in a normal year with fans behind him i would probably disagree with my stance.

[Rhody Sody]

Not sure if this has been stated yet, but I think Fatts will struggle this year without fans in the stands. His game feeds off a good atmosphere - whether our fans or opposing fans- and I think he takes a step back without having that shot of adrenaline.

He’ll still be our star guard, but i can see a scenario with a bunch of lackluster games.

He is (3-18) on 3 point shots for only 16%. I have counted 3 airballs. Unlike in the past when he often forced 3 point attempts, this year most all 18 of his shots have been open, not forced. I have counted 3 air balls of the 18 attempts.
Sheppard is (5-11) for 45%
DJ Johnson is (5-9) for 55%

I'd like to see David Cox work with Russell to find Sheppard and Johnson for open 3's as opposed to taking so many himself. Leggett and Malik Martin can also hit the 3 with consistency, and Jermaine Harris is a good 3 point shooter as well.

I agree I would love Devele and Sheppard to have more plays drawn up for them. Malik Martin's 3 pt shot has looked bad so far. He's been a serious downgrade from Tyrese in the first 3 games. I'm hoping he's just in a slump but I'm not seeing any consistency with his shot.

Malik is definitely in a slump unfortunately . Almost 50% fg at charlotte and 38% for 3. He has been a downgrade from Martin but im confident he will turn it around. We would be lights out right now if Fatts and Malik were hitting 35%+ of their 3s. Hopefully today is the day they break out!

[Billyboy78]

Also, Fatts has to be kept fresh. He's likely to settle for threes if he's a little tired. And that's the worst time to be shooting threes, when you don't have your legs underneath you. He's at his best when he's playing with tons of energy, bursting by his defender into the lane and either finishing or dishing, and then dogging the ball handler on defense. I hope we can keep him to 32-33 minutes a game rather than 37-38. Could make a big difference. We have some quality depth at guard now, so it should be doable.

[DC_Rams]

We all know Fatts is one of two extremes, and it normally by halves...he’s literally either HOT or COLD. When’s he COLD, he pushes himself until he sees a shot go in....and tries to build his momentum off that. It can be a detriment or a boost...we truly live and die by Fatts success. Soon though, I think this team will find their identity beyond Fatts.

[UCH21377]

We all know Fatts is one of two extremes, and it normally by halves...he’s literally either HOT or COLD. When’s he COLD, he pushes himself until he sees a shot go in....and tries to build his momentum off that. It can be a detriment or a boost...we truly live and die by Fatts success. Soon though, I think this team will find their identity beyond Fatts.

Agree. You can see it coming in Sheppard, Carey and Leggett. These guys are really just getting started.

[Rhodyram]

I like leggett’s defense. Is it me or is his shot a little on the ugly side? Can’t tell for sure w/o seeing in person.
K

[eli#10]

His shot is definitely a little different from a pure shooter. I have noticed on his couple of 3 pointers that it seems like he is shooting it a little more to the right than a conventional shot.

[RI_Bred]

Not sure if this has been stated yet, but I think Fatts will struggle this year without fans in the stands. His game feeds off a good atmosphere - whether our fans or opposing fans- and I think he takes a step back without having that shot of adrenaline.

He’ll still be our star guard, but i can see a scenario with a bunch of lackluster games.

He is (3-18) on 3 point shots for only 16%. I have counted 3 airballs. Unlike in the past when he often forced 3 point attempts, this year most all 18 of his shots have been open, not forced. I have counted 3 air balls of the 18 attempts.
Sheppard is (5-11) for 45%
DJ Johnson is (5-9) for 55%

I'd like to see David Cox work with Russell to find Sheppard and Johnson for open 3's as opposed to taking so many himself. Leggett and Malik Martin can also hit the 3 with consistency, and Jermaine Harris is a good 3 point shooter as well.

Could not agree more.

[hrstrat57]

As I said much earlier in the thread need to set the extra pick or make the skip pass to get Sheppard more looks.

I noted multiple half court sets where he was standing wide open as Russell and others went head down to the bucket or the ball simply never swung back.

Sheppard knows how to get open and clearly is capable of elite shooting. Johnson looks good early (as I expected) but appears to need a strong pick to get clean shots at least presently. Someone earlier made a Josh King comparison which was a good call.

[Urifan91]

.... and Jermaine Harris is a good 3 point shooter as well.

I want nothing but the best for our guys, and I know lots of people have been hard on JH here. I am not trying to be hard on the kid, but the statement above is just not true. Making some threes in warm ups does not make you a good 3 point shooter. Check the stats.
Year 1: 0-11
Year 2: 3-25
So far year 3: 1-2

If he feels the need to keep shooting them I can only hope he gets his percentage up to 30-40% this year.

[ramster]

.... and Jermaine Harris is a good 3 point shooter as well.

I want nothing but the best for our guys, and I know lots of people have been hard on JH here. I am not trying to be hard on the kid, but the statement above is just not true. Making some threes in warm ups does not make you a good 3 point shooter. Check the stats.
Year 1: 0-11
Year 2: 3-25
So far year 3: 1-2

If he feels the need to keep shooting them I can only hope he gets his percentage up to 30-40% this year.

My key point is that the best 3P shooters should take the high percentage of the attempts. Russell should not be taking the most 3P shots, he should be facilitating to get the ball to the high percentage shooters.

Sheppard and Johnson are proven 3P shooters. Malik Martin can also shoot 3Ps in a 40% range

Harris is obviously not gluing to take a lot of 3Ps but in certain instances he should take them. Cox last year said he wanted Harris taking 3Ps.

Russell warms up shooting from half court or 10 feet in front of half court. I don’t see him focus on 3Ps in warm ups, yet he then takes the most 3Ps on the team most games.

3-18 doesn’t surprise me. He had bad streaks the past seasons where he went cold like that.

Great driving to the hoop and dishing. High percentage shooter 5 feet and in.