Ryan Center, Kingston, RI
Monday, November 7, 2022
7:00PM
Media
TV: YurView/ESPN+
Online: ESPN+
Radio: 101.5 FM (B101) or Tune In Radio App
Previews:
Quinnipiac Fan Forum
Ladies & Gentleman…It’s Miller Time! For those of you who have been living under a rock these past 8 months, The University of Rhode Island has a new men’s basketball head coach in Archie Miller, who comes in with a .630 career winning percentage. Archie is looking to right the ship after a tumultuous few years under David Cox. The only hold overs from the previous regime are assistant coach Austin Carroll & Ryan McCloskey, who was promoted to Assistant Director of Operations. As for this year’s roster, there are 6 holdovers from last year (Jalen Carey, Ishmael Leggett, Malik Martin, Sebastian Thomas, Abdou Samb, & Parnell Pierre) that are on the squad this year. (FYI – there have been some uniform number changes to be aware of – Thomas went from 0 to 4, Carey went from 15 to 5, & Pierre went from 31 to 14). Rhody lost 8 players from last season (2 graduated & 6 transferred), so Coach Miller had some work to do to rebuild the roster. The Rams welcome three notable transfers in Brayon Freeman from GW, Brandon Weston from Seton Hall, & Josaphat Bilau (who is currently injured) from Wichita State. Freeman & Weston are the two biggest additions to this year’s team. Throw in redshirt sophomore Alex Tchikou from France (& Alabama for 3 games) as well as a few freshmen like Rory Stewart from London & you have yourself the 2022-23 University of Rhode Island Rams.
The Rams will open the season Monday night the 7th against Quinnipiac University. The Bobcats were predicted to finish 4th in the MAAC. They are led by preseason 1st team player senior Matt Balanc, who was their leading scorer last season. Quinnipiac is a little thinner downlow as their big rebounder from last season graduated, Kevin Marfo (10.2 boards per game). Dezi Jones, who is a preseason MAAC 3rd team, was the Bobcats second leading scorer from last with 11.5 per game. They do get a boost this year from Savion Lewis, who is back after missing most of last year with a season ending injury.
The Rams have a young roster this season with only 2 upperclassmen, Malik Martin (senior) & Jalen Cary (redshirt junior). They are quite inexperienced downlow, so we will probably see Alex Tchikou & Rory Stewart play meaningful minutes with Martin will be playing the 4. Thankfully the core 4 returning from last year (Thomas, Carey, Ish, & Martin) have logged a lot of minutes together that will hopefully mask the inexperience of our 5.
Fun(?) Fact: The men’s team start their season with the school that ended the women’s season last year, when they lost to Quinnipiac in the first round of WNIT. Quite the revenge game. Ha. Anyway, the polls are in & I predict a Rhody win. My prediction URI 69 – Quinnipiac 58. Go Rhody!!
Opponent
Record:
0-0, 0-0 in the MAAC
14-17, 7-13 in the MAAC (Last Season)
Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: 231 (142)*
RPI: 230 (181)*
KenPom: 210 (141)
BPI: 219 (128)*
Sagarin: 247 (125)*
Barttovik: 186 (127)
* Denotes last season
Leaders:
Points – Matt Balanc 14.6 (Sr., G)
Rebounds – Matt Balanc 4.2 (Sr., G)
Assists – Dezi Jones 3.0 (Jr., G) (3.5 TO per game)
Historical
Series: 2-1
H: 2-0, A: 0-1, N: 0-0
Most Recent Matchup: 12/11/10 73-66 L at Quinnipiac
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 – Quinnipiac