UD Arena, Dayton, OH
Saturday, January 20, 2024
12:30PM
Media
TV: USA
Online: USA
Radio: Tune In Radio
App: Varsity Network
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Previews
Dayton’s Fan Forum
Same Forum – Game Thread
Another Dayton Fan Forum
Goddam that last game was a tough one to watch. Awful, awful, awful. Did I mention it was awful? Christ, Marcellus Wallace had a better time in Maynard’s Pawn Shop than URI fans had watching that game in St. Bonaventure Wednesday night. That game made the trip to Mohegan earlier this season seem like rainbows & unicorns. Unfortunately, things do not get any easier as the Rams play their toughest game of the season by far when the Rams head out to Dayton, Ohio to play the 21st ranked team in the country. The Flyers have been playing great all season & have only two losses. They lost at Northwestern by just 5 & lost at Houston, one of the best teams in the country by 14. They have some quality wins against St. John’s as well as Cincinnati.
Coach Anthony Grant, who enters his 7th season at the helm, really has the team playing some great basketball. The Flyers have been dominating this season, even without one of their best players. Malachi Smith, who was picked on the preseason all-conference second team, did his best EC Matthews impersonation by getting hurt just a few minutes into the first game of the season & is now out for the year. Thankfully for the Flyers they still have DaRon Holmes II, who is an absolute beast. As a surprise to no one who follows the A10, Holmes was picked as preseason all-conference first team and preseason all-defensive team. He is leading the team in both scoring (19.4) & rebounding (7.7) this season. He has had double-doubles in the last two conference games, going for 29 & 14 against St. Louis & went for 33 & 12 at Duquesne. Oh yeah, he also has had a few games this season with at least 4 blocks. That doesn’t bode well for Rhody as St Bonaventure’s Chad Venning, who has less blocks than Holmes, looked like Dikembe Mutombo against the Rams. Pittsburgh transfer Nate Santos has really blossomed since joining the Flyers. He is second on the team in scoring at 11.5 & second on the team in rebounding at 7 per game. Not bad for a player who averaged less than two per game in both scoring & rebounding last season at Pitt. In the backcourt, the Flyers have a couple of Kob(e/y)’s averaging over 10 per game. Koby Brea is the Flyers 6th man & best three-point shooter, hitting 48% from deep & 50% from the field. Kobe Elvis is second on the team in assists with 3+ per game & shooting it at an impressive 95% from the line. Finally is Merrimack transfer Javon Bennet leading the team in assists & steals. The Flyers play primarily 6 players with Buffalo transfer Isaac Jack playing a few minutes as their 7th player.
The Rams must put their putrid performance in the rearview mirror. Speaking of rearview mirror, I guess it was the beatings...made me wise. Hopefully the loss in Olean, NY made the Rams a little more wiser. They gave up way too many open looks & had way too many turnovers. Just a recipe for disaster. Hopefully Zek can gain some confidence because he is struggling mightily. Since the start of conference play, he is shooting the ball at 12.5% on just 3 of 24 shooting.
UD Arena is always a difficult place to play, but this game will certainly have a more amped up atmosphere than usual as this is Archie Miller’s first game back to Dayton since he left for Indiana after the 2016-17 season. It won’t have the Ed Cooley return to Providence vibe to it like there will be at the end of this month, but there still should be some extra excitement in UD Arena. In his six seasons at Dayton, Miller went 139-63 & won 20 games in all but one of those years.
In the Rams favor is that the Flyers have played tight conference home games, winning by 5 against St Louis & 4 against UMass. The Minutemen really had a chance to get the road win had Rahsool Diggins not gone 0-10 from deep. Could this game be tight as well? If the Rams can stay in it (which is a big if), crazier things have happened. Although the Rams have lost 3 in a row at Dayton, they seem to have played the Flyers well over the years. They inexplicably won the game last year at home & their two other wins against the Flyers were overtime thrillers. Since the Elite Eight 1998 team, the Rams have just one win against a ranked conference opponent & that opponent just happens to be at Dayton in 2016. So, you’re saying there’s a chance? Not really. My prediction, Dayton 79 – URI 64. Go Rhody!!
Opponent
Record:
14-2, 4-0 in the A10
22-12, 12-6 in the A10 (Last Season)
Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: 19 (184)
RPI: 4 (127)
KenPom: 33 (184)
BPI: 31 (202)
Barttovik: 29 (167)
Leaders:
Points – Daron Holmes II 19.4 (Jr., F)
Rebounds – Daron Holmes II 7.7 (Jr., F)
Assists – Javon Bennett 3.8 (Soph., G) (1.3 TO per game)
Historical
Series: 19-25
H: 11-8, A: 7-12, N: 1-5
Most Recent Matchup: 1/25/23 75-70 W at URI
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 – URI
Match-up Predictor: 5.0% Chance of URI Winning