Game #6: UMass-Lowell - Sat Nov 23 @ 2pm ET

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 10 years ago

The team is back from Arizona and preparing to play the UMass-Lowell River Hawks.

UMass-Lowell is new to Division I this year, playing in the America East. The River Hawks formerly competed in the Northeast-10 Conference at the Division II level. Last season they finished 15-13 (10-12 in the conference). This is a Division II roster playing Division I basketball.

The River Hawks are picked to finish last in the America East one spot below previous Rhody victim, Maine.

Akeem Williams is the main man on this team. He is a Senior, strong, quick, and can create his own shot. They are missing their 2nd leading returning scorer, Antonio Bivins. He is sitting out the season due to injury.

This team is undersized and lacks depth. They start four guards and two of them are listed at 5'10. This is another game we should dominate on the boards. We should also be able to wear them down with our depth as four of their starters average at least 34 minutes. Yikes!

UMass-Lowell is coached by Pat Duquette. He has ties to Al Skinner (BC) and Bill Coen (Northeastern). He is also Dan Duquette's cousin.

I predict we finally put together two solid halves of basketball with lots of thunderous dunks from Gil, Hassy, and Iffy. It should be a fun show.

A few words of caution... While I expect we will dominate this game, we can't take these guys lightly. They hung around for a half with #7 Michigan before getting blown out in the second half. They also gave Brown a bit of a scare late in the second half of their game. After trailing Brown by 22 the River Hawks went on a 15-0 run and made it closer than it should have been. Brown finally put them away. So, these guys are having fun, playing loose, nothing to lose and they are not going to stop fighting for the entire 40 minutes.

Expect a UMass-Lowell starting line-up of:
#11 Akeem Williams G Sr 5'10 190
#4 Chad Holley G Jr 5'10 170
#21 DJ Mlachnik G So 6'2 175
#23 Kerry Weldon G Sr 6'5 190
#24 Tyler Livingston F Fr 6'5 200

Key reserves:
#34 Kennedy Chukwuocha F So 6'6 205 Nicknamed “Ken Rock”

TV: OSN; Radio: NewsRadio 920 AM

For more information visit:
http://goriverhawks.com/index.aspx?path ... basketball
http://rhodyrampage.com/2013/10/08/rhod ... ver-hawks/

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 10 years ago

I wanna see both EC and Biggie start this game.....see if they can be the spark in getting us out front early to a commanding lead.....

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 10 years ago

With Aaman out, URI has only one center: Iffy. So that means Gil will have to play some 5. So how about starting Gil at center and adding EC to the starting lineup. That makes URI small but they could get away with that for the next 3 games.

twisted3829 · Unread post by **twisted3829** » 10 years ago

I see a small starting line up the next few days Reischel at the 4 and Gil at the 5 then use Iffy and martin off the bench

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 10 years ago

For the sake of the sanity of this board, I hope we are up at least 20 at half time

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

I can't see Hurley benching Oneykaba because Aaman is out.
Where's the logic in moving Biruta, who's injured, out of position?
I can see the three M's starting, with Reischel off the bench.

twisted3829 · Unread post by **twisted3829** » 10 years ago

Rod we've run this line up before in games

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

Something tells me Dan is going to continue to trot Powell out there as the starter until the GMU game. Why? Just a feeling.

BTW, that GMU game will be the litmus test of where we stand compared to the bulk of the A10.

Win it or almost win it, and we're looking pretty good for the conference sked, to at least compete with most A10 teams. We should be about as good or maybe better, even at this point of the season.

Stink out the joint, and it's not going to be pretty around here.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

GMU is a road game.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

I know that, Rod.

But we should still be good enough to compete. They ain't Arizona, or even SMU for that matter.

Anything less than a very close loss, and sirens will be going off on Kingston hill. And I don't give a crap if it's still early in the season.

They are the type of team we should beat, that's NOT a cupcake.

We've gotten the snot beat out of us by very good teams. OK, sort of.

We've beaten the cupcakes as we should have, but not as easily as we should have. Not OK.

Let's see how we do against roughly an equal. We will have many more of these type games in league play.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

Please! GMU has almost everyone back from a 21 win tournament team,
and we should beat them on their home court, because you think we should,
and if we don't the sky will be filled with chicken littles falling to earth.
And we are roughly equal, how? They have EIGHT guys 6'7-6'9".
Oh, OK.

buck! buck! bacaw!!!!!

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 10 years ago

Added some game/team info to first post in thread... see above. Cheers!

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 10 years ago

Plus why are some of you so dead set on basing an entire season off of one game. What if we come out and get in quick foul trouble, or just have a really bad shooting night. Does that still mean the sky is falling? The overreactions based on one game around here are baffling!

CT Rhody · Unread post by **CT Rhody** » 10 years ago

I agree, GMU will be a good limitus test on how much we are progressing. Obviosuly if we don't keep it close the sky isn't falling but a good test yet. These next three games should be 3-0 with winning by ten plus points each, won't tell us much unless that doesn't happen.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 10 years ago

I would argue that every game is a good test. And overreacting to any one of them in either direction doesnt do much good.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

GMU is good. I know that. They are STILL not some overpowering juggernaut.

They won 21 games. Whoop-de-do. In the CAA? Give me a break.

We might not beat them down there, but we SHOULD be very competitive. That's all I'm saying.

We should be improving, and improving soon. Not just in wins. It's HOW we're playing that's the most important thing.

I guess some of you think we should get our ass kicked again. I don't think so.

How's THAT for being positive??????

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 10 years ago

SmartyBarrett wrote:Apologies if this had been posted elsewhere:

It hasn't been. But maybe we should have a "Hurley pearls of wisdom" thread?

ramfan85 · Unread post by **ramfan85** » 10 years ago

Popeye said that, too.

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 10 years ago

Are we supposed to lose to every team? get beat by 30 every time a team is +.500?

I'm with 78, we should compete with GMU. Absolutely.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 10 years ago

Seawrightspostgame wrote:Are we supposed to lose to every team? get beat by 30 every time a team is +.500?

I'm with 78, we should compete with GMU. Absolutely.

Nobody is saying we shouldn't. All I am is saying is that winning or losing one game doesnt make or break a season. So if we come out and beat GMU by 30 do we start cutting down the nets and calling the season a success? There is just way to much overreaction from one game to the next around here. In both directions.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 10 years ago

ramfan85 wrote:Popeye said that, too.

Would have been cooler if he'd attributed it to Popeye!

I'm with Adam. You can't circle one game and say that it will tell you all you need to know. Not to fire up the Baron Excuse Maker 3000, but sometimes stuff happens in games. We could win that one with our best game of the year and it could be our high water mark on our way to 16 wins, or we could get trounced and then figure it out in time to win 11 A10 games. Not saying it's an either/or, obviously, or even that either of those scenarios are likely. But any game could go any number of ways and it could be an indicator of things to come or it could be a total aberration. We won't really know for sure how good this team was until we've played our last game and can look back on it. Until then enjoy the ride and see how it goes.

wakefield · Unread post by **wakefield** » 10 years ago

Playing an injured Biruta now could mean having him injured for the whole season. I would sit him now so I could have him healthy in the future.

Running Ram · Unread post by **Running Ram** » 10 years ago

wakefield wrote:Playing an injured Biruta now could mean having him injured for the whole season. I would sit him now so I could have him healthy in the future.

That's a great thought, if it were not for Aaman's recent appendix extraction. We're a little thin atm in the front court.

Which BTW is crazy and should speak to the heart and toughness of this team. Mike plays the first half and has his appendix removed in the second half.

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 10 years ago

From what I saw in Arizona, and others there agreed with me, looks like Gil is now very close to 100%. Don't know for sure, but he looked like he was moving well. That and he played the most minutes he's played all season.

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McRam · Unread post by **McRam** » 10 years ago

Running Ram wrote:
wakefield wrote:Playing an injured Biruta now could mean having him injured for the whole season. I would sit him now so I could have him healthy in the future.
That's a great thought, if it were not for Aaman's recent appendix extraction. We're a little thin atm in the front court.

Which BTW is crazy and should speak to the heart and toughness of this team. Mike plays the first half and has his appendix removed in the second half.

He would have been really tough if he had his appendix removed in the first half and played the second half.

McRam · Unread post by **McRam** » 10 years ago

A little perspective based on Sagarin

Currently uri 166th rating of 74.03 GMU 108 rating 77.32 this will usually result in GMU being 61/2 point favorte(spread plus 31/2 for home court)

UMass Lowell 350(out of 351) rating of 51..17 261/2 point favorite f uri using same logic

By the way Canisius is currently 187.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/sagarin/

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 10 years ago

I'll be at the GMU game cheering this team on. Hopefully they will have a 6-2 record going into the game.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 10 years ago

Tomorrow starts a stretch of 4 winnable games in 8 days- should be fun! Unless, of course, you're prone to overreaction and overanalysis, in which case, that's on you.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

Rod, if we lose to GMU but play them tough in a close game I'm fine with that.

What I meant was, if we get done "blowed out" a la SMU, THEN there will be serious questions as to a lot of things with this team. That's what I meant.

I do not expect that. Like I said, just want to see progress. I know progress isn't linear, but it's time to play well for both halves against a pretty good team like GMU. Not having Aaman doesn't help though. We need the depth he gives us. Same against PC.

As to tomorrow's game, their tallest starter is 6'5"? This should be over by halftime.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 10 years ago

Wonder if there's "serious questions" being asked in Richmond this morning?
Gee, they got destroyed by an unranked team.

FIRE SHAKA!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!

BUCK! BUCK BACAW!!!!

Um, the Barbary Pirates were Moors.
This from the Princeton Thesaurus:
Barbary Coast - the Mediterranean coast of northern Africa that was famous for its Moorish pirates
Barbary - a region of northern Africa on the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and Gibraltar; was used as a base for pirates from the 16th to 19th centuries

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

Good f'ing grief, Rod.

VCU has looked great this year so far, except for last night. That's one game. We haven't played all that well in ANY game so far.

You can't compare the two, and you KNOW IT!

RhodeIslandBred · Unread post by **RhodeIslandBred** » 10 years ago

Exactly. The sky isnt falling, but there are thing that are happening in these games that show lack of preparation for the level of competition we will face. Its not about losing and its not about even keeping it close. There should be no full court passes for dunks, or such poor post defense it looks like youve never defended before. This team SHOULD play smarter at a minimum if they dont play better. With the talent we had under baron that is the same reason we all wanted to get rid of him... Poor game planning and not getting ready for the competition. Ideas like lets full press for 40 mins and have the other team get 20 dunks. Well oh well at least we got 2 steals out of it.

Lets get this team ready to fight for 40 minutes, and play smart. And then play better.

RhodeIslandBred · Unread post by **RhodeIslandBred** » 10 years ago

Thats why if hurley promises us a good product thats what id like to see on the floor. Get angry coach! And team included. Take timeouts, teach these guys.

I dont want empty promises teach these kids how to be better. If you tell ec to hold the ball for the last shot and he chucks up a brick with 30 seconds left in a half there should be consequences. Even if he makes it. Be better as a team.

rjsuperfly66 · Unread post by **rjsuperfly66** » 10 years ago

McRam wrote: Currently uri 166th rating of 74.03 GMU 108 rating 77.32 this will usually result in GMU being 61/2 point favorte(spread plus 31/2 for home court)

UMass Lowell 350(out of 351) rating of 51..17 261/2 point favorite f uri using same logic

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/sagarin/

And for comparative sake, KenPom has URI beating UMASS-Lowell 81-65 (93% chance of winning), beating UNC-Asheville 74-67 (76% chance of winning), McNeese St. 84-70 (89% chance of winning), before he has them losing to George Mason 74-67 (22% chance of winning).

Ranks:

George Mason - 98
UNC-Asheville - 231 (have already played Duke and Kentucky)
McNeese St. - 320
UMASS Lowell - 340

Rhodymob05 · Unread post by **Rhodymob05** » 10 years ago

I think that's a fair assesment after seeing the first five games, but I think well improve over the next few games at home so I think its a W @ GM

RoadyJay · Unread post by **RoadyJay** » 10 years ago

I guess no one wants to talk about the River Hawks

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neil · Unread post by **neil** » 10 years ago

Sorry to break up the Baron thread, but I have a point about tomorrow. I know many of us are trying different lineups so early in the season. However, I think the number of assists is important - getting more people involved in the offense will make a difference regardless of who is on the court. Our assist total lately has not been good. Go Rhody!

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 10 years ago

All the Sailor and Baron talk has been moved to the thread: On Past Coaches and Sailors

Agreed, Neil. Hopefully if we can have Biggie in the game for "big" minutes and his teammates can knock down some shots, we can have a decent assist total that raises team confidence across the board.

We also cannot being turning over the ball with the sloppy play that we've seen in first halves of most every game this season.

I'm hoping for a team wide assist-turnover ratio of at least 1.5 tomorrow and through the NIT games.

SmartyBarrett · Unread post by **SmartyBarrett** » 10 years ago

TruePoint wrote:
SmartyBarrett wrote:Apologies if this had been posted elsewhere:

It hasn't been. But maybe we should have a "Hurley pearls of wisdom" thread?

Sorry didn't mean to derail the thread. Didn't know where to put it, buy thought the analogy was pretty on-point as it relates to the team.

NJ03 · Unread post by **NJ03** » 10 years ago

I hope Lamar is sitting courtside tomorrow.

Rhody72 · Unread post by **Rhody72** » 10 years ago

URI has been a poor shooting team this season no matter what the statistics say. This is why our assists are low. We are scoring most baskets inside 15 feet, and most are within 10 feet.

If we continue to take the ball to the hoop against an undersized Lowell team, we will win easily. If we shoot outside, then it will depend on whether we are hot. Less pressure will improve outside shooting. Will DH want more outside shooting to build confidence? Some good news is that X's shooting looked better in the UA game. I'm still waiting for JR to show he is a consistent outside threat. I'll be a bit more optimistic for the season when we start to score consistently outside of 10 feet.

URI is going to have trouble against team's with big front-lines if we can't score outside. Unless this part of our game improves, we will lose big to GMU. Ditto PC.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 10 years ago

SmartyBarrett wrote:
TruePoint wrote:
SmartyBarrett wrote:Apologies if this had been posted elsewhere:

It hasn't been. But maybe we should have a "Hurley pearls of wisdom" thread?
Sorry didn't mean to derail the thread. Didn't know where to put it, buy thought the analogy was pretty on-point as it relates to the team.

No, you didn't. I was just thinking out loud to myself.

Rhodymob05 · Unread post by **Rhodymob05** » 10 years ago

man you guys really like that quote lol

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 10 years ago

Thumbs up for pre-gaming at Giro's.

BPR2010
Blue Man (w hot GF)
The Dude
ATP

Good times.

twisted3829 · Unread post by **twisted3829** » 10 years ago

no surprise that Aaman is out today

jcru · Unread post by **jcru** » 10 years ago

Yeah, he should be out until after GM, at the very least, probably a couple more games after that realistically.

RhodyRams12 · Unread post by **RhodyRams12** » 10 years ago

The RC looks empty

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 10 years ago

It is but Lamar is here.

jcru · Unread post by **jcru** » 10 years ago

Lamar, T-Bell, and Ed Brown will have courtside today per Steve McDonald.

jcru · Unread post by **jcru** » 10 years ago

Big Ed Brown, built like William the Refrigerator Perry, but if his hands were any softer, he could have done a Palmolive commercial.

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