University of Rhode Island vs Saint Louis University
Atlantic 10 – Semifinals
Henrico Sports & Events Center, Glen Allen, VA
Saturday, March 9, 2024
11:30PM
Atlantic 10 – Semifinals
Henrico Sports & Events Center, Glen Allen, VA
Saturday, March 9, 2024
11:30PM
Media
TV: CBSSN
Online: CBSSN
App: Varsity Network
Previews
Saint Louis’ Fan Forum
Boom!! Rhody pulls off the fantastic upset Friday night to advance to the A10 Semifinals. The Rams now will take out Saint Louis Saturday afternoon. The Billikens pulled off an upset of their own taking down the number two seed VCU Friday night. Rhody will be looking for revenge against the Billikens as that was the team that knocked them out of the A10 conference tournament last year eventually winning the A10 tournament & advancing to the NCAA tournament.
Saint Louis finished the season one seed lowed than the Rams at 9-9. They have two of the best scorers in the league with guard Kyla McMakin & forward Peyton Kennedy. McMakin is the former Longwood transfer who is leading the team in scoring with 17.4 points per game, which is in the top 70 in the nation. She has scored at least 20 in 4 of her last 7 games, including a 30-point performance against St. Bonaventure. Forward Peyton Kennedy is second on the team in scoring at almost 16 points per game. She also has the most made three pointers on the team. She gave the Rams fits in last year’s A10 game, scoring a game high 15 off the bench. She also came up with a couple huge rebounds when the Rams were trying to come back after being down 21-8 after the first quarter. She went for 22 against VCU Friday night, so she will be difficult to slow down. Third on the team in scoring is sophomore guard Brooklyn Gray, which I can only assume was named after the baseball team from the late 1880s that eventually became the Brooklyn Dodgers. She is averaging 11.4 points per game but did not hit double digits in scoring in either game this season against the Rams. One final player to definitely keep an eye on is senior guard Julia Martinez. She is not a huge scoring threat (just 8 per game) but leading the A10 in assists at over 6 per game & is second on the team in rebounding at 6.3 per game.
The Rams wouldn’t have advanced to play Saturday afternoon if it wasn’t for the play of Dee Dee Davis. Although the 3 pointers weren’t falling like the rest of the team, she was able to step up & score 22 & came up with 9 boards. Once again, the smallest player to see time on the court Friday night came up with some giant boards. As Ramster mentioned, since Coach Reiss moved Davis to the wing & having Debroise run the point, things have gotten much better for the Rams. Can they keep it up?
Will the Rams be able to enact revenge on the Billikens after knocking them out of the conference tournament last season? The Rams will have just roughly 16 hours between games, so they will have to rest up fast. St Louis has won 6 in a row but it is a bit inflated as one of those wins was a forfeit from the Davidson team that doesn’t have enough players to field a team & the other win was against DIII Knox Prairie Fire. If the Rams get more offense from Toure & better shooting from Sophie, they will win Saturday afternoon. Sophie is just 4 for her last 20 from deep. Rhody has won just one of the last 3 matchups over the last calendar year but that will change Saturday afternoon. My prediction URI 65 – St Louis 60. Go Rhody!!
Opponent
Record:
16-17, 9-9 in the A10
17-18, 10-6 in the A10 (Last Season)
Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: 156 (82)
RPI: 148 (91)
Leaders:
Points – Kyla McMakin 17.4 (Sr., G)
Rebounds – Tierra Simon 6.5 (Jr., F)
Assists – Julia Martinez 6.2 (Sr., G) (3.4 TO per game)
URI Leaders:
Points – Maye Toure 12.8 (Sr., F)
Rebounds – Maye Toure 7.8 (Jr. F)
Assists – Ines Desbroise 3.2 (Soph., G) (1.4 TO per game)
Historical
Series: 8-14
H: 5-6, A: 3-6, N: 0-2
Most Recent Matchup: 2/11/24 76-73 L at URI
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 – URI
