KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

Thanks, Billyboy78!!!! That was fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love it!!!!!! So excited for this season.. I think EC will see major playing time ahead of upperclassman.. Can't wait..

Really impressed with how well he uses his body when finishing around the basket.

Just in case anyone is sitting around looking for something to watch, I found a Romulus vs. Southeastern game on channel FCSA. I'm not sure exactly what channel it is but that's what it's abbreviation is.

Looks to be the championship game, if anyone hasn't seen it!

rhodyfan3 wrote:Looks to be the championship game, if anyone hasn't seen it!

Was that the game he got something like 37 points?

Arrived on campus a couple of days ago. Practice will be starting soon as the excitement begins to build for the future of the program.

Re-posting this article from March because, why not?

http://www.freep.com/article/20130323/H ... is-no-joke

This was just posted today on youtube....not sure if we've seen this yet.

Being a fellow lefty I can relate, but my question is how well can he finish with his right hand? Every basket he scores in that video is with his left hand. I can t recall the other videos ive seen of him so maybe it was just a coincidence, but he's gonna need a strong right hand to score consistently in college.

He even finishes on the right side with his left hand, that's going to be a problem at the next level. He looks like a player with a lot of potential, but I'd be surprised if he had an impact freshman year based on his skillset. Guards are going to sit on his left hand knowing he's entirely dependent on it.

I was at the workout prior to the team's departure for Italy and I think I watched E.C. Matthews play. Also, I viewed plenty of in-game broadcasts of him last season and game-reports; I truly believed I saw him use his right hand. Well, maybe once or twice….
I do know that E.C. Matthews is not Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker, but these last two "hard-hitting scouting reports" are a little, well, "interesting."
Potential? Absolutely!
Ability? Absolutely!
Did any of you read Coach Hurley's assessment of E.C. Matthews????????? Hmmmmm……..
If I were you, I'd check out his comments.
Or, maybe, just maybe, have a seance with Marty Blake.

One thing he does very well is use his body to give himself room to get a shot off under the basket. Ideally you'd like to see him shooting with his right hand when he's on the right side of the basket. He also goes to his right well using his quick feet and a very good crossover dribble. I think because of his body control and his smarts, he can get a left hand shots off on the right side. Tommy Heinsohn used to call it "finding the blue sky", including using your ass to fend defenders off of you. Does that mean that Dan won't have him working on using his right hand more? Absolutely not...I'm sure he already is.

ATPTourFan wrote:Hope he saves some game winners for us!

He used them all up

Joe wrote:

ATPTourFan wrote:Hope he saves some game winners for us!

He used them all up

I mean...last 8 points in OT in the biggest March win in the last 19 years counts..

Blue Man wrote:

Joe wrote:

ATPTourFan wrote:Hope he saves some game winners for us!

He used them all up

I mean...last 8 points in OT in the biggest March win in the last 19 years counts..

He restocked!

One game doesn't wipe out an entire career
of futility.

Harsh

Truth sometimes hurts.

Rod give it a rest. The guys coming off major surgery and he's our leading scorer. Every one of our guards is way inconsistent this year. The f'n kid just extended our season. Love ya Rod but the crusty old bastard toward EC is getting silly. Enjoy Rodman enjoy.

REVERSE THE CURSE!

GO RHODY!

Nice Rod. Real nice. Let's not forget he had a devastating knee injury or did you forget?

He wasn't clutch before the knee injury.
I write what I see.
Funny, how so many here echoed this.
Go back and read the Dayton thread, for instance.
Now five minutes of good play, and
memories get foggy.

rodfromcranston wrote:One game doesn't wipe out an entire career
of futility.

It's not just one game, he also delivered down the stretch against Cincinnati. You could make an argument that he's been our most clutch player in two of our three or four biggest wins this year. There's a reason why we're better this year than we were last year

In EC's defense - he did win the Cincinnati game with 3 dagger shots in the last 5 minutes. And that's our biggest win in the last 18 years.
Pre his injury he was a Freshman and Sophomore, not many guys are clutch at that point in their careers. He has had a couple spin moves and that monster dunk yesterday that offer a glimpse into the offensive talent he was prior to injury, let's hope he is closing the season on a high.

Sure. Martin, Iverson and Terrell, all having solid seasons.
Dowtin picking up the slack when Jarvis was ill.
Stanford Robinson's contributions on both ends of the floor.
The latter two mentioned, not on last years team.
I put up EC/Terrell stats in another thread, and Terrell
is easily having the better year.
Cherry picking parts of two games?
I know you're better than that.

rodfromcranston wrote:Sure. Martin, Iverson and Terrell, all having solid seasons.
Dowtin picking up the slack when Jarvis was ill.
Stanford Robinson's contributions on both ends of the floor.
The latter two mentioned, not on last years team.
I put up EC/Terrell stats in another thread, and Terrell
is easily having the better year.
Cherry picking parts of two games?
I know you're better than that.

It was clumsily worded on my part. I did want to refute the belief it was just one game. But I feel much of the reason we're better over the whole season is the improvement from McGlynn to EC. I can see where it looked like I was saying those two games were the reason we were better

I tell my dad during games all the time that people groan when EC comes in the game or gets the ball, but he is the only guy that can make awful play after awful play for 10 mins and then check in the game and take it over.

Both Davidson games EC dominated down the stretch. Cinci he did great. Richmond a few years ago he was phenomenal at Richmond.

Has he disappeared? Absolutely. Injured? Sure.

The Terrell versus EC argument I never got. Terrell disappears more than EC. Last year he didn't get a rebound for weeks. Something happens with Terrell where he just can't do anything. Its something mental.

Everyone should just wait and see what happens here going forward. They are writing their story right now.

EC and Terrel have been equally inconsistent this year. Love them both without either one we'd have 5 more losses. Iverson and Hass awesome last few game but like EC and Terrel they have had some stinkers. Let's support the F'n kids here. We are so F'n close.

REVERSE THE CURSE !

GO RHODY!

This is why we can't have nice things.

It is fair to say EC hasn't been clutch but did find it for sure last night.

I agree that one OT period doesn't change his entire career, but it was more the "how" he did it that gives me hope.

He finally leaned on his skills - driving to the rim with his left hand - not throwing up random shots and hoping they go in.

If he stays inside of those skills I feel great about who he will be in the coming weeks and his final season.

EC does get criticized a good amount by this fan base, and often justifiably. But a lot of that is because of how high expectations are for him. He's held to a different standard than most other players. By that standard, he has not had a great year, and I bet he would acknowledge that and Dan Hurley would acknowledge that. Hassan basically acknowledged it in his remarks after the game on Saturday (a game which we would not have won without EC's great performance down the stretch). But that shouldn't obscure the fact that we would not be in the position we are in without him. We should also keep in mind that he is coming back from a major injury and should view his performance with that in mind.

EC will have to pick and choose his spots in these upcoming games......hopefully we will see more of the "good EC" than the "bad EC".......

Shoot less 3's, drive more......especially if the poor 3 pt. shooting continues.

I find it ironic that people who criticized EC so much (check Dayton and Fordham threads for example)
are now indignant at criticism, of him, because he did well in the OT vs.Davidson.
Frontrunners? Hypocrites? Typical sports fans? All of that combined?
Reminds me of when my idol Tony C was in his comeback season, after being blinded
in one eye by a pitch, causing him to miss a year.
He was roundly booed in a late season game, where he was 0-4.
It wasn't the first time he was booed that season.
In his 5th at bat, he hit a double knocking in the eventual winning run.
The crowd was on it's feet, cheering the hometown guy.
Tony C kept yelling back at the crowd,"YOU FRONT RUNNING SONS OF BITCHES!"
It was so bad, even the second base umpire started yelling,
"YOU FRONT RUNNING SONS OF BITCHES."
The trashing of Jarvis Garrett, who was ill most of the season,
for example. Everyone forgot what he did last year.
The toughness and grit he showed, game after game.
Such is the nature of sports fans. It's, "what have you done lately".

Rod, it's the nature of the beast......

I would love to be in a situation like UConn's, where they are trashing their program because they stink this year [due to injuries of course]....and forgetting about their 4 national championships......

We should be so lucky.......

Because I like to keep it 100 as the kids say, for the 2nd game in a row, when we needed him, EC Matthews played his game: stayed within himself, corrected our woeful free throw shooting from the first half (he was 8-8), and helped us win another game with our tournament lives on the line.

That marks the 5th time this year (Cinci, UMass home, both Davidson games, A10 quarters) where we've seen what he can actually do.

Whatever happened to this team, especially him, since the Fordham loss has been fantastic.

If he puts forth another big game today, plays inside of his game, gets to the rim, hits his free throws - this is the kid everyone was talking about and I LOVE our chances going forward.

Agreed. He's been awesome down the stretch.

I'm a big EC fan and have been for 4 years. The expectations put on him by the media as the all everything and an NBA 1st round draft pick were a bit much. But he's not the one who did that. Get pissed at the media if you want. Yeah, sometimes I'm not happy when he's firing up threes instead of taking it to the basket. I'm not crazy about his defense. But he's a very good player. He's not an NBA 1st round draft pick. He did not create the hype. I don't get the negativity towards him. He didn't have to come here. He wanted to come here and make this program relevant again. He works hard. He's a great kid. I'm sure he has busted his ass rehabbing that knee to get back playing this year. By the way, there's a very good chance that when he's done next year that he will pass Silk Owens and become the all time leading scorer in URI history. And no, he's not the player that Silk was. But that's still so impressive. I'm a big fan.

Blue Man wrote:Because I like to keep it 100 as the kids say, for the 2nd game in a row, when we needed him, EC Matthews played his game: stayed within himself, corrected our woeful free throw shooting from the first half (he was 8-8), and helped us win another game with our tournament lives on the line.

That marks the 5th time this year (Cinci, UMass home, both Davidson games, A10 quarters) where we've seen what he can actually do.

Whatever happened to this team, especially him, since the Fordham loss has been fantastic.

If he puts forth another big game today, plays inside of his game, gets to the rim, hits his free throws - this is the kid everyone was talking about and I LOVE our chances going forward.

Loved his 5 rebounds yesterday, especially the 2 offensive boards, including one big one early in the game when he grabbed the rebound on the weak side and put back for an easy but important two points.
He was physical with several loose balls.
When the sky was falling with FTs he calmly sank 8 for 8. Did not get rattled. Martin and Mathews showing why they deserved All Conference. Iverson with a team high 9 rebounds also showing how a deserved All Conference selection.

From torn ACL to A10 Tournament MVP.......not bad!

What an experience and career he has had. Playing for URI has taken him all over the world.

Great career.

EC has fulfilled his destiny here, as far as I'm concerned. Will go down as one of the best and most successful players in the history of the program, regardless of what happens tomorrow. So happy for him to have had that defining moment yesterday - not that he needed it. He was one of the best and most successful players in the history of the program before yesterday, but yesterday will be the first thing many of us think about when we think about EC, and for a guy who has accomplished so much over his career that is a big deal.

He's the player who got this rebuild started. Has to be top 20 of all time. Great career.

Hurley is going to be a mess emotionally in the press conference after EC's last game as a Ram (hopefully not this weekend). You can see that they have a truly strong bond and Dan credits EC for a big part of the rebuild at URI. I expect him to choke up big time as he is not one to hide his emotions.

EC certainly fulfilled the promise. Two NCAA trips, multiple NCAA Tournament wins in separate seasons, A-10 Tournament Championship, A-10 Tournament MVP, A-10 Regular Season Championship, longest stint nationally ranked, and the THIRD highest scorer in URI history behind only Silk Owens and Tyson Wheeler. He got it done on the hardwood and was always a great representative of URI off the court as well.

THANK YOU EC.

I love reading these old posts from 4 years ago !!

I wonder how Rod would have reacted to EC clutch performance v Oklahoma???