KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

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Previews
UMass’ Fan Forum


In the sleepy west of the woody east, Is a valley full, full o’pioneer. The University of Rhode Island Rams head to Amherst to take on UMass. It’s educational. The Rams are looking for back-to-back road wins after a dominating performance in Washington, DC against George Washington. Thanks to Zeke Montgomery, who stepped up admirably, they were able to secure the road win who without David Green. He missed the game earlier this week due to an illness, so hopefully that has subsided & he is ready to go Sunday afternoon.

The UMass Minutemen will be looking for revenge Sunday afternoon as they already lost to the Rams four weeks ago at the Ryan Center. The Rams played one of their best games in a few years & were able to get the win. In that game, UMass was without one of their best players in Matt Cross. Although playing the 4, the offense runs through him. He is leading the team in rebounding at just over 8 per game & leading in assists at 3.3 per game & is second on the team in scoring with 15.7. In their last game at St. Bonaventure, he went for 19, 6, & 5 in a close loss. The 6’10” Saint Francis transfer Josh Cohen is leading the team in scoring at 16.3 per game. He went for 23 & 11 the last time these two teams played. He has struggled of late, averaging just 6 points in 3 of his last 4 games. Third on the team in scoring is Rahsool Diggins. Like I mentioned in the last previous preview of these two teams, he has really upped his game over the previous season. Last year he averaged 4.7 points per game while this year he is at 12.6. What is most remarkable is his free throw shooting. He shot a putrid 36% last season and is somehow now at 80.4% this year. Diggins is also leading the team in three pointers made. The final player to keep an eye on is guard Keon Thompson. He is second on the team in assists with 3 per game & is averaging just over 10 points per game.

As for the Rams, they are looking to build on their last game. Rhody is looking for back-to-back conference road wins in the same season since 2020 when they beat George Washington, George Mason, St Bonaventure, Saint Joseph’s, & VCU all in a row. The Ram newcomer transfers all had games we were hoping for all season. Especially with Zek, it was great to get him back to his early season production. Tuesday was his first double-digit scoring game in 2024. If we can get more out of Fuchs, we are just one step closer to being a complete team. Fuchs playing time has decreased of late, playing 17 or less minutes in the last three games. In the previous 10 games, that happened only once. I am guessing Archie isn't happy with his defensive intensity.

This is a big game on Sunday. Both teams come in at 5-5 in conference play along with Saint Joseph’s & St. Bonaventure, so this game will have important seeding implications. Both teams are currently just 1.5 games out of being in the play in game while conversely just 2 games out of the double bye. Something to keep in mind for this game is that all of the Minutemen’s conference wins are against sub .500 teams, including this lucky win/crazy ending against George Mason. Which one of this teams will be having a Super Sunday? The Rams have lost the last 2 of 3 at the Mullens Center. UMass should be favored by about 8. My prediction, UMass 91 – URI 84. Go Rhody!!




Opponent
Record:
14-8, 5-5 in the A10
15-16, 6-12 in the A10 (Last Season)

Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: 89 (181)
RPI: 67 (124)
KenPom: 98 (181)
BPI: 93 (195)
Barttovik: 97 (176)

Leaders:
Points – Josh Cohen 16.3 (Sr., F)
Rebounds – Matt Cross 8.1 (Sr., F)
Assists – Matt Cross 3.3 (Sr., G) (2.7 TO per game)

Historical
Series: 69-94
H: 42-34, A: 27-55, N: 0-5
Most Recent Matchup: 1/13/24 89-77 W at URI
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 – URI
Match-up Predictor: 12.2% Chance of URI Winning

Team Rankings has it 16% to win.

Will they play defense? If yes, they win. If no, they lose.

If Green returns and is healthy and URI gets any semblance of the Zek Montgomery who destroyed GW and the rest play as they did against GW then
URI may win , otherwise no.

The odds that URI goes 2-0 on an A-10 road trip are not very high. Rhody had to shoot lights out in the first game versus UMass to win. I do not see that happening again.

Rams shot lights out but lead the entire game and won by double digits. If they played defense it would’ve been by 20+. I like our chances based off our last performance.

Rhodymob05 wrote: ↑3 months ago Rams shot lights out but lead the entire game and won by double digits. If they played defense it would’ve been by 20+. I like our chances based off our last performance.

Nothing would surprise me based on how we have played so far.

Jersey77 wrote: ↑3 months ago

Rhodymob05 wrote: ↑3 months ago Rams shot lights out but lead the entire game and won by double digits. If they played defense it would’ve been by 20+. I like our chances based off our last performance.

Nothing would surprise me based on how we have played so far.

Feels like one of those road games where we get completely outplayed but I hope I’m wrong.

steveystuds06 wrote: ↑3 months ago

Jersey77 wrote: ↑3 months ago

Rhodymob05 wrote: ↑3 months ago Rams shot lights out but lead the entire game and won by double digits. If they played defense it would’ve been by 20+. I like our chances based off our last performance.

Nothing would surprise me based on how we have played so far.

Feels like one of those road games where we get completely outplayed but I hope I’m wrong.

You are

Maybe something clicked in that UMass game that Carrie’s over to tomorrow? If so I think we will win , if more of the bad road woes show up it will be more of the same

Will Green play? Also in the UMass game at Ryan, the Rams shot 14/23 on treys and Matt Cross did not play. Both aspects will not be repeated in tomorrow's game.

I’m hoping DG is better by Sunday we sure need him

What do you mean we haven’t had back to back conference wins since 2020?? We won 3 in a row this year!

BattleTested wrote: ↑3 months ago What do you mean we haven’t had back to back conference wins since 2020?? We won 3 in a row this year!

Maybe he meant back-to-back conference road wins? That seems plausible.

SGreenwell wrote: ↑3 months ago

BattleTested wrote: ↑3 months ago What do you mean we haven’t had back to back conference wins since 2020?? We won 3 in a row this year!

Maybe he meant back-to-back conference road wins? That seems plausible.

Sorry. Was supposed to say road wins. I’ll edit.

Not much respect

11.5 underdog
12.2% chance to win

Fron gorhody.com

RHODE ISLAND VS. MASSACHUSETTS - SERIES NOTES

Sunday's game will be the 164th all time between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and the second meeting this season.
Earlier this year, Rhode Island defeated UMass, 89-77 on Jan. 13.
In that game, the Rams made a season-high 14 3-point baskets, which is tied for the fourth most in a single game in program history.
Guard Jaden House had 29 points in the victory while shooting 7-of-11 overall and 5-of-7 from the arc.
Massachusetts was without forward Matt Cross in the first meeting.
UMass leads the all-time series 94-69, including a 55-27 lead when hosting Rhode Island.
The teams have split the last 10 meetings at the Mullins Center.
Neither side has won consecutive games in the Mullins Center in the series since Rhode Island won the meetings on Feb. 7, 2017 (70-62) and Jan. 30, 2018 (85-83).
UMass won the last meeting in the Mullins Center, 75-65, on Jan. 14, 2023.
Each of the last six meetings in the series have been decided by double digits.
Massachusetts leads the Atlantic 10 in turnover margin at plus 2.95 per game. Rhode Island is last in the conference at minus 3.78 per game.
Both teams are strong on the glass. Massachusetts is third in the A-10 with 38.7 rebounds per game, one spot ahead of Rhode Island at 38.1 per game.
The teams rank first and second in rebounding margin. UMass is at plus 4.5 per game, while URI is plus 4.4.



RAMS PLAYING ON SUPER BOWL SUNDAY FOR THE SIXTH TIME

Sunday will mark the sixth time Rhode Island has played on Super Bowl Sunday.
The Rams are 1-4 in the previous five games.
This is the second time URI and Massachusetts are facing each other on Super Bowl Sunday. The first came in 1994, a 76-47 win for the Minutemen.
Dallas beat Buffalo, 30-13 in the NFL's title game.
The last time Rhody played on Super Bowl Sunday was 1998 in an 88-82 loss at Cincinnati.
Denver beat Green Bay, 31-24 in the Super Bowl.
The other years were 1992 (an 89-72 win over Rutgers/Washington 37, Buffalo 24); 1989 (96-80 loss to Penn State/San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16); and 1988 (77-70 loss to Temple/Washington 42, Denver 10).

I think that Temple game in 88 was a sold-out nationally televised game at Keaney. They were #1 in the polls, and there was a brawl at some point. Ramon Rivas was their big guy, and there may have been some ejections.

rhodyrudder wrote: ↑3 months ago I think that Temple game in 88 was a sold-out nationally televised game at Keaney. They were #1 in the polls, and there was a brawl at some point. Ramon Rivas was their big guy, and there may have been some ejections.

Ramon Rivas knocked out Silk Owens’ tooth with his elbow. Owens continued to play.

Hottest ticket around in years. Keaney was packed loaded for bear. Electric.

Macon and the Owls 9-0 start. Dead even rest of contest. Game was lost in first 2m.

Two truly great teams either one could have won National Championship.

No word on David Green yet?

Given being almost perfect offensively and having UMASS missing arguably their best player the first time around, I have a really tough time seeing URI pulling out a victory

Either way it is a rivalry and this URI team has surprised me before (for better or worse).

RHODY will gut out the win today

They have wifi in Amherst.. at the basketball game even.

DG dressed, no Wright.

Green is starting

Let's see which version of the Rams show up today...

Weston getting the start over Cam!

Good start for a difficult road game.

They already got one of our bigs in foul trouble

DG is such a baller!

Holy shit we can't get a call!

Kinda sloppy but I'll take this start.

Excellent job by Rhody repelling that mini UMass run to go up by 8.

Wow...if not for a few blown lay ups and puzzling turnovers we'd be killing them!

RI_Bred wrote: ↑3 months ago Kinda sloppy but I'll take this start.

Kinda sloppy?

4 turnovers, 50% from 3, 100% by the line, up by 8.

Don’t see how that’s sloppy, I think we’ve played a very clean half.

Rhody15 wrote: ↑3 months ago

RI_Bred wrote: ↑3 months ago Kinda sloppy but I'll take this start.

Kinda sloppy?

4 turnovers, 50% from 3, 100% by the line, up by 8.

Don’t see how that’s sloppy, I think we’ve played a very clean half.

Just some sloppy passing kinda ugly ball for a period there is what I meant. Both sides.

Pretty solid first half so far! Green has looked a little winded and out of control at times, wonder if he's still feeling it from being sick last week. I kind of like the look with Cam playing some backup PG.

UMass now going to light it up from outside.

Call a freaking timeout!

Green needs to stop taking those right handed turn around throw shots from FT line.

Those have no chance of going in.

Okay

I'll take it! I like how poised we are playing and how we responded to every little UMass run.

It's unfortunate that we missed so many lay ups, randomly threw the ball or just dropped the ball out of bounds though

Unfortunately we spent the last 3 minutes erasing a lot of the good we did in the first 17, but no reason we shouldn't win this game at this point if we keep playing hard on the defensive end.

Regardless of our play, it’s quite enjoyable to have the game on actual tv.

Perfect for Super Bowl pregaming

PeterRamTime wrote: ↑3 months ago Call a freaking timeout!

Right? I’m screaming at the tv Archie please call a timeout over and over. He’s such a smart basketball mind it’s odd that he misses blatantly obvious moves sometimes. I like his decision to clog the paint and dare them to shoot.. we just have some horrendous stretches every game like the end of that half.

First 5 minutes will be key. Umass has all the momentum. If we can win the first 5 mins and go up 8-10 we’ll have a good shot.

Kept the lead at the half despite some bonehead play from us for a stretch and UMass warming up from 3.

I’ll take it.

Getting hammered down low… they call it tighter in the second and things look good for rhody

steveystuds06 wrote: ↑3 months ago

PeterRamTime wrote: ↑3 months ago Call a freaking timeout!

Right? I’m screaming at the tv Archie please call a timeout over and over. He’s such a smart basketball mind it’s odd that he misses blatantly obvious moves sometimes. I like his decision to clog the paint and dare them to shoot.. we just have some horrendous stretches every game like the end of that half.

First 5 minutes will be key. Umass has all the momentum. If we can win the first 5 mins and go up 8-10 we’ll have a good shot.

We were lucky to get bailed out with that foul after they made that run.

This team needs a point guard.. STAT .... there is no true point guard on this squad, I love Luis, but he's not a point guard, nor is Cam. We cant have a consistent half court offense with a bunch of combo guards running the offense. I like the strategy of packing it in on defense and forcing the worst 3 point shooting team in the league to beat them outside.