Ryan Center, Kingston, RI
Sunday, February 18, 2024
12:00PM
Media
TV: CBSSN
Online: CBSSN
Radio: Tune In Radio
App: Varsity Network
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Previews
Loyola Chicago’s Fan Forum
All right ramblers, let’s get ramblin’. The University of Rhode Island Rams head back home after a week off following a two-game road trip to take on the Loyola Chicago Ramblers. The Rams split their games on their road trip & have played .500 ball since their 4-game losing streak. Rhody would need a win on Sunday to keep their winning every other one streak alive.
The Ramblers were picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the A10 preseason pools & have exceeded all expectations. Coach Drew Valentine, who is in his third season, struggled in his first year in the A10 but has them playing excellent basketball this season. They had just 4 conference wins all last season & now currently sit atop the A10 with Dayton at 10-2. Their only conference losses are a two-point loss at home to Richmond & a road loss at VCU. They only have 1 bad loss on their resume when they lost at home to UIC. Maybe you can count the loss at Tulsa as a bad loss, but they were just a slight favorite on the road.
As for the team on the court, they are led by Davidson transfer Desmond Watson. He is leading the Ramblers in scoring at 13.2 & is second on the team in both rebounds (4.5) & assists (2.3) per game. Preseason All-Conference 2nd Team A10 player Philip Alston is second on the team in scoring with 12.6 points per game. He plays the 4 & is a bit undersized at the position at just 6’6”. He is awful from behind the arc at just 21%, so dare him to shoot the ball. Running the point is Braden Norris who is averaging almost 5 assists per game, which puts him in roughly the top 80 in the country. His scoring is down 2 points from last season to just under 9 points per game. Norris is second on the team in threes made behind Watson and both players shoot it around 42%. Freshman Miles Rubin plays less than half of the game but is leading the team in rebounding. He may be lanky as hell at 6’10” & about 200 pounds soaking wet but he blocks A LOT of shots. He was in the top 15 in the country but has fallen off with “just” 3 total blocks over the last 3 games. He is currently in the top 20 in blocks but 4th in the A10. The Ramblers really spread out their rebounding as they have 4 players averaging between 4.1 & 4.8 rebounds per game. One of those players is forward Dame Adelekun. I find this Dartmouth transfer intriguing as he is averaging 9 & 4 in just 14 minutes per game. For what its worth (which is probably not much), his per 40 minutes would put him at 24.7 & 11.3. The final player I will mention is sophomore guard Jayden Dawson. He is fourth on the team in minutes, playing half of the game, & is averaging 8.6 points per game.
As for the Rams, how this game plays out may be determined by David Green’s health. He left the game last week with a right knee injury & ended up missing most of the 2nd half. The good news for Ram fans is the fight Rhody showed after his injury & clawed back in a game they could have easily folded. The Rams nearly erased its 14-point deficit with 5 and a half minutes to play to UMass last weekend. The fact that they had a shot that almost fell to win it at the very end showed this team can fight when things aren’t looking good. Is Fuchs back in Archie’s good graces? After playing significantly less time the previous three game, Fuchs was back playing 30 minutes & went for 10 & 4. Maybe that was because Green was out, but Brown played just 9 minutes & did not register a rebound during his time on the court.
The Rams are in for a tough game Sunday afternoon in front of a national audience. Rhody can’t come out the gate slow in this one as they have in a handful of games this season. In their last game, Loyola blitzed Saint Joseph’s to start the game 14-0 in the first 6 minutes of the game. The Ramblers have never beaten the Rams, albeit they only played one other time. That other time was the Rams only road victory in the 2022-23 season. Will Rhody be able to put a stop to the Ramblers 5 game win streak? The Rams will probably be a 3-point underdog in this match-up. My prediction, Loyola 80 – URI 77. Go Rhody!!
Opponent
Record:
18-7, 10-2 in the A10
10-21, 4-14 in the A10 (Last Season)
Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: 104 (181)
RPI: 58 (128)
KenPom: 106 (175)
BPI: 111 (187)
Barttovik: 98 (165)
Leaders:
Points – Desmond Watson 13.2 (Jr., G)
Rebounds – Miles Rubin 4.8 (Fr., C)
Assists – Braden Norris 4.6 (Sr., G) (1.9 TO per game)
Historical
Series: 1-0
H: 0-0, A: 1-0, N: 0-0
Most Recent Matchup: 3/1/23 79-77 W at Loyola Chicago
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 – URI
Match-up Predictor: 42.1% Chance of URI Winning