Ryan Center, Kingston, RI
Saturday, December 10, 2022
2:00PM
Media
TV: YurView
Online: ESPN +
Radio: Tune In Radio
App: Varsity Network
Previews:
Army Fan Forum
For the first time in almost 70 years, the University of Rhode Island will take on Army. The only time these teams squared off it was at the Richmond Classic & Army’s Mark Binstein dropped 50 against the Rams. I can imagine he walked away winning many Army awards for that performance. The current Army team is playing .500 ball so far this season albeit a couple of those wins coming to non-D1 teams, which is basically what Rhody is these days. The Black Knights will come to into the Ryan Center with a 3-game winning streak. Winning streak…what is that?
Senior forward Chris Mann is leading the Black Knights in scoring this season. He only played 19 minutes Wednesday night in a close win against NJIT, so I am not sure if he got hurt in that game because he was not in foul trouble. He is shooting an impressive 52% from the field this season. Junior point guard Jalen Rucker runs this offense. He is the only player averaging over 30 minutes per game & is averaging 14/4/3. He is an excellent free throw shooter (90+%), so if this is a close game at the end, you don’t want to foul him. Coleton Benson & Ethan Roberts are the Black Knights other double-digit scorers & their best three-point shooters. These two players alone have more made 3s than the entire Rhody team. Some good news for URI is that this team does turn the ball over quite a bit (14/game) & is only averaging 2 blocks per game. Rhody seems to get way too many shots blocked, hopefully they can avoid that from happening in this game. Charlie Peterson, Army’s leading rebounder, is the only notable player with any height on this team. So, Rhody may have an advantage downlow.
As for Rhody, losers of 5 of their last 6, look to…well win a game. Rhody had a dreadful performance in the last five & a half minutes against Brown Wednesday night. Up 10 they proceeded to get outscored 12-1 to lose the game in devastating fashion. The Rams have had 3 close losses in their last 5 that were winnable games. The only good thing from the Brown game was the play of Malik Martin. He played how many of thought he would this season, shooting efficiently while going for 13 & 7 & barely missed the game winning three pointer.
Once again, even with Rhody’s struggles, I am guessing they will still be favored by a few points. In theory there could potentially be a solid crowd at the Ryan Center Saturday afternoon given this game was part of the 5-game mini plan (damn you Rhody ticketing for throwing this horseshit game in the mini plan). But I also foresee many of these tickets being unused. My prediction is URI 62 – Army 60. Go Rhody!!
Opponent
Record:
5-5, 0-0 in the Patriot
15-16, 9-9 in the Patriot (Last Season)
Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: 271 (305)
RPI: 313 (323)
KenPom: 293 (190)
BPI: 279 (249)
Sagarin: 290 (206)
Barttovik: 273 (212)
Leaders:
Points – Chris Mann 15.0 (Sr., G)
Rebounds – Charlie Peterson 6.7 (Jr., F)
Assists – Jalen Rucker 3.0 (Jr., G) (2.7 TO per game)
Historical
Series: 0-1
H: 0-0, A: 0-0, N: 0-1
Most Recent Matchup: 12/29/55 99-74 L at Richmond Classic
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 - Army
Match-up Predictor: 69.9% Chance of URI Winning