Rose Hill Gymnasium, Bronx, NY
Saturday, February 25, 2023
2:30PM
Media
TV: USA
Online: USA
Radio: Tune In Radio
App: Varsity Network
Previews
Fordham doesn’t have a fan forum. I still find this unbelievable.
After losing all three games on their latest homestand, the University of Rhode Island Rams head to the Bronx to take on the Fordham Rams Saturday afternoon. The Rams of Fordham are inexplicably currently third in the A10 & sport a hefty 22-6 record. Most prognosticators thought Fordham’s 12-1 OOC record was inflated given their strength of schedule. They started out conference play by losing 3 of the first 4 including a loss in Kingston. The experts said see, we were right, Fordham isn’t for real. Well, Fordham has since gone 9-2 over their last 11 games and are just 2 games out of first with three left to play. Since joining the A10 in 1995, this is only the second time they have reached double figures in conference wins. If they win one of their remaining three games, it will be their best season in the A10. Since the 1930’s, this is only Fordham’s 5th season 20 wins. Even Tom Penders in the early 80s didn’t get these Rams to the 20-win threshold. Ergo, Urgo is doing a phenomenal job.
Leading the Rams of Fordham is fifth year senior, Darius Quisenberry. He is averaging 17 per contest & has scored in double figures in every game this season except for the three. Along with being the leading scorer, he has the most three pointers made & is the teams best free throw shooter. The last time these teams played, Quisenberry went 11 for 12 from the line. These Rams are actually a better free throw shooting team than our Rams. Another player to keep an eye on is the Georgia Tech transfer Khalid Moore. This 6’7” forward is Fordham’s only other double-digit scorer who is averaging 15 & 6. They do have some height in the frontcourt as Fordham rotates Rostyslav Novitskyi & Abdou Tsimbila downlow. Tsimblia is about 30th in the country, averaging almost two blocks per game.
Will Rhody have enough to pull out their first road win of the season? Highly unlikely. They are going to need another impressive shooting performance from Malik like he did the last game where he went 5 for 9 from three. His best two games of the season were this one versus Fordham (23 & 6) & the last game against George Washington where her went for 21 (8/13 shooting) & 8. Could that carry over to Saturday's game? The Rams are desperate for some consistency from anyone not named Ish. Carey shows spurts but he turns the ball over too much & is struggling from deep (0 for his last 6 attempts & just 18.6% on the season). Who knows, maybe they will get some scoring downlow? French that!
URI is coming off their best offensive performance of the season since the game at St. Louis. Sure, some of that was due to the fact that they played George Washington, whose defense is less than ideal. Hopefully that game instilled some confidence on the offensive side of things. Can Rhody put together another solid offensive game to stop their six-game losing streak? Not against this Fordham team. Fordham will probably be favored by about 8. My prediction Fordham 70 – URI 63. Go Rhody!!
Opponent
Record:
22-6, 10-5 in the A10
16-16, 8-10 in the A10 (Last Season)
Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: 133 (254)
RPI: 70 (269)
KenPom: 139 (240)
BPI: 138 (234)
Sagarin: 125 (221)
Barttovik: 166 (231)
Leaders:
Points – Darius Quisenberry 17.2 (Sr., G)
Rebounds – Khalid Moore 6.6 (Sr., F)
Assists – Antrell Charlton 3.6 (Jr., G) (2.5 TO per game)
Historical
Series: 40-30
H: 20-11, A: 20-18, N: 1-1
Most Recent Matchup: 1/4/22 82-79 W at URI
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 - URI
Match-up Predictor: 17.4% Chance of URI Winning