Ryan Center, Kingston, RI
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
7:00PM
Media
TV: N/A
Online: ESPN +
Radio: Tune In Radio
App: Varsity Network
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Previews
I couldn’t find a Wagner Fan Forum, so here is their men’s basketball page
GoRhody Game Notes
Rhode Island 2, Connecticut schools 0. Next up for Rhode Island is a team a little further west of Connecticut as they host Staten Island’s own, Wagner College. Wagner opened the young season by traveling to the Bronx & lost a tight match-up in overtime by just 4. They licked their wounds & blew out DII school Molloy. Wagner has some familiarity with traveling to the Ocean State as the last time Wagner played in the state of Rhode Island in March of last year, there was a brawl in the stands when they played Bryant in the NEC Championship. Wagner’s coach, Donald Copeland, enters his second season at the helm. He was hired as an assistant coach at Wagner when Bashir Mason was there & while in high school Copeland played for Bob Hurley at St. Anthony’s in the late 90s/early 00s.
Preseason polls picked Wagner to finish in the middle of the pack at fifth in the nine team Northeast Conference. Leading the team in scoring (& apparently also leading the team in rape indictments) is junior guard Melvin Council Jr, with 17 points per game. He is also leading the team in assists with former Saint Joe’s guard Rahmir Moore at 2 per game. Junior college transfer from Monroe College, Tyke Kelton, is leading the team in rebounding. Last season, Wagner was one of three Division I teams to finish in the country’s top-40 in offensive & defensive rebounding rate. In case you were wondering, San Jose State & Purdue were the other two teams to do that. Kelton is currently the only other double-digit scorer behind Council.
For the Rams, they have looked strong so far after easily taking down both Central Connecticut State & Fairfield. The Rams lead wire to wire in their last game & have only been down to the opponent for just a couple of minutes this season. Coming out like a house of fire this season has been Jaden House. He is averaging 23.5 points for the first half of the Fairfield game it looked like he was going to outscore the Stags. As good as things have been going so far this season, the Rams do need to shoot better from the charity stripe. In blow outs, shooting at 53.8 isn’t a big deal but come conference play those will matter immensely. Currently Rhody has only 2 players shooting it over 50% from the line (House at 57.1% & Zek at 75%). Another thing to keep an eye on is how Rhody closes games. The Rams have had large second half leads seem not so large at the end of the game. Against CCSU they were up 24 & it finished at 11 while against Fairfield they were up 34 & it finished at 13. Hopefully this was because they were up so big & took their foot off the gas & not a sign of things to come. They definitely will need to close games strong as the opponents get tougher as the season progresses.
The Rams have never beaten Wagner, losing to them the one time they played them in 2005. I think that losing streak stops Tuesday night. This game should be closer than the other games this season as they gave Fordham a run for their money at Rose Hill. If Rhody plays 40 minutes of basketball, they win this one. My prediction, URI 74 – Wagner 67. Go Rhody!!
Opponent
Record:
1-1, 0-0 in the NEC
15-13, 8-8 in the NEC (Last Season)
Rankings (URI):
NCAA NET: 303 (263)*
RPI: 276 (267)
KenPom: 291 (187)
BPI: 279 (280)
Sagarin: 312 (229)*
Barttovik: 270 (166)
*Denotes Last Season Rankings
Leaders:
Points – Melvin Council Jr. 17.0 (Jr., G)
Rebounds – Tyje Kelton 7.5 (Jr., G)
Assists – Melvin Council Jr. 2.0 (Jr., G) (1.0 TO per game), Rahmir Moore 2.0 (Sr., G) (2.5 TO per game)
Historical
Series: 0-1
H: 0-1, A: 0-0, N: 0-0
Most Recent Matchup: 12/17/05 63-61 L at URI
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 - Wagner
Match-up Predictor: 64.4% Chance of URI Winning