1/12 | Saint Joseph’s | 7:00PM (YurView/ESPN+)

[NYGFan_Section208]

Not sure why everybody was so down on this game. I didn’t think we look that bad offensively with the exception of that six minute lull by both teams. I do think we played a little conservative. But that may have been Cox strategy for the game…not to let everyone run hot. We reduced the turnovers and looked in control even in a pretty tight game.

Don't see why you're celebrating. St. Joe's went 3 for 21 for most of the second half and outrebounded us 41 to 30. We should have beaten them by twice as much.

………if that offense is some hybrid of the Princeton offense, Pete Carill must be spinning in his grave…….assuming he passed…….

Pete Carill (in Monty Python voice):. "But, I'm not dead yet..."

[PeteRI]

@ Pete. Not celebrating here.. can’t say I think St. joes is an overly talented team. We won a game we should have won. I simply stated that we played a little bit more efficient, yet a bit conservative.

… I get nervous that some of our comrades on the forum are going to be hanging in the closet midway through the game. Just looking out for my fellow rhody fans.

Appreciate the concern for our mental health. You have to understand that after Hurley left we're kind of like kids after the divorce who have to live with the new stepdad.

[section(105)]

……..Pete Carill, one of better billiards players I ever saw in a saloon…….coaches clinic/camp in PA….circa 19845-5……

[rambone 78]

I watch URI games because I've been a fan for 50 years, and I like pain.

That or comic relief, not sure which.

208, we're like the knight in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail...with his arms and legs cut off.

[NYGFan_Section208]

I watch URI games because I've been a fan for 50 years, and I like pain.

That or comic relief, not sure which.

208, we're like the knight in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail...with his arms and legs cut off.

Right, only without the confidence and optimism....

[KingstonLane]

Take care of business and cover the spread. The name of the game for 75% of A10 basketball

[rambone 78]

When we constantly struggle to beat bad teams, it's hard to feel confident about beating the better teams.

The above is the reason we don't win close games against them.....we just aren't that good...take your pick of players or coaching or both.

Middle of the A10 pack is what we are....perfectly mediocre.

[Rhody15]

He’s been criticized often (which most has been warranted), but Jalen Carey had the biggest shot on the night.

We hadn’t scored a point in over 5 minutes, St Joe’s had tied it, and Carey hits the go ahead 3 and we weren’t tied or trailing the rest of the game (could be wrong on not being tied, but definitely didn’t trail after that).

Small sample size obviously, but he’s shooting over 50% from the field this season.

…and yes I am well aware when he checked in the first half, he immediately went 1 on 3 and turned it over.

[Rhody15]

I just read from page 4 and I think Rambone convinced me we lost tonight by 37 points.

[Rhodymob05]

Just got home, the talent is definitely there. Like make a run in Brooklyn type talent. Offense does get very stagnant though.

[Rhody15]

St Joes won @ Richmond who, as shitty as there coach is, probably have the most talent in the league.

I won’t complain above winning by 11 and covering the spread, after people here gave Cox no chance in winning seeing how he hasn’t ever won an A10 home opener.

[steveystuds06]

I just got back from a lifeless Ryan Center.

Malik Martin was a monster tonight

Thomas had a fantastic first half. As I said after Davidson, I want this kid playing more and more. I’d rather him play more and deal with some freshman mistakes than keep Ish and EA in the game, making little to no impact. Thomas played 11 minutes.


Our defense was solid

Shep had a nice game

Twins were both solid

I still hate how we use Walker

St Joes played an extremely sloppy game. Especially in the first half. They had so many bad turnovers it looked like a team full of Jalen Carey’s. A St Joes fan behind me said they usually don’t look this sloppy.

Yes, our defense was solid, but St Joes were ICE COLD. They missed a ton of open shots in the second half. We gave them a lot of chances to get back into it, but they couldn’t hit a thing.

Im happy we won, but nothing changed. We are what we are under Cox. We have 3 easy opponents coming up, so I expect a 4 game winning streak.

Go Rhody!

[Rhodymob05]

Joes beat Richmond by 27, beat Temple by 19 and beat Georgetown.

Also, Thomas is impressive. Let’s hope he sticks around.

[KingstonLane]

When we constantly struggle to beat bad teams, it's hard to feel confident about beating the better teams.

The above is the reason we don't win close games against them.....we just aren't that good...take your pick of players or coaching or both.

Middle of the A10 pack is what we are....perfectly mediocre.

Winning by 11 and covering the spread is not struggling. That’s an average night in conference play vs an inferior opponent

[Rhody15]

When we constantly struggle to beat bad teams, it's hard to feel confident about beating the better teams.

The above is the reason we don't win close games against them.....we just aren't that good...take your pick of players or coaching or both.

Middle of the A10 pack is what we are....perfectly mediocre.

Winning by 11 and covering the spread is not struggling. That’s an average night in conference play vs an inferior opponent

Any game we play, no matter the circumstances, is a struggle according to Rambone.

It’s like clockwork with him and his posts.

[ram1980]

So what's the estimate.on the crowd? As bad as AIC?

I heard twice as big, so about 7000

Would have been 7010 if the people that keep harping on how low attendance is would join the rest of us diehards live.. yup they aren't going to win the ncaas. Yup we don't have the greatest coach. Yup we got the obligatory Mitchell T. But there are people with at their seats cheering on their team. It certainly wasn't perfect. Martin and Shep were real good. Thomas played well . Makhel was good until he ran his mouth. And they won.. you guys stay home. I like taking 30 seconds to get out of the parking lot.

[Rhody15]

I just got back from a lifeless Ryan Center.

Malik Martin was a monster tonight

Thomas had a fantastic first half. As I said after Davidson, I want this kid playing more and more. I’d rather him play more and deal with some freshman mistakes than keep Ish and EA in the game, making little to no impact. Thomas played 11 minutes.


Our defense was solid

Shep had a nice game

Twins were both solid

I still hate how we use Walker

St Joes played an extremely sloppy game. Especially in the first half. They had so many bad turnovers it looked like a team full of Jalen Carey’s. A St Joes fan behind me said they usually don’t look this sloppy.

Yes, our defense was solid, but St Joes were ICE COLD. They missed a ton of open shots in the second half. We gave them a lot of chances to get back into it, but they couldn’t hit a thing.

Im happy we won, but nothing changed. We are what we are under Cox. We have 3 easy opponents coming up, so I expect a 4 game winning streak.

Go Rhody!

I’ll never consider @ UMass an easy game.

[steveystuds06]

I just got back from a lifeless Ryan Center.

Malik Martin was a monster tonight

Thomas had a fantastic first half. As I said after Davidson, I want this kid playing more and more. I’d rather him play more and deal with some freshman mistakes than keep Ish and EA in the game, making little to no impact. Thomas played 11 minutes.


Our defense was solid

Shep had a nice game

Twins were both solid

I still hate how we use Walker

St Joes played an extremely sloppy game. Especially in the first half. They had so many bad turnovers it looked like a team full of Jalen Carey’s. A St Joes fan behind me said they usually don’t look this sloppy.

Yes, our defense was solid, but St Joes were ICE COLD. They missed a ton of open shots in the second half. We gave them a lot of chances to get back into it, but they couldn’t hit a thing.

Im happy we won, but nothing changed. We are what we are under Cox. We have 3 easy opponents coming up, so I expect a 4 game winning streak.

Go Rhody!

I’ll never consider @ UMass an easy game.

Most years I’d agree but from what I’ve seen this year they are a bad team…I’ll be very surprised if we lose.

[Billyboy78]

Just got home from the game. No energy in the building. On a positive note, I love the way Malik Martin plays. Cox actually had a good quote when asked about him..."He's a Martin."

[DeanDome88]

I'm glad we won but that was an ugly game. St Joe's missed a lot of open 3 pointers and their ball handling was horrible. I was laughing on some of their blatant fouls how a player actually thought they might get away with such an obvious infraction. The officiating was quite poor.

The crowd (what there is of it these days) is there to put heat on awful refs. The Mitchells need to grow up and stop yapping at them. Makhel had some nice footwork a couple of times in the paint.

[PeteRI]

High points for me:
- Makhel is the anti-Jermaine and drills a 3 to start the game, then goes 7 for 8 with some sweet mid-range shots.
- Bassy gets aggressive in looking for shots and makes several impressive buckets soon after entering the game - including a nice 3.
- Malik and Twan are glue guys throughout the game.

Some encouraging developments I hope we can build on.

[Taylor Swift]

Attendance was 3597. This is the second smallest crowd for a A-10 home opener in the history of the Ryan Center. Only La Salle in 2007 was worse at 3,057.

What do you think is the reason for that? You'd think a 9-4 record would draw some fan...

Based on what I saw on TV it looked like maybe 957.

[Rhody72]

Fair but then shouldn’t you credit our defense for having something to do with their bad shooting ?

So called URI supporters here are down on the team and are unwilling to see the positive in anything the team does. Yes. COVID is an issue and it is holding down attendance. Yes, Cox coached a good game with the right players on the court at crunch time. Yes, the twins are limiting their offensive fouls and fouls outside the paint. Yes, Thomas is showing some offense but need to work on this FTs if he expects to play at crunch time. Yes, Malik had a great game. Yes, Cox is a players coach and not a control freak like recent coaches. Yes, the team is beginning to gel.

[section(105)]

……just asking, Ish Leggert gives us what at this point?…….Magellan Time…….toot toot time get on board……

[Jersey77]

……just asking, Ish Leggert gives us what at this point?…….Magellan Time…….toot toot time get on board……

Remember he is still young, not uncommon to go through a sophomore slump.
He did have some good games, especially at Harvard.

I feel he will be a solid player for us as he continues to mature.
Already probably our best on-ball defender at the guard position.
Actually, a little disappointed in EA was hoping he would be more of an impact player for us.

[bigappleram]

Antwan Walker is now 10-18 from three this year and shooting a blistering 67% from the field. Me thinks he needs more shots.

[section(105)]

Antwan Walker is now 10-18 from three this year and shooting a blistering 67% from the field. Me thinks he needs more shots.

……..yepper, more shots, more minutes……..

[Rhodymob05]

I noticed walker being the focus on maybe 1-2 plays. Theres "let the offense come to him", but he needs more looks. Especially since they went through dry spells.

[NYGFan_Section208]

Antwan Walker is now 10-18 from three this year and shooting a blistering 67% from the field. Me thinks he needs more shots.

……..yepper, more shots, more minutes……..

Unfortunately, it appears that he will only get more PT in the event of injury or some other non-availability that impacts the script. Players do not earn more time here for successful performance.

[steveystuds06]

Fair, but then shouldn’t you credit our defense for having something to do with their bad shooting ?

So called URI supporters here are down on the team and are unwilling to see the positive in anything the team does. Yes. COVID is an issue and it is holding down attendance. Yes, Cox coached a good game with the right players on the court at crunch time. Yes, the twins are limiting their offensive fouls and fouls outside the paint. Yes, Thomas is showing some offense but need to work on this FTs if he expects to play at crunch time. Yes, Malik had a great game. Yes, Cox is a players coach and not a control freak like recent coaches. Yes, the team is beginning to gel.

Actually, from what I’m reading, most people have brought up the positives we saw last night. I’m not going to pretend that we played a great game. It was very sloppy. Our best player Walker still isn’t involved enough. Thomas was arguably our best player in the first half and he played 11 minutes… Ish was having another bad game and played 28 minutes.

We can beat average A10 teams. We need to beat some better teams to convince most of us that we have turned a corner. Hopefully we have.

By the way, I hope your team ends up playing Uconn Saturday. It should be a great game.

[steveystuds06]

He’s been criticized often (which most has been warranted), but Jalen Carey had the biggest shot on the night.

We hadn’t scored a point in over 5 minutes, St Joe’s had tied it, and Carey hits the go ahead 3 and we weren’t tied or trailing the rest of the game (could be wrong on not being tied, but definitely didn’t trail after that).

Small sample size obviously, but he’s shooting over 50% from the field this season.

…and yes I am well aware when he checked in the first half, he immediately went 1 on 3 and turned it over.

Carey has looked much better this year. I’d love to see him and Thomas playing more minutes

[rhodyrudder]

Antwan Walker is now 10-18 from three this year and shooting a blistering 67% from the field. Me thinks he needs more shots.

He has had some really good passes too! What's his A/TO?

[Rhody15]

He’s been criticized often (which most has been warranted), but Jalen Carey had the biggest shot on the night.

We hadn’t scored a point in over 5 minutes, St Joe’s had tied it, and Carey hits the go ahead 3 and we weren’t tied or trailing the rest of the game (could be wrong on not being tied, but definitely didn’t trail after that).

Small sample size obviously, but he’s shooting over 50% from the field this season.

…and yes I am well aware when he checked in the first half, he immediately went 1 on 3 and turned it over.

Carey has looked much better this year. I’d love to see him and Thomas playing more minutes

Wouldn't mind seeing them cut more and more into Leggett and El-Ahmin's minutes.

They've easily been the most disappointing on the season.

[steveystuds06]

Antwan Walker is now 10-18 from three this year and shooting a blistering 67% from the field. Me thinks he needs more shots.

He has had some really good passes too! What's his A/TO?

It's actually not that good. He's 6th on the team. I think he's tried to force some passes this year. He did last night. He's had some of the best passes this season though. He's also had a lot of passes that didn't lead to an assist but led to one of the twins going to the line.

Thomas leads our team and he's the only player on our team that is ranked in the top 75 in the country.

Thomas, Sebastian- 2.78
El-Amin, Ishmael-1.91
Sheppard, Jeremy- 1.75
Martin, Malik- 1.38
Leggett, Ishmael-1.32
Walker, Antwan- 0.95
Mitchell, Makhel- 0.7
Carey, Jalen- 0.4
Mitchell, Makhi- 0.34

[steveystuds06]

He’s been criticized often (which most has been warranted), but Jalen Carey had the biggest shot on the night.

We hadn’t scored a point in over 5 minutes, St Joe’s had tied it, and Carey hits the go ahead 3 and we weren’t tied or trailing the rest of the game (could be wrong on not being tied, but definitely didn’t trail after that).

Small sample size obviously, but he’s shooting over 50% from the field this season.

…and yes I am well aware when he checked in the first half, he immediately went 1 on 3 and turned it over.

Carey has looked much better this year. I’d love to see him and Thomas playing more minutes

Wouldn't mind seeing them cut more and more into Leggett and El-Ahmin's minutes.

They've easily been the most disappointing on the season.

Yup. I love Ish, but when people kept saying he would have a huge season, I wasn't so sure.. So many players have sophomore slumps. I think next year is when we will see Ish take a jump. I didn't think he would be this bad though.

[PeterRamTime]

He’s been criticized often (which most has been warranted), but Jalen Carey had the biggest shot on the night.

We hadn’t scored a point in over 5 minutes, St Joe’s had tied it, and Carey hits the go ahead 3 and we weren’t tied or trailing the rest of the game (could be wrong on not being tied, but definitely didn’t trail after that).

Small sample size obviously, but he’s shooting over 50% from the field this season.

…and yes I am well aware when he checked in the first half, he immediately went 1 on 3 and turned it over.

Carey has looked much better this year. I’d love to see him and Thomas playing more minutes

Wouldn't mind seeing them cut more and more into Leggett and El-Ahmin's minutes.

They've easily been the most disappointing on the season.

It's like El-Amin is trying to have as little impact offensively as possible.

[steveystuds06]

Carey has looked much better this year. I’d love to see him and Thomas playing more minutes

Wouldn't mind seeing them cut more and more into Leggett and El-Ahmin's minutes.

They've easily been the most disappointing on the season.

It's like El-Amin is trying to have as little impact offensively as possible.

He seems to hit the open 3 and has a decent runner. He has no urgency, though. WIth Betrand and now EA, I will never believe that a high scorer from a lower conference can come in and make a big impact.... I thought both would be one of our better players..

[Rhody_NYCT]

I haven't had a chance to read a lot of the thread, but a win is a win.

When we play St Joes I can't help but recall the absolute beat down they gave us on national tv 78-48, at home, the game after we clinched the A10 regular season in 2018. In my 30 years as a fan, that was the most embarrassing display of basketball by our team that I can remember. Thankfully they shook it off, and the rest is history.

[Rhody15]

Wouldn't mind seeing them cut more and more into Leggett and El-Ahmin's minutes.

They've easily been the most disappointing on the season.

It's like El-Amin is trying to have as little impact offensively as possible.

He seems to hit the open 3 and has a decent runner. He has no urgency, though. WIth Betrand and now EA, I will never believe that a high scorer from a lower conference can come in and make a big impact.... I thought both would be one of our better players..

Going forward it seems we are going to have to rely on P6 down transfers for impact players.

Of course, there's always going to be great low major players who up transfer, but those players are so good they will hop right to P6.

First one who comes to mind is RJ Cole on UConn. Was dominant at Howard, and went right to P6.

Low to mid teens scorers from lower conferences don't seem to be having much of an impact for us. And I'm not counting Sheppard seeing how the AAC is comparable to the A10.

[Jersey77]

It's like El-Amin is trying to have as little impact offensively as possible.

He seems to hit the open 3 and has a decent runner. He has no urgency, though. WIth Betrand and now EA, I will never believe that a high scorer from a lower conference can come in and make a big impact.... I thought both would be one of our better players..

Going forward it seems we are going to have to rely on P6 down transfers for impact players.

Of course, there's always going to be great low major players who up transfer, but those players are so good they will hop right to P6.

First one who comes to mind is RJ Cole on UConn. Was dominant at Howard, and went right to P6.

Low to mid teens scorers from lower conferences don't seem to be having much of an impact for us. And I'm not counting Sheppard seeing how the AAC is comparable to the A10.

Also, look at Battle from GW leading the surprising Minnesota Gophers with 18 pts/ 6 rebs.

Yeah, it is hard to tell sometimes how these transfers work out, coaches really need to do their research.
Martin from Charlotte for us has been a great addition.

I still am optimistic about AB being a possible impact player and solid contributor for us next season.
Haven't given up on him, especially if he is 100%.

[KeaneyBluBallz]

The SJU hawk flapped his arms too fast and herky-jerky for my liking.

Needs to be more graceful and fluid. More hawk like, less seagull.

[NYGFan_Section208]

The SJU hawk flapped his arms too fast and herky-jerky for my liking.

Needs to be more graceful and fluid. More hawk like, less seagull.

The hawk has always lacked consistency...

[rhodyrudder]

Tastes like chicken

[ramster]

Not sure why everybody was so down on this game. I didn’t think we look that bad offensively with the exception of that six minute lull by both teams. I do think we played a little conservative. But that may have been Cox strategy for the game…not to let everyone run hot. We reduced the turnovers and looked in control even in a pretty tight game.

Don't see why you're celebrating. St. Joe's went 3 for 21 for most of the second half and outrebounded us 41 to 30. We should have beaten them by twice as much.

Fair but then shouldn’t you credit our defense for having something to do with their bad shooting ?

Our defense was very strong once again. Defense was strong against Davidson too.

Two common complaints have been we don't finish well and Cox doesn't call timeouts well - both attributed mostly to the Head Coach

• We were down 15-9 just 5 minutes into the game but we went up by 6 at the half.

• Cox used a 30 sec TimeOut with 1:09 left in the half. He gets 3 30 sec TimeOuts per game but can only carry 2 over unused to the 2nd half. So he burned the 30 sec TO that he would have lost anyway.

• With 8:27 to play in the game score was 57-57 - anybody's game - flip a coin. Score pretty even through the first 32 minutes of the game

• From 7:30 remaining we outscored St Joseph's 18-7!! As John Madden would say BOOM!!!! We played steady, kept it close and finished going up by 11 points and beating the 9 point spread

• Last 18 points:

3P-Carey
FT-Makhel
Layup-Martin
FT-Martin
3P-Sheppard
Jumper-Makhi
FT-Sheppard
FT-Sheppard
FT-Martin
FT-Martin
Layup-Makhi

• 30 Second Time Out called at 8:42 - prior to the media Time Out due at the 8 minute mark

• 30 Second Time Out called at 1:43 remaining up by 6 points. 16 seconds later Makhi his a jumper to put us up 8 points

• We finished with the 60 seconds Full Time Out remaining if needed

• We held St Joseph's to 6-23 3FG% for 26%, almost the exact same as 6-24 for 25% vs Davidson. That was Davidson's worst 3FG% of the season and this was St Joseph's who shot 19% vs Southern Cal and 23% @ Villanova

• URI is ranked #2 in 3FG% Defense in A10 at 30.2% allowed behind only VCU at 24.7%

• URI is ranked #3 in 3FG% Offense in A10 at 37.6% behind VCU 41.5% and UMASS 40.7%

Credit to David Cox for good Time Out management and for breaking open a tie 57-57 battle with 8 minutes to go. He had the team play tough defense plus they played confident and unselfish offense to win going away by 11

[ramster]

High points for me:
- Makhel is the anti-Jermaine and drills a 3 to start the game, then goes 7 for 8 with some sweet mid-range shots.
- Bassy gets aggressive in looking for shots and makes several impressive buckets soon after entering the game - including a nice 3.
- Malik and Twan are glue guys throughout the game.

Some encouraging developments I hope we can build on.

Actually Makhel's 3 was changed to a 2. His foot was in front of the 3P line. Score was changed to reflect that down to 4-2 instead of 5-2.

[steveystuds06]

He seems to hit the open 3 and has a decent runner. He has no urgency, though. WIth Betrand and now EA, I will never believe that a high scorer from a lower conference can come in and make a big impact.... I thought both would be one of our better players..

Going forward it seems we are going to have to rely on P6 down transfers for impact players.

Of course, there's always going to be great low major players who up transfer, but those players are so good they will hop right to P6.

First one who comes to mind is RJ Cole on UConn. Was dominant at Howard, and went right to P6.

Low to mid teens scorers from lower conferences don't seem to be having much of an impact for us. And I'm not counting Sheppard seeing how the AAC is comparable to the A10.

Also, look at Battle from GW leading the surprising Minnesota Gophers with 18 pts/ 6 rebs.

Yeah, it is hard to tell sometimes how these transfers work out, coaches really need to do their research.
Martin from Charlotte for us has been a great addition.

I still am optimistic about AB being a possible impact player and solid contributor for us next season.
Haven't given up on him, especially if he is 100%.

Yup Martin has been great.

I also think Betrand will be a solid player but not a difference-maker. DC Rams told us he would be our next star once Fatts left so I think many of us had really high expectations. Not playing for a year is going to be tough, though. Some guys are never the same mentally after an injury like that. We will need to give him some time to get his game back next year. However, he seems extremely hard-working, so I expect him to get his game back and be one of our leaders.

[Rhody72]

...
Yup. I love Ish, but when people kept saying he would have a huge season, I wasn't so sure.. So many players have sophomore slumps. I think next year is when we will see Ish take a jump. I didn't think he would be this bad though.

I hope you are right, but most players improve the most between freshman and sophomore year. Richmond had a big fall-off after his freshman year and eventually left the program.

[steveystuds06]

...
Yup. I love Ish, but when people kept saying he would have a huge season, I wasn't so sure.. So many players have sophomore slumps. I think next year is when we will see Ish take a jump. I didn't think he would be this bad though.

I hope you are right, but most players improve the most between freshman and sophomore year. Richmond had a big fall-off after his freshman year and eventually left the program.

I think Ish would be better with shooters around him. Starting the game with two bigs like the twins makes it extremely congested inside. When he has room to drive and do his thing, he's more successful. He really needs to develop some sort of mid-range game. He seems only to be able to catch and shoot or put his head down and drive. What I love about him is he's still going all out every single possession. No matter what he does on the offensive end he's still working his ass off on the defensive end. He'll get out of this slump..

[SmartyBarrett]

Antwan Walker is now 10-18 from three this year and shooting a blistering 67% from the field. Me thinks he needs more shots.

I'd love more shots/PT for both him and Martin. Martin was a +17 last night, Walker was +13. No one else was better than +8.

[Rhodymob05]

Ish is good but his touch is off a bit, I compare him to Marcus Smart. Gritty, athletic hard worker but lacks the touch of someone like Shepard. Him and Thomas are a solid future tandem.