Game 3: Cleveland State (Sat. Nov. 21, 7:30PM)

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 8 years ago

Following game cast while doing my play. Great D solid offense! Not much from four thus far, but I guess that's because of fouls.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

Iverson starting to settle in some here to.

Rhody74 · Unread post by **Rhody74** » 8 years ago

KI had a couple of nice interior passes. Overall the passing game has picked up.

steviep123 · Unread post by **steviep123** » 8 years ago

Four for THREE!!!!!

Keatgsr07 · Unread post by **Keatgsr07** » 8 years ago

I guess doubling the line (-14) is a good thing?

steviep123 · Unread post by **steviep123** » 8 years ago

Garrett to Terrell! I love hearing that and for 3 more years!

steviep123 · Unread post by **steviep123** » 8 years ago

Whoa - just looked at the schedule and EVERY game is on tv (mostly, - a couple stream only) in some form or another, between an espn network, CBS Sports Net, NBCSN, Cox/Cox Hub, or ASN. That my friends is impressive. A long way from a couple of years ago.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

Well this was a fun one! Nice to get a big win under the belts, hopefully some more confidence, and full speed ahead from here on out.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

15 points and 8 boards for Iverson. Yeah that'll work!

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 8 years ago

Night Cleveland

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 8 years ago

That was a really bad team and way way way too many turnovers. Hopefully KI got some confidence tonight, and I think Jarvis is now the key to our season but he seems to be hobbling. A lot to work on in film room before TCU which will be a tough game against BCS size.

Section104 · Unread post by **Section104** » 8 years ago

My thoughts from my laptop in Chicago:

Jarvis was hot and cold. Liked some of what he created, but I think he tried to push it too much at times resulting in some sloppy play. I think his knee/ankle is bothering him a little bit. Ice up, we'll need you in Cancun!

Terrell with great D and hustle as always. Also a little sloppy, especially in the second half. Solid looking outside shot.

Four needs to look for his shot more.

Hassan with an efficient night in limited minutes due to foul trouble. Not the worst thing in the world to get a little rest considering we have a couple tough tests coming up. I thought Early did well stepping in when Hassan went to the bench.

Iverson with a nice stat line and had a few plays where you could see how much talent/potential he has. I'd like to see him finish stronger around the rim. Real great piece to have on the foul line when they go to the zone against us.

Thompson and Akele - turnovers and hesitation to shoot are expected this early. Great hustle play by Thompson to hit the deck for the loose ball. I think we have 2 very solid 4 year players for our program. Not a bad looking three attempt from Akele at the end of the game...will be interesting to see if we'll see more of those in the future.

Overall: solid defense, a little sloppy on offense with turnovers, but it was nice to see us put the ball in the basket and get our younger guys some much needed time on the court. Not many of our wins will be pretty, so I think you have to take this as a very positive win and stepping stone as we head onto Cancun.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

Sure, there were a lot of turnovers obviously, but I'm not going to get too worried about some sloppy play that happened in the second half of a 30 point blowout. It happens.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 8 years ago

I would tend to agree if we didn't have 11 in the first half as well, hopefully its the result of an obvious mismatch and some lazy play.

steveystuds06 · Unread post by **steveystuds06** » 8 years ago

Finally saw what Iverson can do great drives and passing... Great win!!

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

bigappleram wrote:I would tend to agree if we didn't have 11 in the first half as well, hopefully its the result of an obvious mismatch and some lazy play.

True, but digging a little deeper shows the first half had 4 from Thompson, just some freshman mistakes, and 3 from Iverson who was pushing a little early and then really seemed to settle down nicely. Nobody else had more than 1 in the first half.

Rhody74 · Unread post by **Rhody74** » 8 years ago

Darren Tills isn't coming through that door ...

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

Jarvis Garrett is the most important player on this team right now, and they're on him to assert himself. He's tough and talented and going to be fun to watch this season.

Video, highlighted (for me) by a smile from EC

luke · Unread post by **luke** » 8 years ago

At least some jumpers went through the nets tonight. Hope it adds some confidence for JT and Jarvis. still very sloppy on offense.
From what I have read, TCU isn't that good, so Rams will beat them with a decent effort. also Maryland almost lost to Rider. They came back from
14 down to win. It shows that Maryland is beatable. North Carolina lost at Northern Iowa as well.

Tom98 · Unread post by **Tom98** » 8 years ago

Needed a confidence booster type game. We will continue to get better.

ram1980 · Unread post by **ram1980** » 8 years ago

Garrett needs to stay healthy.. little worried about that.. 2 games ago a knee. Tonight it was an ankle and what looked like his hip that required medical attention.. Iverson showed some solid flashes why he can be a matchup problem.. Good passer from high post and played with a little more confidence tonight.. Thompson played solid D tonight.. Just needs to relax on the offensive end.. Going to need production from him moving forward.. Good win... Best stat was the number of assists and they seemed to push the tempo a little more..

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 8 years ago

The most interesting thing I saw tonight was EC walking around without crutches, and only a slight limp. Is this normal for someone with a torn ACL?

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:The most interesting thing I saw tonight was EC walking around without crutches, and only a slight limp. Is this normal for someone with a torn ACL?

Yes, it can be. In that video, you can see him walking off the court with just a little help.

Bos8 · Unread post by **Bos8** » 8 years ago

After the surgery he will be on crutches and have a brace on.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 8 years ago

ace wrote:
Billyboy78 wrote:The most interesting thing I saw tonight was EC walking around without crutches, and only a slight limp. Is this normal for someone with a torn ACL?
Yes, it can be. In that video, you can see him walking off the court with just a little help.

I just thought it was weird that he was on crutches last week and this week he was getting around pretty good without them. Could this be an indication that the MCL wasn't involved? Or could he walk on it if he tore that too?

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

I think once the swelling goes down its mostly just about pain tolerance on whether you can walk on it or not. It's going to feel unstable, but I don't think being able to walk on it is any real indication of the extent of the damage one way or the other.

Mongo · Unread post by **Mongo** » 8 years ago

Once the swelling goes down from a ACL injury goes down, you can walk without crutches until surgery. After that, the real pain comes. The few days post surgery is rough, but the Physical Therapy is the WORST! There is a bunch of scar tissue that has to be worked out. The PT people take your foot and push your heal to your butt to work that scar tissue out. The worst pain.... You need something to bite down on its so bad.. The bright side, in 6 months EC will be on the court working on his game with no issue. BTW, we potentially have our best player for 2 more years.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

Mongo · Unread post by **Mongo** » 8 years ago

ace wrote:

Love it.... It's going to be a fun season!!!

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 8 years ago

Good win for sure, Cleveland State was just awful, so can't get carried away too much, nice to see the FG % going into big numbers for much of the game.....still needing more sets run to get Four in open space on the perimeter.....

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 8 years ago

section(105) wrote:....still needing more sets run to get Four in open space on the perimeter.....

We won by 30.....

Running Ram · Unread post by **Running Ram** » 8 years ago

cowbell, we need more cowbell!!!

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 8 years ago

Hines Ward played his college football career without an ACL, my cousin also played a few weeks without his when he played football, so in some cases it may not be all that debilitating, I don't know.
Good win! Onto Mexico!

Rhody83 · Unread post by **Rhody83** » 8 years ago

Was at the game. Some encouraging outside shooting. Improvement from the line. Horrible with the turnovers (23). That doesn't include the 4 offensive fouls. Very sloppy. Rams shot 63% FG including 43% from three. To shoot that high of a percentage and only score 73 points tells you there is a problem with the # of shots taken.

Jarvis is the key. No one else can run the offense. Jared, Four and Iverson all had trouble handling the ball. The half court offense was stagnant when Jarvis was out.

Great hustle, defense and passing by Thompson. He is afraid to look for a shot. Took 1 and it was an airball.

Iverson looked good offensively in the 2nd half. Is that mostly due to level of competition (more like he played against in HS) or is he gaining confidence?

We can't afford for Hassan to get in foul trouble against a good team.

Going forward ideal mins/game is there isn't serious foul trouble:
Upfront (2 posotions) - Hass 28, Iverson 28 & Earl 24
Back court (3 positions) - Jarvis 33, Jared 33, Four 33, Thompson 10
Akelee will get about 5-6 somewhere depending on fouls.

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 8 years ago

I think they've looked pretty good all things considered. They couldn't have played that game better.

I also like DH rotations/substitutions, I think he got the main guys enough time to develop and then even played deep bench guys enough for them to get their feet wet.

That Iverson Earl Hassan line up is serious rebounding.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

ATPTourFan wrote:I want 0.80 D-PPP and 1.10 O-PPP for the Rams. That would mean our offense and defense are clicking.

For perspective, against American we were 0.69 D-PPP and 1.07 O-PPP.

PPP = Points Per Possession.

Kenpom's algorithm says we beat them by the score 72-59 with 69 possessions and 91% Rhody win confidence.

So looking back, I am very pleased.

Rhody held ClevelandSt to just 0.65 points per possession.
The Rams scored 1.06 points per possession.

Rhody had their opponent doubled up for virtually the entire game and held them to just 45 points, which is just a late 3 pointer from tying the lowest points scored in the Ryan Center by an opponent. a record set vs American.

Rhode Island has the 4th best defensive efficiency nationally.

Now for the bad news...
URI is close to the worst in D1 in a few offensive categories:
340th in Turnover % (giving up the ball when on offense)
340th in Free Throw %
337th in Steal % (letting opponent steal ball from you)

There is good news in that bad news. There's no way we stay down in the dumpster in those 3 categories all season.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

CoxHub postgame write-up including highlights from post-game show.

http://www.coxhub.com/articles/rhody-us ... n-challege

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 8 years ago

ATPTourFan wrote:CoxHub postgame write-up including highlights from post-game show.

http://www.coxhub.com/articles/rhody-uses-d-to-beat-cleveland-st.-73-45-in-2015-cancun-challege

I posted the exact same pic on my IG feed taken from S 213!

I like mine better ha ha!

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

While acknowledging that it's still early, I think Iverson deserves some credit for fitting in to this program, especially with all that talk that swirls around him of being difficult and uncoachable.

Instant Analysis from Will-

http://www.independentri.com/rhody_over ... b0c5c.html

Including this- Career night: Kuran Iverson had career-highs of 15 points and eight rebounds. It was certainly his best game in a URI uniform, but the Rams are convinced there's more coming. Hurley said, "Relative to his talent level, he just played OK today. We asked him today to get on the backboard, just be active and defend - not necessarily think about making big plays on offense. That stuff will come for him. Once he knocks the rust off, it's just a matter of time."

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 8 years ago

Iverson's ceiling hasn't been close to reached yet.

That, and keeping everyone healthy [especially Garrett] is the key to having a season which may not be too far off our expectations pre-EC injury.

Here's to hoping anyway.....

Rhody74 · Unread post by **Rhody74** » 8 years ago

KI was well spoken on the radio postgame show. (It seems all the players are! ) He mentioned that he was still adjusting to starting. I think he'll adjust sooner rather than later.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 8 years ago

Billyboy78 wrote:
section(105) wrote:The crowd size will be interesting to watch.......
Tons of tickets left again. Hopefully the students show up.

Attendance was 4,721 last night for Cleveland State. Based on the first three games we have averaged 4,897 with all games being pretty close to that number. I would not expect any more OOC games except for PC (sellout) to be much above that number. Rider, Holy Cross, Houston, and Iona are not going to draw more than the real diehards that are already going to the games. I would therefore project that Rhody's OOC home attendance will be in the low 5,000 range. That would be nearly on par to last year's 5,085 OOC average for two less home games. While there had been reports of increased pre-season ticket sales and high anticipation and enthusiasm for this year, it does not appear that it will manifest itself in OOC attendance. I suspect that most mini packs are back ended with conference games (except PC) so they are not yet reflected in the numbers. It would be disappointing if attendance was close to last season. That would basically mean that URI gained no new fans but instead its existing fans just bought tickets before the season began instead of on a game basis as the year progressed.

RHODE ISLAND HOME ATTENDANCE 2014-15
OPPONENT | ATTENDANCE | TO DATE | AVERAGE
American | 5,089 | 5,089 | 5,089
Valparaiso | 4,881 | 9,970 | 4,985
Cleveland State | 4,721 | 14,691 | 4,897

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

On-Demand High-Def Replay is available from CoxHub for $2

http://www.coxhub.com/uri-vs-cleveland- ... 015-replay

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 8 years ago

RF1 wrote:
Billyboy78 wrote:
section(105) wrote:The crowd size will be interesting to watch.......
Tons of tickets left again. Hopefully the students show up.

Attendance was 4,721 last night for Cleveland State. Based on the first three games we have averaged 4,897 with all games being pretty close to that number. I would not expect any more OOC games except for PC (sellout) to be much above that number. Rider, Holy Cross, Houston, and Iona are not going to draw more than the real diehards that are already going to the games. I would therefore project that Rhody's OOC home attendance will be in the low 5,000 range. That would be nearly on par to last year's 5,085 OOC average for two less home games. While there had been reports of increased pre-season ticket sales and high anticipation and enthusiasm for this year, it does not appear that it will manifest itself in OOC attendance. I suspect that most mini packs are back ended with conference games (except PC) so they are not yet reflected in the numbers. It would be disappointing if attendance was close to last season. That would basically mean that URI gained no new fans but instead its existing fans just bought tickets before the season began instead of on a game basis as the year progressed.

RHODE ISLAND HOME ATTENDANCE 2014-15
OPPONENT | ATTENDANCE | TO DATE | AVERAGE
American | 5,089 | 5,089 | 5,089
Valparaiso | 4,881 | 9,970 | 4,985
Cleveland State | 4,721 | 14,691 | 4,897

Good post RF1! I would add students stepped up - nearly filling the entire N end including the 300's.
While I personally would like to see them behind the opposing bench as well this is a good turnout on a Saturday nite! EZBuckets made sure they had fun, man he is good, I had tix in s 213 with the old folks ha ha and they all enjoy the show.

This thing is on the cusp of greatness. Let's ramp up the S County marketing a little bit, especially for school kids. I was sitting there last night realizing that all our wildest dreams just might come true.

PS I told you all Iverson will be an absolute beast. Best player in the building last night.

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 8 years ago

Iverson is right there in my opinion. He should only shoot deep shots when it is clearly an open shot. Other than that he needs to exploit the defenders and put them in a positon to worry about him going by them.

Iverson should draw 2 blocking fouls a game.

Also when he catches it and there is space underneath with nobody there to dig in on his dribble from the side, he has to get it and go.

I think Him with Hass and Earl is deadly because those guys finish so well. He attacks and gets an easy shot or he dumps it to them for a dunk. Him/ Jarvis are the best guys left that can create offense.

I absolutley think this year's URI RAMS have what it takes to WIN THE A10 and make the DANCE.

Rhody72 · Unread post by **Rhody72** » 8 years ago

We play solid defense. As I sat through last nights game, I found my self asking the following question.

Are we playing good basketball on offense?

The answer is an emphatic no. Too much school yard basketball. Too much Jarvis feeding Jared when others are open. Too much Jarvis looking for his offense rather than making his other teammates better. Too much guards not taking care of the basketball.

It is the way we played this blow-out game on offense that makes a team worse rather than better. This team needs to play much more disciplined offensive basketball. Iverson can neither dribble the basketball, shoot from the outside nor pass on the break - it is imperative that he gives up the basketball and focuses on being a finisher and an offensive rebounder. We are not going to get many transition points against better opponents if we can't rebound. When you get only 9 points from the bench in a 28 point blow-out you have to question our depth - and this is with 2 starters sitting out serious minutes with fouls.

You can't turn on playing disciplined offensive basketball when you play better opponents - you need to do it all the time, just as we are committed on the defensive end. This is what better programs do.

This team can get much better on offense.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 8 years ago

I tend to agree with 72, our offensive execution is not where it needs to be. Disagree on Jarvis tho, he is our only guy who can create his own offense now and he needs to continue to be aggressive. If he is a threat to score it will then open up others to finish. But all in all, 23 turnovers against that team was alarming. Let's be clear, Cleveland State is bad bad bad. Probably the worst team we play all year, so while a 28 point victory looks good in the Projo, the reality is our offense was not great.

KI has the potential, but lets not be fooled due to the level of competition. He is still finding his game, where and how he can be effective on offense. 5 turnovers no bueno. Need to see improvement across the board each game, while TCU isn't great they will bring BCS size. Worried about Maryland if we can get by TCU, with EC we probably could have been right in it with them, without EC I am worried that game could get out of hand and hurt our teams psyche.

Joe · Unread post by **Joe** » 8 years ago

Hassan, Earl, Kuran, Jared & Jarvis would be a great defensive/big/rebounding lineup. You could also sub in Four for Jared to add scoring. If Hurley ever wanted to go big - there's his lineup right there

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

To be fair, how many college teams are where they want to be with their offensive execution a week in to the season? Then, take that pool of teams- how many of them lost their best scorer? This offense will clearly be a work in progress up to at least the start of conference play.

With all that's happened, how great is is that Iverson, with whatever he's giving them right now, was eligible from the start?

As for the above mentioned line-up, Dan just talked about running that out there with Iverson at SF. Ideally, I like Four coming in off the bench but they're not exactly working with "ideally" right now

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 8 years ago

I think for a short time during Valpo game we had that fivesome out there -- only issue with that lineup is really only 2 guys that can put it on the deck.