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Rhode Island Stats and Intel - https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... /2025.html

Record: 13-3 (2-2, 7th in A-10 MBB)
Coach: Archie Miller
PS/G: 79.9 (70th of 364)
PA/G: 70.2 (145th of 364)
SRS: 5.96 (95th of 364)
SOS: -2.25 (232nd of 364)
ORtg: 109.1 (155th of 364)
DRtg: 95.9 (43rd of 364)


Rhode Island Rams (13-3, 2-2) at Loyola Chicago Ramblers (10-6, 1-2)

I don’t want to open this one with how bad Saturday afternoon was at Saint Joe’s so let’s spare ourselves all the gory details from that one and move on to the next.

Losers of 5 of its last 6, and 6 of its last 8 overall, Loyola Chicago returns home for 1 game this week to host Rhode Island on Wednesday night for a nationally televised CBS Sports Network game at 8pm. The Rams are coming off a 67-64 win over Richmond as two-point favorites. The Ramblers are coming off a 93-57 loss to Saint Joseph’s as five-point underdogs.

Picked to finish 11th in the pre-season A-10 poll, Rhode Island got off to a thunderous start to the season winning its first 9 games of the season – some of them quality victories over Charleston, Providence, Yale, and Temple. They’ve cooled off since the New Year, losing badly at Duquesne and at home to surprise team, George Washington…. and winning only marginally (3-apiece) over George Mason and Richmond.

Now in his third season at URI, Archie Miller has constructed a contending, upperclassmen roster that has fit well to his liking and playing style – nearly all transfers. Presently, URI has a top 100 scoring offense (70th best), is 5th best in the nation in defensive rebounding, and 6th in the nation in free throw attempts per game (27 attempts) and made (19 per game – despite only hitting 71%). They get to the line, and they get there often which we should hope they do not accomplish on Wednesday night. These little things have translated to 13 wins.

Loyola Chicago and Rhode Island split their only two meetings ever.

In the first ever matchup, URI defeated Loyola on March 1st, 2023 at Gentile Arena by a score of 79-77 when Ishmael Leggett hit 2 FT’s with 2.2 seconds remaining in the game. How it happened - Braden Norris hit a long 3 to tie it 77-apiece with 10 seconds on the clock. The Rams decided to quickly inbound without a timeout and run up the court. In midst of the chaos, Leggett drove to the rim and drew a foul on Philip Alston with 2.2 seconds to go. We all disagreed with that late whistle.

Then on February 18, 2024, Loyola returned the favor at Rhode Island during a Sunday matinee, winning 77-67 behind 21 from Phil Alston and 21 from Dame Adelekun - both are missed dearly.

URI has the best rated offense in the A-10, averaging 79.9 points per game. They are led by 5 starters who each average nearly 10 points or more.

6-1 senior guard Sebastian Thomas (who after 2022-23 transferred away to Albany for 1 season and returned again) averages 18.7 points per game to lead the Rams and ranks second in the A-10 in scoring. He also leads the team and league in assists per game (5.9). Thomas has scored double-figures in every game this season, which includes eight games with at least 20 points. He's also on a six game streak with at least 20 points scored and has one double-double in that stretch with a 10 assist outing vs. Temple.

Secondary scorer, 5th year 6-7 guard David Green has been a solid transfer pickup from Louisiana Tech and Hofstra, averaging 15 ppg and 5.8 rpg.

Besides Thomas and his supporting cast, this game also features two of the better rim protectors in the Atlantic 10. Rhode Island's 7-footer center Javonte Brown is second in the A-10 with 2.13 blocks per game and third with 34 total blocks. Loyola Chicago's Miles Rubin is fourth in the league with 32 blocks and 2.0 per game.

The Rams will likely run a starting lineup of 6-1 G Sebastian Thomas, 6-3 G Jamarques Lawrence, 6-7 G David Green, 7-0 C Javonte Brown, and 6-6 F Tyonne Farrell. Sixth man Jaden House comes off the bench for 25 minutes per game and is third on the team in scoring 10.6ppg.

Loyola's starting lineup situation is still likely unconfirmed, but looking better. Depending on how ready the freshly activated Kymany Houinsou looks, we should expect JQ, Dawson, Watson, Rubin, and Houinsou.


LAST 10 GAMES FOR BOTH SQUADS

Rhode Island: 7-3, averaging 72.9 points, 36.7 rebounds, 12.6 assists, 5.7 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 41.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.6 points.

Loyola: 4-6, averaging 69.6 points, 30.3 rebounds, 13.2 assists, 5.6 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 44.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.7 points per game.


Watch / Listen – Wednesday night’s game is game-2 of an A-10 double header on CBS Sports Network, with Chris Lewis and B.J. Taylor on the call, and can be listened to Rambler Sports Network with our friends Sudikoff and CT.

Postgame Show - Tune in to Sudikoff on RSN, followed by TalkinBlers Spaces on the X: https://x.com/blerstalking?s=21


Odds: Loyola -5

anyone watched RI play this year and have an opinion? Thanks for the preview

Lots to discuss after this one. Will add more in the am -

Might have been JQ’s most complete game in three years. Thought he put a good one together. 17 points, 5 assists, 2 fouls, ZERO turnovers. Thought he contained Thomas quite well holding league second leading scorer to just 20 on 7 of 18 mostly difficult shots.

Really keep wishing we had a go to low post guy for when times get tough….. like late in the first and throughout the second.

Watson had a solid first half and I felt if we got another double digit half out of him in the second we’d get the W…. Sure enough….

With no go to low post scorer for when times get tough I wouldn’t mind Des getting 20 attempts per game from 12-15ft away. Excellent midrange tonight. Des was the dude.

Good contributions Sheldon and JD despite low’ish scoring nights.

Nwaokorie with a quiet 14. Okay, keep shooting open threes.

Thought we’d give away this game from late in the first onward - like when we blew a 10pt lead settling on 4 bricks from three and making zero effort to work it inside. But did not.

Way to play 40 complete minutes, deal with dozens of lead changes, and secure the W.

19-25 from FT. W!!!

Thank you students for showing up.

Jamie Luckie continues to have a beef with LUC and everyone else.

Dayton Saturday, who’ve lost 3 straight and no longer appear to be an auto-bid, and a VERY FAVORABLE schedule from then thru mid February in which we should win a few more…..

Nice win and really fun game to watch. The announcers were really informative, particularly the color commentator who gave much more than a standard reading of game notes about players.

Good win. Type of game we have to win--home game vs what appears to be another "middle of the pack" team.

I was impressed by their big 7 footer, Javonte Brown. Surprised they didn't force feed him more. Our big guys didn't really seem to have an answer stopping him.

Speaking of big men, we really need more offensive production from ours. Hard to win games when you rely on at least two guards scoring 15+--thankfully JQ and Des were up to the task tonight.

3 Pt shooting still an issue at 6-18. FT shooting much improved.

Dayton is reeling. They lost to George Mason last night in a game that was never really in doubt. That was their first home loss in a long, long time. They sit at 1-3 i conference, only above Fordham. Crazy fall from a team that had a very strong non-conference and was ranked at one point. Nevertheless, their talent is undeniable and it'll be a loud sellout crowd as always at UD Arena.

Very happy to get the win because I agree that we really hit the skids there for a bit. The timeout down seven was a good reset, and I thought JD was very vocal in the huddle. He seemed to be calling for us to keep running our offense. Nice to see that leadership by him.

Kudos to Drew for getting the team refocused.

Can Miles start taking and making the wide open 8-footers?

Nice when our best FT shooters are the ones on the line!

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Houinsou in relief for some PG minutes was a smart strategy. 4 assists in 16 minutes with only 1 mistake. Thought this move helped settle down the game and team before JQ got going. The versatility of this could be a thing moving forward.

Had been some chatter of this via TalkinBlers throughout the week leading up to last night. Right on....

The way things have been going we will take the win. Few points:

Close game and we made some FTs. It got us the win and was nice to see.

We continue to get beat off the dribble which is cause our defense a ton of problems and fouls. We need to keep the opposing offensive players in front of us.

Too much switching and not enough fighting through screens. Teams run one screen on us and they immediately have a mismatch with one of our guards on a big.

Defensive rebounding is a problem. We are giving up a ton of rebounds after the initial defensive stand has been good for 25, 26 seconds. We need to be more team oriented in our defensive rebounding.

Dayton is reeling a bit. There is no DeRon Holmes there and they are learning a new way to play. They basically are playing four guards and launching a lot of 3's and trying to run out. When the 3's go in, they are tough, when they don't...not so much. Our job will be to be to 1) be efficient on offense and limit TOs, long rebounds that lead to run outs, 2) get back in transition and find the 3 point shooters..defend the arc!; and 3) assume Dayton is a dangerous team that will not be happy and looking to claw and fight. Match them, man-up, and get the W.

Thanks to the students that showed up. We needed that.



Ramblers better than Rhode Island
Paint 36 to 30
Pts off TOs 13 to 6
Fast break pts 11 to 2


Ramblers
FT 76%
19 assists, moved the ball around pretty well.
6 Ramblers with 7 or more pts, 3 in double figures.


Individual
JQ, good all around and 7 of 8 from the line
Sheldon 5 of 6 from the line
Des 21 pt game, 2 of 3 from three, 3 of 4 from the line
Francis 3 of 4 from three.
Houinsou good game for coming back. 2 steals although not on the scoreboard.


Ouch!
Ramblers with 22 PF, but we survived

Well, enjoyable game, but I hated to see Rhode Island catch us after being up 10.

This bugs me, too. I don't get the strategy behind switching Miles onto a point guard. (If that is the strategy, which it may not be.) We end up with Miles trying to guard a lightning quick guard and 6'4" guarding a giant in the paint.

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