Blog.WBRU

After being surprised by Central Connecticut’s tenacity in the first half the URI Rams came back from an 8 point deficit to win 77-69 at home. The win put URI at 8-3 and 5-0 at the Ryan Center. Rhody relied on their full court press to force turnovers and wreak havoc to make their way back into the game. Though the first half was disappointing, this was invaluable experience for a very young and inexperienced team.

• Seawright does no wrong: Senior forward Kahiem Seawright scored a career high 26 points on 9-10 shooting while nailing all 8 free throws. He also posted 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 rebounds including a tipped 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the game. Despite this impressive stat line Kahiem still hasn’t gotten a double-double after posting 7 last season. In fact no Rams player has a double-double yet.
• Shooting slumps: URI came into the game ranked 22^nd nationally in three point percentage, but only managed 2-15 from downtown against Central Connecticut. Sharpshooter Jimmy Baron has drawn so much attention to himself that teams guard the line like hawks (to the benefit of Seawright and players down low). Baron still got the only two 3s for URI, but had to shoot them from 5+ feet beyond the arc.
• Cold Cothran: Keith Cothran, usually a sparkplug who energizes the entire team has been slightly off the last couple of games. Cothran made one free throw while missing all five field goals he attempted. After committing his 3^rd and 4^th fouls early in the second, Cothran was benched for much of the 2^nd half. If the Rams are going to succeed in the much improved Atlantic 10 Division, they must get Cothran back to speed because they play much better as a team when he is on fire. In games which Cothran has scored 15 or more points, URI is an impressive 12-0.

-MAC

It’s a sad day for Rhody fans, but hopefully this prevents what could have been a tragic day:

Check out the AP article on Yahoo!

Last night URI remained perfect at home, running over the University of New Hampshire wildcats 88-56. After a heartbreaking loss to Providence College last weekend, the win gave the rams a chance to get some momentum back before heading into the O’Reilly Basketball Classic on the 20^th. Rhody looked rejuvenated on both offense and defense, applying pressure on both ends of the court.

• Sharing the love: Rhody shared both minutes of playtime and the ball. URI played all 15 of their active players at some point in the game though many just saw the last 5 minutes as the rams coasted to victory. The players on the court made the extra pass also, ending with 19 assists (they have been averaging 12/game).
• High Score=Lock: URI is now 5-0 in games in which it has scored at least 80 points. Although scoring high always means good things, it speaks to the advantage Rhody has playing at a high tempo as well. Whenever they get the fast break transition game going like they did last night, opponents better watch out (and maybe supply some oxygen on the sideline).
• Awkward scoring stats: UNH started of the second half with a statistical anomaly in shooting percentage. With just under 15 minutes to play, the wildcats had a better 3 point percentage than freethrows or field goals. They had 31.3% from downtown, while only shooting 29.4% from the field and 25% from the charity stripe.

The only hard thing for Rhody to do this week in practice is look for things to improve on. They had more rebounds, steals, blocks, assists, and points while keeping turnovers and fouls to a minimum.

-MAC

What a game! The rivalry lived up it to its hype. The Friars narrowly beat their Kingston counterparts, 66-65. Down by 1, senior Geoff McDermott was fouled with 17.9 seconds left by Kaheim Seawright. McDermott nailed both and neither coach wanted to call a timeout. Instead, URI came down and Rams senior Jimmy Baron drove to the hoop with Weyinmi Efejuku on him. Baron missed, Kaheim Seawright missed the tip-back, McDermott tapped the rebound out, Rams point guard Marquis Jones got the ball with 4 seconds left, dribbled, and then had his desperation shot attempt rejected in the final second by PC senior Jonathan Kale. What else?

[RI Duel] Jimmy Baron certainly got the better of the RI match-up between himself and PC senior Jeff Xavier. On the opening possession, Xavier came out playing man-to-man on Baron, and although he stopped Baron at first, Baron broke out. Jimmy Baron finished with 18 points, 16 of those coming in the first half. PC switched up who guarded Baron throughout the game, but eventually settled on primarily sophomore Marshon Brooks for the final 12 minutes. It worked. Xavier meanwhile finished with 0 points and only shot 3 times. He played only 7 minutes in the second half.

[Close Game] The lead changed 18 times (15 in the first half) and was tied 12 times. Both teams’ largest lead in the first half was by 3 points. URI led by as much as 7, when Baron scored after grabbing an offensive rebound with 17 minutes left. Those were Baron’s last points of the game.

[Sea-WRIGHT] URI provided a stronger post presence than expected. They outrebounded PC, 40-36, and were led in the post by Kaheim Seawright. The senior had 18 points and 7 rebounds, although he missed all 4 of his free throws.

[Efejuku Steals the Show] Leave it up to Weyinmi Efejuku to steal the show in big games. He’s done it before and he did again. He went shot for shot in the first half with Baron (both 6/10 at halftime). Then, he gave PC their first lead of the second half with 9:44 left, 52-51, when he completed a three-point play after getting fouled by Baron on a fastbreak layup. URI retook the lead, but Efejuku then nailed the big three to tie it up, 61-61, with 2:33 left.

[Evenly Matched] As Mac and I said in the “Sports Rundown” at noon today, these teams are very similar and evenly matched. How even? Both shot 36% in the second half. URI shot 20% from downtown, PC 19%. Both had 11 turnovers. URI had 11 second chance points, PC 12. Run down the statistics and both teams had very similar ones.

- JE

PC handily defeated Brown tonight at the Dunk, 86-62. One interstate opponent down, another to go (well, if you’re not including the Bryant game later in December). URI makes the drive up to the Dunk Saturday for a 2pm tipoff. Here are my Five Providence Friars Points for the Brown game:

[Starting Shuffle] For the first time this season, Keno Davis switched up his starting lineup. He started Jeff Xavier instead of Brian McKenzie, who struggled out in Anaheim with just 15 points and 5 rebounds in 3 games. As Keno has said from day one though (and did against after the game tonight), he can envision any of the 8 players in his rotation starting at some point this season.

[Keep Em Fresh] Why burn anyone out with a big lead and a big game against URI Saturday? No Friar played more than 25 minutes tonight.

[Hanke Hanke] Senior center Randall Hanke recorded his first double-double since last New Year’s Eve.

[Brown Blanks] Simply put, Brown couldn’t shoot the ball very well. They shot worse than 35% each half. Meanwhile, the Friars built a 17-point halftime lead by shooting over 60% in the first half.

[URI Rivalry Game] The real interstate rivalry happens this Saturday at the Dunk at 2!! Want tickets? Email sports@wbru.com before Friday with your name, phone number, final score prediction, and reason why you think either PC or URI will win, and you could snag a pair of tickets to the game! Also, be sure to tune into the “Sports Rundown” at noon on Saturday. We have sound from the players and coaches about the game, and then Mac and I will break down the game and tell you which team is going to come away victorious!

- JE

The Rams improved to 4-1, defeating Hartford in front of a student-depleted crowd at the Ryan Center by a final score of 94-72. The game was tied 13-13 over 7 minutes into the game, but then the Rams went on a 23-7 run and Hartford never pulled to within single digits after that.

[Close for Keith] Rams’ junior guard Keith Cothran came one point shy of a new career high. He scored 23 against VCU last time out and finished with 22 tonight. With 5 minutes left, Lamonte Ulmer lobbed an alley-oop pass for Cothran, which would have been a nice way to reach a new career high. The pass was off though and Cothran was subbed out shortly thereafter. After the game, Jimmy Baron called Keith, “the best slashing guard in the Atlantic 10 and one of the best slashing guards in the country.” He continued to say, “when we play teams, I don’t know who they’re going to guard.”

[Status Quo for Baron] Yawn, another outstanding night from long range for Jimmy Baron. He connected on 6/11 three-pointers, knocking them down from all over the arc. Baron is now 22/39 on the season, good for an amazing 56%.

[Do Martell] In the second half, Will Martell was called into the game, but when he went to take off his warmup shirt, he snatched his jersey off as well. He walked onto the court, putting his jersey back on, with a sheepish grin on his face. A minute later, Baron zipped a pass to him down low for a lay-in that got the crowd going. He then followed it up on defense with a block.

[The Stats] The key stats of the game: URI outscored Hartford 23-8 on points off turnovers. They also outscored Hartford on second chance points, 25-9. Hartford’s coach said afterwards that URI physically wore his team down (second chance points) and that his team had trouble with URI’s speed (points off TOs).

[Spreading the Minutes] 12 different Rams saw the court for at least 4 minutes, all of which played in the first half. Coach Baron said that with 2 important games (Penn State and either Villanova or Towson) this upcoming weekend, “We tried to preserve some guys. We tried to get guys coming off the bench.”

- JE

The URI Rams topped the VCU Rams 92-86. After a tough long week, URI came out flat against VCU, missing open shots and forgetting to block out. However, URI was able to force turnovers against VCU All-Conference PG Eric Maynor and kept the score close while they got their offense back in rhythm. URI Captain Jimmy Baron was held in check as VCU pressured him hard at the 3 point line. URI Forwards Keith Cothran and Kaheim Seawright stepped up in Jimmy’s place. Cothran scored a career high 23 points, and after the game said that he wanted to be aggressive on the offensive side this year. A couple of interesting points about the game:

3 point extraordinaire Jimmy Baron didn’t get his first 3 point field goal until 5 minutes left in the game. He probably spent all his energy hitting 3 point shots against Duke 2 games ago. He is, after all, only a man.

URI forced 26 turnovers against VCU. Many of them were on Eric Maynor, supposedly “one of

the best players in the country”.

All 5 of URI’s starters were in double digit points. Marquis Jones play the best game of his career, at least defensively, holding Maynor in check most of the game.

The Refs called about 10 more fouls on the VCU Rams than the URI Rams, but from the way the crowd treated the Refs, you would have thought URI had about 100 fouls called against them. At one point, a fan began harassing the Ref, screaming profanities and even said “hey ref, why don’t you pick up that piece of trash in front of you! It’s been there all day.” The Refs did a decent job officiating the game, they aren’t top college refs, but they did a fair job. The Crowd was extremely immature and did not take calls against them with grace. The Refs deserve better. Ok, enough sentimental crap.

-Heng and MAC

URI squeezed out a win against Brown 76-74. URI Captain Jimmy Baron missed his first 7 shots as the Rams fell behind 31-22 at the half. The Bears had their way in the post. Bear’s forward Matt Mullery consistently established positions deep in the post and made his first 6 shots. According to Coach Baron, the Bears were able to slow down the Rams fast break offense by making shots. The Bears shot 50% from the court while the Rams were held to a low 39% from the court. Here are some interesting notes:

The Bears shot only 56% from the free throw line, making 13 out of 23. The Rams did much better making 20 out of 26. Had Brown made a few more baskets, they probably would have won.

Ram’s forward Kahiem Seawright had 4 blocks, which is really impressive because Seawright appears to have more interest in chewing his mouth guard than playing the game.

Most importantly, the Rams Mascot Rhody walked around most of the game with a wet jersey. My keen detective skills lead me to surmise that someone spilt a beverage of some kind on him, maybe Coke. No, it was probably Sprite.

The game was mostly dominated by Brown. The Rams didn’t get their first lead until there was 3 minutes left in the 2^nd half. I think this was because the Rams have no post-defense, but if you were to ask a Rams’ fan, they would tell you it was the refs. The fans began chanting bull**** and ***hole after the Refs made a few calls against the Rams. I have nothing against the 1^st Amendment or drunk college students harassing adults–heck I’ll probably go do the same thing after I write this piece. However, there were many young children in the crowd, and there is nothing better than exposing a young girl to wonderful words like *%$ and @(%&.

-Heng and Mac