SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Things have gone from bad to worse for the URI men’s basketball team.
Lowly La Salle sent the Rams to their worst start in Atlantic 10 play in more than a decade with a 79-72 victory on Wednesday, Jan. 7, at the Ryan Center. The Rams are now 0-3 in conference play for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
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“For 40 minutes, I thought that they were the more physical team. For 40 minutes, I thought they were the team that imposed their will more,” URI head coach Archie Miller said. “For the first time all season, I can sit here and say the disappointment level in our effort defensively, the inability to do anything we’ve practiced and played in 15 games showed tonight. It was a total breakdown.”
The Explorers entered at 4-11 and 0-2 in A-10 play but left with a victory thanks to a hot shooting night and a second-half surge. The game was tied 41-41 at the break. The Explorers took advantage of a URI dry spell to take control in the second half and never lost their grip.
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Jonah Hinton led URI with 18 points in the loss to La Salle on Wednesday at the Ryan Center.
“It’s an unacceptable performance in terms of our standard and what we try to do on a daily basis,” Miller said.
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La Salle’s Rob Dockery led all scorers with 22 points. Jonah Hinton scored 18 for the Rams and Myles Corey had 12.
Here’s what stood out.
Another costly drought
Unlike their first two A-10 games, the Rams started fast, opening the game with an 8-0 run highlighted by an alley-oop slam from Corey. They continued to execute well through the rest of the first half, shooting 54 percent from the field and making six of 13 3-point attempts. They had 11 assists at the break.
The all-too-familiar drought hit early in the second half. URI committed five turnovers in the first 5:26 – after having five total in the first half – and went nearly seven minutes without a field goal. They missed 10 consecutive shots in that span. La Salle took full advantage, opening up a 59-48 lead by the 11-minute mark.
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“Started the first four or five minutes of the second half and I think we had four turnovers,” Miller said. “Some really poor plays out of the post trap, some really poor plays in transition. And then it’s a runaway. It gets them easy baskets, it gets them in transition. I think that kind of got us going in the wrong direction.”
URI got within five around the nine-minute mark on a steal and three-point play by Tyler Cochran, but the Explorers pushed back with six straight points. It was an uphill battle for the home team from there. Two late 3-pointers by Jonah Hinton were not enough to overcome the deficit.
Josiah Harris (5), of La Salle, and Keeyan Itejere (40) of URI, battle for the ball in Wednesday Atlantic 10 matchup in Kingston.
Rams let La Salle get hot
La Salle’s previous victories this season came against Coppin State, Monmouth, Lancaster Bible and Drexel. While the Explorers gave George Mason a battle in their A-10 opener, they rode a five-game losing streak into Kingston and entered the game ranked 13 out of 14 A-10 teams at KenPom.com.
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URI’s defense allowed the Explorers to break through. They shot a season-high 61 percent from the field and made 22 of 33 at the foul line. Their previous best shooting mark of the season was 50 percent.
“That’s the first locker room I looked at after a game this year, win or loss, that there’s some real BS in terms of our effort level, concentration and attention to detail,” Miller said. “That’s the first one where I’m going to look at it and say, ‘I’m calling BS.’ There were some guys that didn’t bring it in terms of their effort and their intent and their commitment level to what we do on a daily basis.”
Defense has generally not been a sticking point for the Rams this season. They rank third in the A-10 in scoring defense and eighth in opponent field-goal percentage. No team has shot better against the Rams this season than La Salle did on this night.
“It’s the poorest defensive game that we’ve played all season,” Miller said. “I’ve said it all year long, this group has great character and great work ethic. I don’t really question their intent. But tonight, we were out of character. We were really out of character in terms of the competitive spirit, the physicality, the toughness, the guarding the ball. We didn’t have anything we could go to, in terms of, ‘OK, at some point in time, we’re going to figure this out and get some stops and get going.’ Didn’t happen.”
Archie Miller, URI head coach, on the sidelines Wednesday night vs. La Salle.
A-10 struggles continue
Conference play continues to be a horror show for the Rams. They’re 18-39 in A-10 play during Miller’s tenure.
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And this time, the problems have started earlier.
In previous years, the Rams have typically held their own in January before finding big trouble in February. They lost eight of their final nine games in 2023. The next year, they got off to a 3-0 start in A-10 play but eventually careened to seven losses in their final eight games. Last year, they dropped four of their last five conference games.
Now, they’ve got nothing in the bank and will have to hope they can write a very different script from here.
URI will hit the road Saturday to take on Davidson.
“At the end of the day, we have nobody to blame but ourselves for the start that we’ve had in conference play. We have to own that,” Miller said. “But I will tell you this much, it’s not getting easier. The message to our team is each game, each week, everybody is striving to get better and find a way. Our desperation has to go up a notch in terms of what we’re trying to do. This group will respond over the next 48 hours. I like our guys. I’ve said that. Just really, really disappointed – and I think we’re all disappointed – in terms of our level tonight and where we were at.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island men’s basketball loses to La Salle 79-72 on January 7
