Photo by Hunter Hensel
On Wednesday evening in Fairfax, the Fordham Rams dropped their fifth consecutive game in Atlantic 10 play to the George Mason Patriots. With the 74-64 loss, the Rams now sit at 3-12 in conference play, 1-5 since head coach Keith Urgo returned to the sidelines following a 4-game suspension. Despite a tough stretch for Fordham, the Rams have shown strong flashes, both on an individual level and as a team, but have struggled to sustain these flashes over a full 40 minutes. With a trip to the first round of the A10 Tournament booked, Fordham has three regular season games left to iron out the kinks before heading down to DC.
Where Fordham Has Struggled
While Fordham has prided themselves on defense since the beginning of Coach Urgo’s tenure in 2022, the Rams’ defense has not been up to their usual standard this season. In fact, despite boasting their best scoring offense since the 1999-2000 season at 74.4 ppg, the 2024-25 Rams have allowed the most points per game in all contests since 2013-14. Overall, Fordham sits at the bottom of the A10 in scoring defense at 77.0 points allowed per game. Counting only games against A10 opponents, that mark drops down to 79.3 points allowed per game.
Even when Fordham balances their offensive and defensive efforts early, sustaining a close margin throughout a game has been challenging. Below is a breakdown of Fordham’s scoring margins in each half of their last six games:
| Opponent | First Half Margin | Second Half Margin | Final Margin |
| vs. URI | +2 | -1 | +1 |
| vs. Dayton | 0 | -17 | -17 |
| @ Richmond | -1 | -3 | -4 |
| @ Duquesne | 0 | -9 | -9 |
| vs. Davidson | -17 | +6 | -11 |
| @ Mason | -8 | -2 | -10 |
| Total | –24 | -26 | -50 |
In 4 of their last 6 games, the Rams played within 5 points of their opponent in the first half. Even against Davidson and George Mason, the two outliers in this graphic, Fordham pulled off runs to either tie the game or bring their deficit within single digits. Against Davidson, Fordham opened the game with an 8-2 lead before a Wildcats run midway through the half propelled them to a double-digit lead. Against Mason, Fordham held the Patriots 1-10 from the field, but struggled to break a tied score at 32 points apiece. In both outings, the Rams were never able to string together enough stops, or compliment stops with buckets, in either game to pull off a win.
Following a 93-76 loss to Dayton on February 12th, Coach Urgo detailed how defensive lapses can kill a team’s momentum.
“When you continue to not get stops, it puts so much pressure on every possession,” Urgo said. “Every time you’re on the offensive end, you try to make a play. As a result, we didn’t shoot the ball as well in the second half.”
Turnovers have provided a major blow to Fordham’s defense this season. In A10 play, Fordham sits second-to-last in the conference in average turnover margin at -2.47. When looking at how these Fordham turnovers fuel opposing runs, improving this margin will be a huge focus for the Rams over the next week and a half.
How several Rams have emerged
Despite consistent struggles throughout conference play, there have been plenty of bright spots up and down this roster. Aside from Fordham’s highly efficient guard tandem of Japhet Medor and Jackie Johnson III (32.1 combined PPG this season), several Rams have made strides in their impact during this recent stretch.
Matt Zona, who has played off the bench after starting the first four games of the season, has played arguably some of his best basketball for Fordham in February. Over the last 6 games, Zona has averaged 6.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 0.7 APG, higher than his overall totals for the season in all 3 categories. Via Basketball Reference, Zona is averaging almost two more points per game as a bench player than as a starter in just under one less minute per game. Against Rhode Island, Zona hit the game-winning shot, a putback on a missed Japhet Medor layup to give Fordham an 80-79 win at home.
According to Coach Urgo, Zona has put a huge priority on his physicality and post play, ensuring that he’s ready to make more plays like the one against Rhode Island.
“He’s really focused on just making winning plays,” Coach Urgo said after the Dayton game. “That means doing whatever; going to the glass when he needs to, getting [boards] off the offensive rim, he’s kind of letting the game come to him instead of forcing things and [I’m] really proud of his development. I think he’s just scratching the surface, honestly.”
Another player who has continued to improve off the bench, and now in the starting lineup, is Josh Rivera. Since joining the Rams last season, Rivera has provided a major spark off the bench as a physical, dynamic scorer. In Fordham’s first 12 games of A10 play, Rivera averaged 12.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg, and 1.4 apg off the bench. Heading into the road matchup with Duquesne, Matt Zona and senior guard Zach Riley approached Coach Urgo with the idea of swapping Riley out of the starting lineup for Rivera. In a phone interview following the loss to Duquesne, Coach Urgo praised Riley’s selflessness in making the suggestion.
“That’s the ultimate teammate right there,” Coach Urgo said. “And you know [what]? It worked. We got off to a tremendous start. We jumped on them early, but just like we did against Richmond, we just weren’t able to sustain that.”
According to Coach Urgo, Rivera has been playing “the best basketball of his career” leading up to and through his current tenure as a starter.
Final Thoughts
While on pace for a bottom-5 finish in the A10 Regular Season Standings, Fordham continues to grow on both the micro and macro levels. Throughout this year, Coach Urgo has consistently stressed Fordham’s goal of being the best team they can be by the end of the year. With three games left before DC, defense and ball security remain the key areas to develop. Should the Rams make significant improvements in both over the next 10 days, we could be looking at a completely refreshed squad in the 2025 Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Rams return to action Saturday Afternoon when they host Saint Joe’s in celebration of Senior Day.
