Coming off of the back of potentially the best win, in terms of strength of opponent, in the Archie Miller era the Rhode Island Rams have momentum and a chance to announce themselves to the Atlantic 10 conference and the nation at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando, FL.
Prior to Rhody’s Nov. 18 matchup with the Yale Bulldogs the Ivy League favorites were ranked number 71 in Ken Pomeroy’s college basketball rankings, the highest a URI team has defeated under Miller. The 86-77 victory in New Haven, CT showed the potential this Rams squad has, coming back from down six points at the break and allowing just 31 second half points.
Now Rhody heads to the Sunshine State to take on three programs, with this first being the Towson Tigers. The Tigers entered gameday ranked number 136 in the KenPom, ahead of A-10 teams like Saint Joes, La Salle and others and just behind Duquesne, Davidson and St. Bonaventure. With a win URI would face the winner of Vermont and LIberty, which are ranked 174 and 80 respectively on Nov 24. Vermont, although ranked below the Rams and Tigers, are a tough program to beat with three NCAA tournament appearances since 2020. The Liberty Flames will enter the event 4-0, with victories over Florida Atlantic and Charleston.
Rhody will have a neutral court advantage against either of these teams, being the only squad to already see neutral court before the ESPN Invitational. URI shipped down to Annapolis, MD to take on Tulsa in the Veterans Classic in a game that got away from the Rams as former Rhody forward and squad won 82-65 on Nov 7. Rhody needs to learn from that game if it wants to be successful in Florida, as URI were outrebounded, outshot and forced less turnovers than the Golden Hurricane did at Alumni Hall.
After the first two games Rhody could see one of Temple (ranked 124 as of Nov 24), Princeton (220), UC San Diego (129) or Bradley (134). Princeton is the KenPom outlier in the Adventure Bracket of the invitational but still comes from a strong Ivy League eager to prove itself among mid-majors. Rhody can defeat any of these opponents enroute to hanging a small banner as victors of the event, but they also could falter as they did against Tulsa. If URI wants to earn multiple victories or even sweep the field it needs to continue to shoot the ball well from the charity stripe. The Rams have shot over 81% from the line, a huge improvement from last season’s number of 69.4%.
This Rhody team have proved they have heart and effort as seen against Yale, but now its toughest test is here, three games in three days against formidable opponents.
