URI Falls Just Short in Upset Bid Over VCU, Lose 65-60
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URI Falls Just Short in Upset Bid Over VCU, Lose 65-60
See the five takeaways slideshow below.
URI led for the majority of the game until VCU grabbed a 59-58 lead, with 2:30 to go, after back to back three-pointers. The one point lead was VCU's first lead in nearly thirty minutes. URI trailed 61-58 with just under 40 seconds to go with the ball in E.C. Matthews hands after a time out.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBut the play did not go as planned, URI never got a shot off as Matthews over dribbled and was called for a travel. VCU knocked down free throws and closed out the game.
Rhode Island was led by E.C. Matthews who netted 22 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Matthews was followed up by Hassan Martin who notched a triple-double with ten points and ten rebounds.
VCU was led by Treveon Graham who led all scorers with 26 points. Graham also pulled down eight rebounds for the VCU Rams.
Next up, URI hits the road with a visit to UMass on Saturday, January 17. Tip-off is set for 2:30 p.m. The game will be shown on NBC Sports Network.
For a further look at the URI loss, see the five takeaways slideshow below.
Five Takeaways From The Rams 65-60 Loss to VCU
Dominating the paint
URI dominated in the paint, scoring 42 of their 60 points in the painted area, compared to 28 for VCU.
Though they lost the game, coach Dan Hurley has to be thrilled with this statistic because it shows they are not just settling for jump shots, they are making an effort to get to the paint and in turn getting to the free throw line.
URI shot 22 free throws in the game against VCU, only making 13 of them.
Hassan Martin
Hassan Martin had another solid performance for the URI Rams, posting his second double-double of the season.
Martin had ten points and ten rebounds in the game and also had six blocks for URI.
Martin has reached double-figures in five of the last six games for URI and has had at least ten rebounds in three straight games.
Martin continues his great play for URI.
Freshmen Wall?
Freshman Jared Terrell started out the season on fire, reaching double-figures in seven of his first nine games.
However, he has seemingly hit a bit of a wall because in the last six games, Terrell has not reached double-figures in any of those games.
In those same six games, Terrell has not made four shots from the field in any of them.
URI needs him to score and you have to think just one good game will give him some of his confidence back.
E.C. Matthews
Other then the poor execution at the end of the game, E.C. Matthews once again had a pretty good game. Matthews led the Rams with 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field but only 1-of-6 from three-point land.
Matthews pulled down seven rebounds and had one assist however his six turnovers (team had 18) were an issue. VCU scored 15 points off of 18 URI turnovers.
Matthews continues to have a great season for URI however he needs to cut down on his turnovers. Can't turn the ball over six turnovers in a game, especially at home.
Poor execution
sThe URI Rams trailed 61-58 with just under 40 seconds left when Dan Hurley called a time out.
Out of the time out, URI got the ball to E.C. Matthews, exactly where they wanted it. However, once the ball got there, it stayed there.
Matthews just dribbled the ball and over dribbled the ball and ended up turning it over on a travel call.
This certainly could not have been what Hurley had drawn up in the time out so it comes down to poor execution by URI. The ball didn't move and they never got a shot off. There was more then enough time on the clock to run a play.
