Dayton, URI Set to Square Off in A-10 Semifinals
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Dayton, URI Set to Square Off in A-10 Semifinals
The winner of this game will play on Sunday in the A-10 Championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The Dayton Flyers
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Flyers are coming off a 75-71 quarterfinal win over St. Bonaventure and prior to that won three of their final four games of the season, including wins over #22 VCU and URI.
"Dayton is a high energy team that doesn't play a lot of guys. They use a short rotation of players who play a lot of minutes," said URI radio play by play man Steve MacDonald prior to the regular season showdown between the Rams and Flyers.
The Flyers are led by Jordan Sibert who averaged 16.6 points per game during the regular season and poured in 19 points against the Bonnies.
Sibert's teammate Dyshawn Pierre is the second leading scorer on the Flyers, averaging a near double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds. Pierre netted four points in the Flyers last game against the Bonnies.
URI vs. Dayton - March 3 - Dayton wins 75-59
In the only regular season meeting between the Rams and Flyers, Dayton won 75-59 on their home court.
URI led 20-18 with eight minutes left in the first half before the Flyers ripped off a 12-3 run to go up 30-23 and would lead 36-28 at the half.
URI would get as close as six, 49-43, with 11:30 left but would not get any closer the rest of the way .
E.C. Matthews led URI with 18 points while Jordan Sibert poured in a game high 21 points.
URI vs. Dayton
"Free throws, some days they [URI] are very very good and some days it's been bad," said URI radio play by play man Steve MacDonald.
URI's free throw shooting has been inconsistent at best this season. The Rams missed 11 free throws in the regular season game against Dayton, 17 free throws in a key regular season game against Davidson which the Rams lost by one point and 15 free throws in the last round against George Washington, though they survived.
URI's free throw shooting will be a major factor in this game and throughout the rest of the tournament.
Title Game Trip on the Line
The Rams and Flyers tip off on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn for the right to play in Sunday's A-10 Championship game.
The game can be seen on the CBS Sports Network.
URI Rams 2014-2015 Projected Starting Lineup
Guard- E.C. Matthews
Sophomore E.C. Matthews will lead the Rams back court and scoring this season after having a great freshman year. The 6'5" Matthews averaged 15.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for the Rams last season and since January of 2014, he has had seven games where he has scored at least 20 points.
Matthews was named to the Bob Cousy Award watch list earlier in the preseason, signifying that he is already one of the best guards in the country.
Guard- Jared Terrell
One of the players to watch for off the bench is 6'3" freshman Jared Terrell who is ranked as one of of the top prospects in America. In high school, at Brewster Academy, Terrell averaged 14.5 points and five rebounds per game. Terell chose URI over several other high level D-I schools, including the rival Providence Friars.
Guard- Biggie Minnis
Biggie Minnis, a 6'3" junior, will be the third guard in the rotation for the Rams this season. Minnis appeared in 21 games last season for the Rams and started in 11 games. He missed eight games due to injury.
In the games he played, Minnis averaged just under five points per game and shot over 50% from the floor. If he can stay healthy, the Rams will be looking forward to more of that.
Forward- Gilvydas Biruta
6'8" Senior Gilvydas Biruta is coming off a year where he was one of the team captains and averaged just over 10 points per game and shot 67% from the floor. Biruta was also a force on the boards pulling down an average of seven rebounds per game for Rhode Island.
URI will look for him to take the next step this year as he helps lead the Rams through the season.
Forward- Hassan Martin
Sophomore Forward Hassan Martin was a first year presence for the Rams last season. The Staten Island bred big man averaged over 6 points and 5 rebounds per game in his freshman season, while also adding 2.5 blocks per game. Along with Biruta, Martin anchor a Rams defense that looks very promising.
The Rams could be in very good shape this season if Martin is able to take big steps towards improving his offensive game.
6th man- T.J. Buchanan
Senior guard T.J. Buchanan was the first man off the bench for the Rams last season. In that role, the 6'4" Buchanan averaged just under six points per game and had a field goal percentage of 65 for the season. Buchanan will look to add to those numbers in the same role this season.
Buchanan will also bring some much needed veteran leadership off the bench.
