URI Basketball Cracks Top 20, Ranked 18th in Latest National Poll
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URI Basketball Cracks Top 20, Ranked 18th in Latest National Poll
After being ranked 22nd last week, the Rams moved up to 18th in the latest AP Poll released on Monday.
The Rams are ranked ahead of both North Carolina and Kentucky.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST14 Straight Wins for URI
The Rams enter the week having won 14 straight games on the season and 17 straight games in conference play dating back to last season.
Most recently, URI earned an 81-68 road win over VCU on Friday, February 2 behind Cyril Langevine’s 18 rebounds and 12 points.
Prior to that, URI escaped with an 85-83 road win over UMass to conclude the month of January.
RPI Ranking
The Rams have moved up to 6th in the RPI rankings, one spot behind Auburn and ahead of Purdue and Duke.
The RPI rankings measure the team's strength of schedule and is adjusted based on wins and losses and who those wins and losses come against.
Next Up
URI returns to action on Friday, February 9, when they host Davidson at the Ryan Center.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.
URI Rams Basketball 2017-18 Projected Starting Lineup
Guard
E.C. Matthews - Redshirt Senior
E.C. Matthews returns for his redshirt senior season, now two years removed from ACL surgery. The Rams will need him to regain his form.
Matthews missed a couple of weeks during the preseason with knee tendinitis, but has since returned to practice and did play in URI's "secret scrimmage" against Harvard last week.
Prior to the start of this season, Matthews was named to the first preseason All-Atlantic 10 team during A-10 Media Day. He is also on the John Wooden Award Watch List.
Last season, Matthews averaged 15 points per game on 42% shooting from the field. In the A-10 Tournament, Matthews carried the Rams offense scoring 20, 19 and 19 points respectively in the three games to get the Rams the title.
Guard
Jared Terrell - Senior
Jared Terrell was named to second preseason All-Atlantic 10 team during A-10 Media Day.
He returns to the Rams after averaging 13 points, three rebounds and one steal per game in 2016-17.
Terrell will look to build off last season in which he shot 42 % from the field - the highest of his career.
Guard
Jeff Dowtin - Sophomore
Jeff Dowtin is coming off a freshman season in which he started the final 19 games, including both NCAA Tournament games.
He averaged six points and two assists in 22 minutes of action per game last season while also recording 17 steals on the year.
In URI's NCAA Tournament game against Creighton, Dowtin poured in a career-high 23 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the field.
Forward
Andre Berry - Senior
In two seasons with the Rams, Andre Berry has played in 30 games, but hasn't started any.
For his career, Berry has averaged 2.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in an averaged of six minutes per game.
Center
Cyril Langevine - Sophomore
Cyril Langevine will make the start at one of the forward positions as the Rams will try to replace Hassan Martin, who they lost to graduation.
Last season, Langevine played in 35 games and started five games for URI averaging three point, five rebounds, and one block.
In URI's NCAA game against Oregon, Langevine had a near double-double with nine rebounds and nine points. He also had three steals.
