URI Basketball Suddenly Plagued by Slow Starts
Jim Malachowski, Sports Columnist
URI Basketball Suddenly Plagued by Slow Starts
But three games into the Atlantic-10 schedule, the Rams are averaging just 27 points in the first half.
During these poor starts, the offensive looked disjointed early in each game. Their field goal percentage has dropped considerably, assists are down, turnovers are up, three-point shooting has been dismal, and they are not getting to the foul line nearly as much as in previous games this season.
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Offense Has Lost its Identity
When asked about this poor play after the loss to George Washington, Coach Archie Miller said, “We lost our identity on offense; we just have. We lost our purpose on offense, our ability to know what we are doing, the ability to move the ball, and the forcefulness we need to play with.”
Miller said, “We have been playing with fire here for a week and a half, and it bit us tonight. Offensively, we were completely out of sorts to start the game in terms of our energy level and our spunk, and they got off to a good start. And we continue to look like a team that can’t function offensively. Very, very one-dimensional right now in terms of how we are playing.”
He concluded, “We are hard to watch on offense.”
Players Are Frustrated with the Slow Starts
The players are also frustrated with their recent troubles on the offensive end. After scoring only 25 points in the first half and falling behind by double digits but pulling out a last-second victory over George Mason, Sebastian Thomas was asked about the offensive struggles. He said, “Offensively, yeah, we struggled in the first half. I think when teams pressure us, it hurts our offense a lot.
Thomas continued, “We panicked. You know, when things are not going our way, we start to do isolation, one-on-one basketball, which leads to bad shots and turnovers. Obviously, that is what the defense wants from us. I think that when we get the ball going side to side, it’s very hard for us to be guarded by the other team, so we need to do a better job at that.”
Uninspired Play
In their first Conference game, the Rams came out flat, played poorly, and lost to Duquesne, scoring only 26 points in the first half and a season-low 55 points.
URI then returned to the Ryan Center to play George Mason. The 5,800 spectators at the Ryan Center expected the Rams to come out fired up, as it would be a devastating blow if they lost this game at home and fell to 0-2 in Conference play.
The Rams came out flat again, scoring only 25 points in the first half. They shot 9-32 for 28% on field goals in the first half and were behind by 12 points at one point.
Another Bad Start
After hitting the winning shot with a second left to play against George Mason, Thomas said, “This win gives us huge momentum leading into George Washington.”
Apparently, no one told 'momentum' to show up four days later when URI tipped off against GW. Again, the Rams came out flat, scoring only 30 points in the first half on 12-39 shooting for 31%. They were 1-9 on three-pointers for 11% and 5-9 from the line for 56%. During the game, they fell behind by 15 points. In the second half, they battled back and took a one-point lead with 8 ½ minutes left, but there would be no heroics on this night as they faulted during the last four minutes and lost 75-67.
Where Is the Fire in the Belly?
After the George Mason game, Thomas said, “I think the main thing why we came out like that was we were just not ready to play. We didn’t throw the first punch. We need to do a better job at that. Our energy has to be up. We have to be excited to play these games, and I think we will start to see a better start to games.”
Javonte Brown, who had a huge second half, finishing the game with 13 rebounds and 6 blocks, commented on the poor first half and what happened in the locker room at halftime by saying, “We had to go in at halftime and talk about it. Get our energy up. I need to protect the paint. That’s my job, and I took it really personally in the second half.”
Lack of Intensity in First Half
Miller answered a question about the team’s lack of intensity in the first half by saying, “We are not going to be successful if we don’t clean up our act, so to speak, in terms of our intensity level.”
Miller believes that the poor offense is having a negative impact on the team’s intensity and defense. He said, “The offensive is dictating our attitude, our offensive is dictating our disappointment. When you let your offensive creep into how you feel, you get a team that takes punches and is not dictating the game. You need to dictate the game with defense. You need to dictate the game with great effort.”
Little Time to Make Corrections
URI plays on the road Saturday against Richmond, so there is little time to correct this mindset problem. Miller’s last comments make it sound like the university’s pharmacy program needs to assist the basketball team by quickly developing some mean pills.
Miller closed by declaring, “You need to dictate the terms of the games. The hardest playing, the most physical teams, dictate the terms of the game. They set the rules. We have to be able to rely more on force. And ferocious effort plays. Not when we get down to punch back. We have to get better at starting the game defensively. I think that will help our offense.”