URI Opens A-10 Tournament Against St. Louis
James Malachowski, Sports Columnist
URI Opens A-10 Tournament Against St. Louis
St. Louis beat the Rams 94-91 in their last meeting
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSt Louis beat URI 94-91 just over a week ago at the Ryan Center. Gibson Jimerson, the Billikens 6’5” guard, was unstoppable, scoring 30 points against the Rams. Sincere Parker, St. Louis’ leading scorer at 15.9 PPG, has been nursing a shoulder injury. He scored 16 points in 16 minutes against URI and has not played in the team’s last two games.
A victory will have them play Duquesne on Wednesday
If URI were to beat St. Louis, they would play Duquesne on Wednesday (3/13) at 7:30 PM. Duquesne beat URI 85-71 in Kingston a month ago.
Rams failed to avoid playing in the opening round
The A-10 basketball pre-season Media Day occurred last October at the Barclay Center. There was a lot of excitement and anticipation as the season was about to start. The players and coaches in attendance knew the season-ending Championship Tournament would be held in March at this same location. They all had thoughts and dreams of a strong season and a high seed, creating an easier path to the automatic bid into the NCAA March Madness Tournament which the A-10 Championship winner would be awarded.
No one at the pre-season Media Day wanted to be in the bottom six of the league standings when the season ended and have to play in the first round, which requires five victories in six days to win the league Championship and the coveted invitation.
How long will their stay in Brooklyn be?
The Rhode Island Rams will have an early check-in at their hotel in Brooklyn as their disappointing season has them playing on the Tournament’s opening day and facing the arduous task of completing five straight wins.
This URI team has not shown anything that would indicate they will be in Brooklyn for more than two days of the six-day Tournament.