URI Rams Begin A-10 Conference Play — The Real Season Begins
Jim Malachowski, Sports Columnist
URI Rams Begin A-10 Conference Play — The Real Season Begins
URI is rested, ready, and anxious to begin conference play with a win. The team has played one game in the last 15 days leading up to this Conference opener. Schoolwork is all completed, with finals and the fall semester behind them. The players enjoyed a couple of days off for Christmas and will undoubtedly be sporting the new sneakers they found under the tree.
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Loyola 4-9, URI 9-4
Now it’s time to get serious and focus on the Ramblers, who come to Rhode Island with a 4-9 record, which is the inverse of the Rams’ 9-4 record. Earlier in the month, Loyola lost to San Francisco 85-71, where former URI forward David Fuchs came off the bench for the Dons and scored 20 points with 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 28 minutes.
Loyola picked 5th in the A-10 in the preseason
Loyola was predicted to come in 5th in the A-10 in the preseason coaches’ poll. They are off to a poor start and are ranked 329th in the current NCAA NET rankings. The Ramblers are led by 6’10” center Miles Rubin, who was selected to the A-10 preseason All-Conference 1st team and also to the A-10 All-Defensive Team.
URI is weak in the frontcourt, as previously reported by GoLocal.
URI was predicted to come in 12th in the A-10 preseason poll and is currently ranked 106th in the country in the NET rankings.
Are the Rams ready for A-10 play?
After the recent win over Northeastern, RJ Reynolds and Alex Crawford were asked if the team was ready for A-10 play. They both, not surprisingly, answered with a resounding “Yes.” To the follow-up question of “Why” Reynolds confidently responded, “Because we are battle-tested. Our goal is to win. What else do you play for?”
Coach Archie Miller responded to the question about his team’s readiness to begin conference play by rattling off a list of non-conference opponents and their rankings, saying, “We really tried to prepare ourselves. We played the number one team in the American Conference right now, which is Tulsa. We played the number one team in the Ivory League, which is Yale. We played the preseason number one team in the Coastal Athletic Association, which is Towson. We played the American East preseason number one in Vermont. In the third game in three days, we played another American Conference team that’s got great talent in Temple. We came home and had two all-bets-off rivalry games against Brown and Providence. Those games were very difficult, and we were tested. We then played McNeese State, who was a preseason favorite to win their league and to win 30 games.”
This may all be true, but in “Strength of Schedule,” KenPom ranks URI 292nd in the country.
Seven A-10 teams ranked in the top 100
When asked about the A-10 Conference, Miller said, “Our Conference is terrific. It’s underrated as usual.”
The Atlantic 10 Conference is off to a strong start. There are seven teams ranked in the top 100 (NET rankings), led by St. Louis, currently ranked 27th in the country. The others are VCU 59, George Mason 75, George Washington 80, Dayton 90, Richmond 91, and Saint Bonaventure 99.
Four teams are ranked below 200: Fordham 204, St. Joseph’s 249, LaSalle 272, and Loyola 329. URI at 106 is in the middle of the pack in the current rankings of the 14 teams in the Conference.
The A-10 is ranked as the 8th-best conference in the country. It is just behind the Mountain West and the West Coast Conference, placing the A-10 as the third-best mid-major in the country.
Strong big men in the A-10
There are several impactful experienced big men throughout the A-10 who provide scoring, rebounding, and a presence under the basket. URI, with its lack of height and depth inside, will be challenged when they play against teams with players such as:
Dayton – Amael L’Etang, 7’1” 235 lbs., 12.8 PPG, 6.5 RPG, Preseason All-Conference 2nd team
George Washington – Rafael Castro, senior, 6’11” 220 lbs., 14 PPG, 9.1 RPG Preseason All-Conference 1st team (for PC Friar}
Richmond – Mike Walz, senior, 6’11”, 260 lbs., 7.7 PPG, 7 RPG
St. Bonaventure – Frank Mitchell, senior, 6’8” 270 lbs., 15 PPG, 10.6 RPG
St. Louis - Robbie Avila, senior, 6’10”, 240 lbs., 17 PPG and 4.3 RPG. Preseason All-Conference 1st team
URI has struggled in A-10 play
URI has struggled in Conference play since Miller’s arrival. Going 5-13 in 2022/23, 6-12 in 2023/24, and 7-11 in 2024/25. Further, these teams have faded at the end of the season, losing 9 of the last 10 in 2022/23, 8 of the last 9 in 2023/24, and 5 of the last 6 in 2024/25.
In each of these three years, the Rams made an early exit from the A-10 Tournament, losing their first-round game.
The strength of the team this year is its defense. They are ranked 86th in Defensive Efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) by KenPom. During non-conference games, the Rams have allowed opponents 67.3 PPG, which ranks third in the A-10. They have 125 steals in the first 13 games, which is an average of 9.62 per game, ranking first in the A-10. Tyler Cochran is first in the Conference in steals, averaging 3.1 per game, which ranks him 5th in the country.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Rams' strength is up-tempo fast breaking, getting out in front of their opponents. They struggle in the half-court offense. The team averages 75.2 PPG, which puts them 10th in the A-10 and 127th in KenPom’s Adjusted Offensive Efficiency.
Roster playing time management
One question going into Conference play is how Miller will use his roster and distribute playing time. The two games before Conference play were dramatically different. During the Rams 62-45 victory over Canisius, Miller changed his starting lineup for the first time all season, replacing Alex Crawford with Jahmere Tripp. Crawford only played for 8 minutes in the game and did not appear at all in the second half. Miller played eight players but predominantly used only six players, particularly in the second half. Jonah Hinton played all 40 minutes, and four players logged over 33 minutes.
During the Northeastern game, which URI won 85-77, Miller used 10 players, all of whom got considerable playing time. Cochran injured his ankle and sat out much of the second half after receiving a technical foul. The liberal substitutions started long before that, with the entire starting lineup replaced at 12:31 of the first half. Down the stretch, with a two-point lead, some of the starters were on the bench. During this game, the substitutes came through in a big way, contributing 57 bench points.
Notably, freshman Jalen Harper played 30 minutes, scoring 10 points and grabbing 5 rebounds. Harper played for 6 minutes in the PC game but had been on the floor since.
Why the radical change in the last two games?
When asked about this radical change in roster game time management, Miller was evasive, talking more about what the subs did when they entered the game than about why he had changed his recent thinking and put them in. He said, “They were better.” He went on to say, “They were playing well, and they earned the right to stay out there.” Later on, he said, “Every game requires a feel, and I thought tonight those guys were good.”
In talking about the teams’ prospects in the A-10, Miller concluded, “To be great in our Conference, we have to be great at what we’ve done in our non-conference, which is continue to have a great attitude, great effort, and don’t blink along the journey because we have a tough league to play in. But we have the opportunity to open Conference play at home. It’s going to be a great day, and we have to find a way to get to 1 and 0.”