Martin named A-10 DPOY
Senior also earns all-conference honors Tuesday
KINGSTON – Rhode Island brought home some hardware on Tuesday, with three players earning conference honors ahead of the Atlantic 10 tournament. E.C. Matthews was named to the third-team All-Conference team, Jeff Dowtin was named to the All-Rookie team and Hassan Martin repeated as defensive player of the year, in addition to earning secondteam All-Conference honors.
“It was great to see Jeff get All-Rookie,” said URI coach Dan Hurley. “There might have been a couple of freshmen who might have had slightly better numbers, more starts. The high-leverage games that Jeff had to perform really well in, at critical points of the season, it was great to see the other coaches in the conference acknowledge that.”
Dowtin made his first collegiate start on Jan. 15, following Jarvis Garrett's illness, and immediately stepped into that bigger role with aplomb. The Rams are 11-3 since the freshman became the starting point guard, and he stood out by scoring a career-high 19 points in a road win over Davidson.
“Excitement, joy, knowing that your hard work has paid off,” Dowtin said of his response to the award. “I have to continue to keep working.”
“I was a little surprised,” at the size of his role, he continued. “When God gives you opportunities, you have to go out and make plays. You can't sit back. It's hard, the situation I was in, but I was able to keep moving forward.”
Matthews made his return from an ACL injury this season, and showed glimpses of the NBA-caliber talent he's been touted as. A season-high of 31 points came in a loss against Houston, and, more recently, he willed Rhody to a win over Davidson in overtime last Saturday. In other games, he's been much less effective, leading to his inclusion on the third, and final, AllConference team.
“E.C., you get a guy back from a injury like an ACL and sometimes you don't anticipate the confidence, the rust, the timing,” said Hurley. “The wear and tear in that first year back. Obviously E.C. is not a third-team talent, but it was nice to see a guy get acknowledged there.”
“For me, I'm not even worried about that,” said Matthews of the honor. “I'm just happy to complete a full season. Sky's the limit for me.”
Matthews looked like a player pos- sessed in the extra five minute period against Davidson, scoring his team's last eight points. In a play that has since gone viral, Matthews blew by his defender and dunked over two Davidson defenders. The play ultimately served as the game-winner.
“It was probably more unexpected to you guys, than it was to me and my teammates,” said Matthews of the dunk. “I know I can do it, my trainers know I can do it, I just don't do it.”
Martin took home the most honors of any Ram player, earning second team honors in addition to his defensive player of the year award. It's the second consecutive year Martin has won the defensive award. The senior was questionably snubbed in his first two years at URI, and could have easily won the honor all four years of his career.
“Defensive player of the year and for the amount of time he's played in the league this year where he was just trying to find health and get his legs under him [it was nice to see him rewarded],” said Hurley. “If he's healthy, he's a potential player of the year. His health being what it was this year, it was nice to see him get defensive player of the year and second team.”
“I wasn't surprised, but the injuries I went through at the beginning of the year, I thought it would be harder to get it,” said Martin. “I'm proud of myself for all I've been through. To not finish the season last year and come back and get it, it means a lot.
“If I felt healthy all season, I would've been first team. Maybe have more blocks. Stuff happens.”
The breadth of honors for the Rams is representative of just how good the team was in conference play this year. Finishing only behind conference stalwarts VCU and Dayton, the Rams have certainly arrived as a program under Dan Hurley.
“It means we'll play up at the top of the league moving forward,” said Hurley of the awards. “This is the new normal here. Competing with VCU and Dayton for championships and for atlarge bids. This is where we expect us to be this year, next year, any year.”
“We're the best team in the conference when we bring the right mentality and stick to our roots,” added Matthews. “That's playing defense, rebounding at a high level and going from there. We're firing on all cylinders, we're ready to roll.”
Collectively, the team appeared as confident as ever following their practice on Tuesday. Even with an at-large bid hanging in the balance, the Rams looked as sure of themselves as they ever have been.
“[Garrett], the best he's looked all year was in practice today,” said Hurley. “Hassan's looked so much better. If we're able to get good play from those guys, if they're closer to themselves, we know that we're hard for anyone in this league to beat.”
“It's March, it's madness,” said Martin. “You never know what can happen.”
The Rams will start their madness with a conference tournament game on Friday. Depending on the results of the first two rounds, URI will play either St. Bonaventure, UMass, or St. Joseph's. Rhody was a collective 5-0 against those teams in the regular season.
“We probably have to make it the championship,” to get an at-large bid, said Martin. “Hopefully we make it to the [NCAA] Tournament. That's one of my dreams. I'm really excited about this weekend.”