FLYERS CRUSH RAMS
Slow start too much for URI to overcome
KINGSTON — The University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team has been a lot of things this year, but on Saturday against Dayton it was a new look: uncompetitive.
The Flyers led the entire game following a quick start, blowing the Rams out of their own building, 77-48.
“The understatement of the year: that was an embarrassing loss on our home floor,” URI coach David Cox said. “I want to apologize to all the fans who came out to support us. [Dayton] showed up, we didn’t.”
The Rams blinked in the first half and they were down 21 points. The Flyers, who shot 63 percent for the game, looked well worthy of their first-place positioning in the Atlantic 10. The Rams suddenly looked like a team that could start to slide down the conference standings.
“Lack of offensive confidence finally catching up to us and affecting us on the defense,” Cox said. “We were bad on offense and poor on defense. Everything steamrolled today.”
Cyril Langevine was the only Rhody player in double figures on the scoresheet, nearly setting a new career-high with 23 points. His double-double and 36 minutes of strong play were buried underneath a deluge of poor performances from the rest of the Rams.
The dishonor roll runs long. Christion Thompson and Fatts Russell hit a collective zero field goal attempts in the blowout loss.
Freshman Tyrese Martin turned the ball over four times, and failed to score until he hit a 3-pointer at the start of the second half. He finished with six points on eight shots.
Jeff Dowtin was the leading scorer next to Langevine, despite only having seven points. URI’s three starting guards were a combined 4-of-23 from the field.
“We have capable shooters,” Cox said. “Jeff Dowtin shot almost 40 percent from three in his career prior to this year. Fatts was a little streaky last year, but he had big games. Early part of this season, Christion Thompson was shooting in the high 30’s, low 40’s. In conference play, Tyrese Martin [was] shooting around 45 percent from three. We can’t go away from shooting the basketball, that’s impossible.”
They didn’t go away from it on Saturday, and it led to another dreadful day shooting the ball. They are now last in the country in team 3-point percentage, sitting at 25.8 percent following their worst shooting night of the season (29.6 percent from the floor, 3-of-19 on 3-pointers).
The Flyers clogged the lanes, waiting for URI’s driving guards or entry passes, knowing that outside shots weren’t going to be a serious threat. The scouting report has been out on Rhody for a while now as a poor shooting team, and Cox doesn’t see any other solution than to keep shooting.
“Strategically what teams are doing is, they’re packing the lanes,” Cox said. “When you pack the lanes, you can’t drive, can’t throw it in. At some point, we have to step into a shot and hit a shot.
“We had good shots today. Toesto-the-line, some of them were naked, wide open shots. They’re not going in.”
Thompson was the main offend- er, missing all four of his 3-point attempts – two of which came on the same possession. No one hit more than one 3-pointer, and Dana Tate’s 1-for-1 performance was the only showing that could be called efficient.
The game was all Dayton, which started the contest on a 16-2 run. Save for a brief 6-0 URI spurt in the first that helped cut the lead down to 14 for the halftime break, the Flyers had their way on Saturday. Four of their five starters logged at least 12 points. Jalen Crutcher led the way with 20, and Obi Toppin worked inside for 19.
The only real fire the Rams showed in the game came in the dying minutes. Former walk-on Will Leviton came into the game, forced a jump-ball on one end and then blocked a shot at the rim down the other. The thinned-out crowd appreciated the effort, but for Cox, seeing an end-of-bench player hustle harder than the starters, the moment was another indictment of his team.
“More importantly, I need to see [that energy and hustle] from the actual rotational guys,” he said. “I love Will to death. He’s the heart and soul of this team, for a guy who doesn’t play a lot. Will can’t play harder than our starters, our rotation guys. No way. That’s unacceptable. Completely unacceptable.”
The loss had the largest halftime deficit, the largest overall deficit and the lowest point total of the season for the Rams. Facing such big holes throughout the contest, Cox felt his team quit on him down the stretch.
“When the going gets tough, you don’t fold,” he said. “We folded tonight. I’ve never been somebody who led a team that’s folded. I’ve never been accused of folding as a man, as a coach. That was a reflection of me tonight.”
The Rams will have an entire week to get themselves back together again. They don’t play again until next Saturday when Fordham comes to town.
“We’ve got a week to get back in the gym,” Cox said. “Identify some things. I have to get these guys’ confidence back up. They’re staying up, they’re a resilient group. Somewhat fragile because of the lack of shot-making.
“I like to get right back in the gym [following a loss like this]. I’d like to play again, wish we had a game tomorrow. I’m an optimistic guy, so yes, with this week it will give us time to prepare and repair.”