There was plenty of local news to start the college basketball week on Monday.
The University of Rhode Island men cracked the top 60 in the debut of the NET rankings. Providence native Enoch Cheeks was honored by the Atlantic 10. Brown first-year guard Gia Powell picked up some hardware from the Ivy League.
The Rams checked in at No. 58 in the men’s NET, leading Providence (104), Bryant (156) and Brown (216). The Friars (132) were the top women’s team, sitting ahead of URI (142), the Bulldogs (144) and the Bears (223). Those rankings for both men and women will be updated weekly by the NCAA until March Madness fields are selected in four months.
A perfect 7-0 start into Monday night’s meeting with Yale and some strong metrics favored the Rams men. URI jumped into the KenPom.com top 100 after crushing Charleston, 91-53, and remained there through two victories at the Jacksonville Classic. The Rams are a top-10 team nationally in effective field-goal percentage at both ends of the floor — shooting on offense, and preventing made shots on defense.
Providence’s women are just 3-5 but have played a top-65 national schedule through nine games. That includes a win at Vermont and another against San Diego State to close a three-game stint at the Cancun Challenge. Grace Efosa’s pair of free throws in the last five seconds handed the Aztecs a first defeat, 55-54.
Cheeks is a former All-State selection at Mount Pleasant who is currently starring at Dayton, and he earned conference Player of the Week honors. He put together a strong three-game stay at the Maui Invitational, producing against national powers like North Carolina, Iowa State and two-time champion Connecticut. The Flyers finished their stay in Hawaii with an 85-67 dusting of the Huskies.
Cheeks averaged 15.7 points and 7.0 rebounds through three games. He shot 54.8% from the field and 47.4% from 3-point range. Cheeks left the Kilties for the prep ranks, started his college career at Robert Morris and is into his third season as a graduate student with Dayton.
Powell was named her conference’s Rookie of the Week after the Bears earned a 1-1 split at the Puerto Rico Classic. She rebounded from an opening loss against Kent State with a strong effort against Colorado State in a 69-63 win. Brown returned 3-5 and now faces some in-stat rivals after battling past the Rams.
Powell netted 15 points against Colorado State, the third time she’s hit double figures through eight games. She’s averaging 9.3 points and 1.0 steals in 26.6 minutes — 38 of those came in a first-career start against the Rams. Powell also knocked down three 3-pointers against Colorado State, the fourth time she’s reached that number.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On X: @BillKoch25
