URI coach Archie Miller speaks after Rams beat Temple, 85-79
Led by Sebastian Thomas down the stretch, the Rhode Island Rams end their nonconference schedule with a win over Temple in a holiday tournament.
Each passing game gives us a chance to evaluate whether or not the University of Rhode Island men‘s basketball team is for real.
Atlantic 10 play is next for the Rams, and it starts on Tuesday at 2 p.m. with a road trip against the defending conference tournament champion.
Duquesne is a far different outfit than the program that stunned the college basketball world at Barclays Center in March. Former coach Keith Dambrot has retired and multiple key players have moved on from a group that secured a first NCAA Tournament bid for the Dukes since 1977.
March Madness hasn’t felt quite that far away during Archie Miller’s first two years at URI, but it might as well have been. The Rams have been marooned outside the sport’s power structure since Dan Hurley left for Connecticut, a 21-9 finish in a shortened 2019-20 looking like the exception.
It’s felt better through the first two months of 2024-25. Riding the performance of a leading player like Sebastian Thomas tends to lift spirits. Taking care of Providence in a stirring second-half comeback at the Ryan Center never hurts.
Now comes the real business of proving whether or not you can win on the road against conference opponents. That’s how you set the stage for games that really matter in the spring — a bye or potential double-bye to the quarterfinals in Washington, D.C., can hinge on reliably handling this sort of occasion.
Outlasting old Atlantic-10 foe Temple prior to a 10-day break was the last time we saw URI. The Rams pulled out an 85-79 victory at MassMutual Center, taking part in the second half of a Hall of Fame Classic doubleheader in Springfield. Thomas buried a late jumper for a four-point play and came up with the clinching steal on the ensuing possession.
The Owls erased a 16-point deficit in the second half largely thanks to URI mistakes. The Rams committed 16 turnovers for the game — four of their six worst efforts to date in terms of ball security have come in road or neutral contests. URI gave it away on 21.5% of its possessions against Temple, making what could have been an easy evening into hard work.
“Sometimes that can make a game feel really funny,” Miller said. “We reset ourselves in the second half. Our bugaboo in two games away from home has really been not taking care of the ball.”
The Rams suffered a lone defeat in double overtime at Brown, and it offered some clues on how to beat them. URI has played at a slower pace only once — 68 possessions in a 69-63 home triumph over the Friars, one less than it managed against the Bears. That lack of an easy transition game led to the worst offensive effort for the Rams thus far in points per possession, effective field-goal percentage, turnover percentage and free-throw rate.
“Second half (against Temple), the first five or six minutes, I thought we really hit on all cylinders in terms of what we were trying to do,” Miller said. “Taking care of the ball, build a lead, and then some real sloppiness from us on both ends.”
Duquesne opened with six straight losses under new coach Dru Joyce and plays at a bottom-50 pace nationally. The Dukes hit the offensive glass but are miserable at the foul line and from 2-point range. Duquesne guards well inside the arc but allows opponents to hit from deep and fouls too frequently.
URI should have a few paths to victory in this one, but that guarantees nothing. The Rams are just 4-14 in league road games under Miller but quite simply, they don’t have enough of a track record in that area yet to be trusted. What’s unfolded through the opening two months is more encouraging than anything we’ve seen previously. Now comes the part where the program can convince us something really has changed.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On X: @BillKoch25
