UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Jim Baron was uncharacteristically animated on Saturday afternoon. Considering what had just happened and where his team has been, one can hardly blame him. Baron isn’t a quote machine, but every so often he has a lively post-game press conference and Saturday was one such case.
Rhode Island improved to 11-1 on the season with a 63-59 win over Oklahoma State at Mohegan Sun Arena. It’s another good win for the Rams in a non-conference schedule that hasn’t been full of easy wins and has seen them go on the road five times with one more to go. They are 4-1 on the to go with Saturday’s neutral site win, and have to be looked at as a possible contender in what has proven to be a strong Atlantic 10.
It’s hard to say there’s a signature win in the bunch, as none of the teams they have knocked off looks like a lock for the NCAA Tournament if it were to start tomorrow, but they have hardly beaten up on a bunch of 0-10 teams. The road wins prove this team can win away from home, and with each win the team looks more confident and seems to get better every time out.
“Our schedule has been tremendous,” Baron said. “You go on the road to play at Drexel, play at Boston College, play at Davidson, to do what we’ve done, it just says a lot about our team, our character, our upperclassmen.”
Saturday’s game wasn’t quite what some might have expected given the matchup. The two teams came into the game averaging a combined 157 points per game, thus no one would have been surprised if it wound up being a shootout. Instead, it was a defensive struggle, with both teams shooting under 38 percent from the field. Neither team pressed as much as they normally do because there were a lot of misses. The Rams’ 37.5 percent showing was a season low, and leading scorer Keith Cothran never got untracked in scoring 13 points on just 3-12 shooting.
But the Rams managed to pull this one out in what Baron called “a great team victory for our guys”. Delroy James continues to emerge as a key complementary player, scoring 14 points and grabbing nine rebounds, seven coming at the offensive end. In the first half, he had six offensive rebounds and keyed a 17-2 advantage in second chance points. Lately, it seems like James is constantly a factor, whether it’s his rebounding, a key basket or using his length to disrupt an opposing offense.
Every player who came off the bench did something. The contributions ranged from Stevie Mejia’s continued excellence in running the offense and a key three-pointer to Nikola Malesevic coming in for three minutes to take a charge and hit a key three-pointer a little more than halfway through the second half. A strength all season long, the Rams’ bench on Saturday outscored that of Oklahoma State by a 28-7 margin.
“Everybody who came off the bench today did a great job,” said Mejia, who had 10 points.
The Rams have one game left before Atlantic 10 play begins, and they start with two games at home. Baron and his team are hardly resting on their laurels, but they’re understandably happy about what this team has accomplished to date. For that reason, it’s not a surprise that Baron was a little more animated than usual. He and his team have earned that right to enjoy a win or two.
