SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. – One thing we knew about Rhode Island from early on this season was that defense is going to be this team’s calling card. That’s a change from past years, when the “Runnin’ Rams” could score with anyone and run teams off the floor but were not much to write home about defensively. On Friday night, their defense came in handy, as offense was hard to come by for much of their 59-47 win over Brown.
The first half was about as ugly as it gets. Both teams shot below 26 percent from the field, and if you need proof that it wasn’t just good defense on the part of both teams responsible for those numbers, Brown was 4-11 from the foul line and URI was 2-5. The teams combined for 19 turnovers, and Rhode Island led by just a touchdown, 21-14.
“I’m sorry you guys had to sit there and watch that display,” Brown head coach Mike Martin said light-heartedly to open his press conference.
The offenses were so anemic on the evening, when URI went up 31-22 with less than 10 minutes to play, it seemed like an insurmountable lead. When they did, however, it was the beginning of a decisive 13-1 run to put the game out of reach. And it was the beginning of the offense coming alive as the Rams were much better for the rest of the night than they were for the first 30 minutes.
It was perhaps the quintessential example of why coaches emphasize defense so much. Rhode Island’s offense has clear shortcomings, something head coach Dan Hurley has talked about before, and on Friday night it took more than 30 minutes to come to life. Finally, Xavier Munford, who hurt his tailbone in practice at the beginning of the week, got the team going at the offensive end. Known more for his shooting, he got baskets off the bounce, then Mike Powell (16 points and six assists) followed.
Andre Malone held down the fort offensively up to that point, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the first half. The Auburn transfer is coming into his own of late and seems to finally have found himself after missing the final ten games of last season for academic reasons.
But this was first and foremost about defense for Rhode Island. The Rams have generally been a good defensive team this season, although there’s plenty of room to improve there. Friday night, they did well at that end against a Brown team that is very capable of putting points on the board. The Rams put pressure on the ball and made shots difficult until very late, by which time the outcome was not in doubt.
“I’m excited about the way we guarded today, the intensity we guarded with, the way we guarded the three-point line until late,” said Hurley. “I thought our ball pursuit was significantly better against a team that has pretty good size and was leading their league in rebounding margin coming in.”
Related to that last point, Rhode Island out-rebounded Brown 48-37. That’s another area besides offense that has been a weak one for much of the year, so that was a good sign for this team.
The offense taking a while to come to life is not an isolated event and probably won’t be, especially given the lack of a post scorer. Jordan Hare has potential but isn’t there yet, although the Rams continue to do a nice job of finding ways to get him an easy basket from time to time, which will help his confidence. But that will only do so much in the immediate. They have to rely on perimeter shooting and guard penetration, and teams will scout for that.
“This is a year where our assist totals are not going to be high, our field goal percentage offense is not going to break records,” said Hurley.
Hence, the need for this team to be good defensively. On Friday night, the Rams did just that, keeping the lead until the offense woke up and helped them pull away.
