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Rhode Island shows promise in exhibition against UConn

This past Monday, Rhode Island took on the UConn Huskies, the two-time defending national champs, in a charity exhibition game that gave the Rams some insight into how their team could look this upcoming season.

For the first 23 minutes of this game, Rhode Island shocked the college basketball world and ended the first half only down four points. In the first half, the Rams led for almost four minutes and had multiple scoring runs generated by their new center, a true 7-footer, fifth-year Javonte Brown. The second half was nearly a 180-degree turnaround, as the Huskies outscored the Rams 58-35 and won 102-75. 

The most notable part of the game was Brown, who transferred in from Western Michigan. The Toronto native averaged 8.8 points and 4.4 rebounds in under 16 minutes per game last year. Brown started his career at UConn in 2020 before transferring to Texas A&M from 2021-23. 

Now at his fourth school in five years, it seems Brown has potentially found his home with the Rams. Brown finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and a steal. His most impactful contributions were his five offensive rebounds in the first half and his ability to knock down free throws, making six of seven. 

Against the two-time defending national champions, Brown’s performance drew praise from URI coach Archie Miller.

“At this stage of his career, he’s a damn good player on both ends. He’s a presence, he’s got great hands, and he can impact the rim on offense and defense,” Miller said. “He’s a big piece to what we’re doing, and we got to get better at using him, he’s got to get the ball more.”

With only a couple weeks’ worth of practice under their belts, the Rams still have a lot of time to make offensive adjustments before their first game of the season on Nov. 4. It sounds as though those couple of weeks will be spent scheming ways to get Brown more involved in the offense.

As for Brown, he is happy to be in a place where his team believes in him.

“I just went into the game trying to impact both ends, trying to play my hardest, and trying to believe in my team,” Brown said. “The team believed in me, coaches believed in me, and I was able to execute on both ends and you guys were able to see.”

Brown’s presence in the paint was difficult for coach Dan Hurley and the Huskies to deal with in the first half. While they did make halftime adjustments and found ways to attack Brown, you likely won’t see that from Atlantic 10 competition. This Huskies team played their starters 20 minutes or more and their roster would be the best in the A-10.

Brown also made an encouraging comment about the construction of this new Rams roster.

“I think that we gelled really well, and we have been talking about this opportunity since we stepped on campus,” Brown said. “Just talking to the guys from last year’s team they said this Rhode Island team has gelled way better than the teams here before and at times you could see it on the court.”

Some other noticeable positives in this charity game included the play of Nebraska transfer, third-year guard Jamarques Lawrence. With fourth-year point guard Sebastian Thomas out with a head injury, Lawrence ran the point for the Rams. He showcased his ball-handling ability and his experience. 

“I thought Jamarques did a good job of handling the ball for us the whole game,” Miller said. “Putting Sebastian in there changes things a little bit. Getting him in there will give us a different pace.”

Thomas had an exceptional season at UAlbany last year, and for his career, he has over 300 assists in 94 games. This is Thomas’ second stint with the Rams, and it’s clear that Miller has big plans for Thomas and his role in the Rams’ offense. 

Of course, in a 102-75 loss, there are plenty of things to point to and say they could have been better at. Whether it was ball movement, turnovers on inbound plays or spacing, there are certain things Miller and his team can fix before the regular season starts. 

Miller felt like his team was sometimes stagnant and the offense struggled around the basketball. They shot just 37.5% around the rim. This poor showing at the rim, compounded with inconsistent free throw shooting, were some of the most visible issues plaguing this Rams team.

Last season, Rhode Island was one of the nation’s worst free throw shooting teams, shooting a miserable 64.9%. In this game, they made 25 of 35 attempts for 71.4%. However, they made six of those in the final three minutes while down by 20 points. 

While 71.4% is an improvement, it still left the Rams outside the top 200 in free throw percentage based on last season’s statistical rankings. While it’s just one game, URI’s ability to make free throws will be closely monitored this season. 

This exhibition game gave the Rams an opportunity they won’t get again until their Ocean State battle against Providence. 

This New England rivalry felt like a rock fight with an atmosphere so great you would have thought a trophy was on the line. This makes sense as the Mohegan Sun Arena is just a 40-minute drive from Storrs, Connecticut and the status of UConn’s program leads to fans arriving by the masses. The arena was loud and hostile towards URI, and Dan Hurley did not shy away from playing his starters for extended minutes. 

This charity game, which will not count towards either team’s record, carried a weight only a program like UConn could create. 

Overall, this game was a success for the Rams. They played on network television, played tough against a premier program in the nation, and got to see their team in action before the start of the regular season. Now the wait begins for Nov. 4 when the Rams open their season hosting the Fairfield Stags. 

Justin Theriault
Justin Theriault
Justin Theriault has covered URI athletics for The Good Five Cent Cigar for the past three years, from women’s rowing to feature stories about cross country athletes. He has also been a sportscaster for WRIU 90.3FM and ESPN+ throughout his time at URI. Most recently, he has participated in a new talk show about URI football called “Rhody Beat Report.” Follow Theriault on X (Twitter) @JustinTher14.

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