Emmanuelle Tahane is expected to be one of the top players in the A-10 this season. PHOTO CREDIT: Alan Hubbard.
Basketball season is officially here, and, this year, it will be in front of fans.
Last week, fans and the media heard from both the University of Rhode Island Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams at Atlantic 10 Media Day about their hopes for the upcoming season and being able to play in front of a crowd again.
“The Ryan Center is an intimate setting,” Rhode Island Women’s Basketball Coach Tammi Reiss said. “To play with no one [in the stands] was difficult, so we are very excited to get people on the sidelines and give them some excitement.”
The Rhody women are coming off a breakout season under reigning A-10 Coach of the Year Tammi Reiss that saw them finish fourth in the Atlantic 10 with a record of 11-8. Unfortunately, this stellar season fell short when the Rams lost to VCU in the first game of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Picked to finish second in the conference this season, the team is in the unusual position of having a target on their backs. This is due to the mix of transfers and returning players that Reiss has on the roster.
One of the key players returning for the Rams is A-10 Co-Player of the Year Emmanuelle Tahane, who averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds per game last year. Tahane, picked onto the Preseason All-Conference First Team, felt she improved her game in the offseason by extending her range.
“I worked on moves facing the basket in the offseason,” Tahane said. “I worked a lot on threes and scoring from anywhere.”
The Rams also return guard Marta Vargas, sophomore sniper Catherine Cairns and versatile wing Marie-Paule Foppossi, who made a Preseason All-Conference Second Team.
To add to this solid core, Reiss added a number of players from the transfer portal. Chanell Williams (Providence), Anna Dremaine (Texas A&M), Dez Elmore (Seton Hall) and Rebecca Demeke (North Carolina State) will all make their debuts in Keaney blue this season.
Elmore, picked on the All-Conference Third Team, averaged 17 points, nine rebounds and three assists for the Pirates last year and has scored over 1,000 points during her career.
“Dez is just a hooper,” Reiss said. “She just loves playing basketball and she’s just one of the new additions to this core that we have that we expect to contribute a lot for us.”
The URI men’s team was picked to finish seventh in the conference this upcoming season after struggling last season, finishing 10-15 and 7-10 in Atlantic 10 play. On top of all of that, Rhody will be without one of the best to ever don Keaney Blue this year; former Rams point guard Fatts Russell decided to use his fifth year of eligibility to transfer to the University of Maryland.
Head Coach David Cox has not changed his goals for the Rams despite the loss of Russell and believes he has guys in his locker room that can fill that gap.
“Our goal is still to win an Atlantic 10 Championship and earn an NCAA Tournament bid,” Cox said. “That goal never changed. We have a talented group this year. I love Fatts and wish him the best of luck, but my focus is here and on winning with the guys we have.”
Some of those key returners that will be looking to fill the gap this year are graduate student Jeremy Sheppard, sophomores Makhel and Makhi Mitchell and redshirt junior Antwan Walker. Sheppard was selected to the Preseason All-Conference Third Team after finishing as the team’s second leading scorer last year, while Mahkel was picked for the All-Defensive team. The Rams also added Ball State University transfer Ishmael El-Amin. The fifth-year player averaged 16 points per game for the Cardinals, and Cox expects him to be a key scorer and leader for the Rams.
Cox praised his leaders, citing their experience as a key reason for why they expect success in 2021-22.
“We have some guys who went through the ringer last year, and they know what it takes to not feel what we felt last year,” Cox said. “[El-Amin] has also been a great leader for us so far, and we are going to depend on him to control the pace and get us big buckets.”
The men’s team kick off their season in a home exhibition game against Division III Johnson and Wales University tonight at 7 p.m. The women’s team kick off their season a few days later when they travel to Dartmouth to face the Big Green on Tuesday at 7 p.m.