Director of Athletics Thorr Bjorn announced Friday that the program would be moving on from David Cox after four seasons. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
A new era will begin for the University of Rhode Island Men’s Basketball team starting next season.
On Friday afternoon, Director of Athletics Thorr Bjorn announced that Head Coach David Cox would not return after four seasons leading the program. Cox, who had an overall record of 64-55, had two years remaining on the contract that he signed in April 2018.
“David Cox is a first-class individual, and I am grateful for his hard work and the manner in which he represented the University throughout his time at Rhode Island,” Bjorn said in a statement. “This is not a decision I take lightly, but a change is necessary. I have tremendous respect for David, and I wish nothing but the best for him and his family.”
“Today is a tough day, as I have been informed by Administration that I will not return as the head coach at URI,” Cox said in part in the statement.” It is disappointing news as I had hoped and expected to return to finish the job I started four years ago. But I respect the decision and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
The decision came after the team blew a second half lead in a 64-59 loss against the University of Richmond in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Thursday night, marking their second straight sub-.500 season.
Late game execution, an issue for the team throughout the year, came back to bite them as they went without a field goal in the final 6:04 of the game. The Spiders used this stretch to go on a 17-4 run to close the game.
“[During that stretch] our execution out of timeouts wasn’t necessarily high level,” Cox said after the game. “Our execution at the end of the shot clock wasn’t high level either. We had a few instances where guys weren’t even aware that the shot clock was ticking down and we had some pretty loose and careless turnovers. All three of those things against a team like Richmond can’t happen.”
The Rams led by as many as 15 points early in the second half, but the Spiders gradually began chipping at the lead. An 8-0 run in a 49-second span cut the Richmond lead to 43-37 with 12:17 remaining. The Rams pushed it back to 51-41 three minutes later, but Richmond put together another run to cut the deficit. They eventually tied the game at 55 with 4:10 to play when graduate guard Jacob Gilyard knocked down a three-pointer from the left corner. From there, the Spiders knocked down all nine of their free-throw attempts in the second half, while Rhody missed its final six attempts.
“I thought we did everything to win,” junior forward Malik Martin said. “It was just a battle in the second half. Too many turnovers, didn’t make enough shots, missed too many free throws. I thought we were still in position to win the game, but it’s tough man. We fought.”
Similar to their matchup on Jan. 25, the Rams got off to a great start. The Rams were stellar on the defensive end in the first half, forcing the Spiders to a season-low scoring output and causing seven turnovers. On the other end, Martin and sophomore forward Makhi Mitchell combined to give the team a spark, scoring 25 of the team’s 35 first-half points.
“I started the game off with a three,” Martin said, who matched a career-high with 20 points on the night. “My teammates were able to find me in spots that I was in. All year my role has been to do whatever it takes to win. Today it just happened that I needed to score.”
In the second half, the Spiders cut the turnovers completely and made an emphasis of heading to the free throw line, where they knocked down 20-of-24 attempts.
Picked to finish seventh in the preseason and winning three of their first four conference games, the team was in position to compete as one of the top teams in the conference early in the season. But after losing 11 of their final 13 conference games, the next coaching staff will be tasked with bringing the program back to the heights that we saw during the Dan Hurley era.