Early in the 2023-24 season for the University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team, the wave of offseason transfers has yielded a product of high consistency and veteran leadership, including third-year Bradley University transfer Zek Montgomery.
A member of the Braves for two seasons, Montgomery took off his Bradley uniform for the last time after being eliminated in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament by Wisconsin on March 14.
In his final season as a Brave, Montgomery was named to the Missouri Valley Conference Most Improved Team, averaging 8.1 points per game while shooting 43% from the field.
Once in the transfer portal, Montgomery became one of six players added to the squad in a matter of weeks. Other notable additions from the portal in the offseason include third-year Jaden House and third-year Luis Kortight. However, one key part of Montgomery’s game stands out among the swell of transfers: his consistency.
The third-year guard has produced double digit points in all seven contests of his young Rhode Island career, shooting above 40% from the field in every single outing. On top of his offensive outputs, his 5.7 rebounds per game separate him as a producer on both sides of the ball.
“I feel like the competition level has been raised a little bit higher than [at Bradley] last year, but not anything too crazy,” Montgomery said.
Through the first three games, Montgomery advertised himself as one of the better players on the Rhode Island roster. His 20-point performance in the home opener was supported by two other double digit point outings, including a 13 point and 11 rebound double-double against Wagner. However, his main breakout came against his toughest competition yet.
The team traveled to Uncasville, Connecticut to compete in the Hall of Fame Tip-off Tournament on Nov. 18 and 19, where the Rams battled against Northwestern University and Washington State. Rhode Island lost both contests, but Montgomery’s play stood out.
Montgomery acted as a versatile scoring threat throughout the weekend, scoring from the perimeter efficiently as well as attacking inside with a fearless attitude, shooting 50% or more from the field in both contests. His weekend statsheet, displaying an 18 and 19-point performance, was enough to earn Montgomery a spot on the all-tournament team.
“Zek was a bright spot in terms of individual play in that game,” URI Head Coach Archie Miller said. “I think you saw Zek, he competed and without question he looked like he belonged, he was very fearless…I’m proud of his effort, [Im] proud of his mentality in these games and hopefully he can build on that because I think he showed that obviously he’s one of the better players in the country in our regards right now.”
Although the weekend yielded zero wins for Rhode Island, it unveiled what Montgomery can do both on and off the court, as a player and as a leader for the team. First-year Cam Estevez, who has had a successful start to his Rhode Island career in his own right with 6.5 points per game to lead all first-years, has looked to Montgomery for advice early in his collegiate career based on the one thing most other Rams lack right now – postseason experience.
“He came from Bradley and he won a lot so he knows what it takes to win at the college level, so we look to him for guidance and leadership all the time, and he’s been doing a great job,” Estevez said. “I’ve been learning a lot from him throughout the whole year.”
When it comes to leadership, Montgomery feels like he has room for improvement in that role. However, he also recognized that his vocal impact is already playing a role in the team’s performance.
“I definitely feel like I do need to do more as a leader, like in certain situations with my experience,” Montgomery said. “Not too many people have the experience that I had, and my voice helped them out. You could tell when I started talking more, our team did better, and when I [stopped] talking, our energy level went down.”
Miller recognized Montgomery’s vocal impact, but admitted that the role was one that Montgomery grew into throughout the season, rather than inheriting the position at the start of the campaign.
As for the wisdom that he shares, Montgomery said his tutelage is nothing too complex or hard to digest. Conversely, his advice to the younger players is quite rudimentary.
“I just tried to tell them ‘just take one day at a time,’ don’t try to look too far into the future,” Montgomery said. “If you look too far into the future you might mess up on a couple things in the present moment. Just taking it day by day is what I try to tell them.”
Montgomery and the rest of the Rams will take their day-by-day attitude with them on a short trip up I-95 this coming weekend, when they face Providence College in a rivalry game whose atmosphere has been known to rattle even the most experienced combatants. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday on FS1.