The University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team dropped consecutive games for the first time all season this week, falling 90-71 to Providence College on Saturday and suffering a heartbreaking 66-64 loss to McNeese State University on Tuesday.
The Rams traveled to Providence for the latest edition of the Ocean State Rivalry on Saturday, as they looked to take down the Friars on the road for the first time since 2002.
The raucous atmosphere in the Amica Mutual Pavilion quickly turned into a chorus of boos in the first three minutes of the game, with the Rams making four of their first five shots from beyond the arc to take a 14-2 lead. From there, Providence first-year guard Stefan Vaaks took over, knocking down three-pointers on four straight possessions to tie the game in the blink of an eye.
The Friars maintained the momentum from Vaaks’ torrid stretch, capping off a 26-5 run with a dunk by first-year Jamier Jones to take a 28-19 lead. This rollercoaster first half continued, as fourth-year guard Jonah Hinton made a three to complete a 13-2 Rhody run and give them the lead right back.
Vaaks and fifth-year Corey Floyd Jr. knocked down threes on back-to-back possessions to give the Friars a 41-37 lead entering halftime. PC and URI combined to make 17 three-pointers throughout the half, as Vaaks led all scorers with 17 points on 5-9 shooting from beyond the arc.
Hinton scored the Rams’ first seven points of the second half to get up to 17 on the day and tie the game at 50-50. Rhody proceeded to take a brief lead after fifth-year forward Drissa Traore drained a three from the top of the key; however, it was all Friars beyond that point, ending the game on a 38-18 run.
“Credit to Providence; I thought they played extremely well,” URI Head Coach Archie Miller said. “Our inability in the last 10 minutes to take the last punch and kind of keep [ourselves] in the game, so to speak, was probably the most disappointing thing.”
A 13-0 spurt by PC was the blow that proved to be insurmountable for Rhody, as the Friars made things look easy on the offensive end on their way to the 19-point win. Jones and fifth-year guard Jason Edwards combined for 24 second-half points, as Jones led Providence for the game with 18 points on a perfect 7-7 shooting day.
“I look at it, and I think our staff will look at it, and I think we’ll say to ourselves that defensively we probably need to be a lot better,” Miller said. “Our defense wasn’t able to dictate as much as we can or need to. To [Providence’s] credit, they can really shoot the ball.”
Rhody returned to the Ryan Center on Tuesday to take on McNeese, who made it to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament last season.
After McNeese led for a majority of the first half, Hinton made a three-pointer in the final minute to cap off a 5-0 URI run and tie the game at 37-37 heading into the locker room.
In the second half, turnovers started to build up for Rhody, as they committed three in the first three minutes to allow McNeese to take its largest lead of the night at seven points. Despite the Rams’ offense hitting a wall halfway through the half, going more than eight minutes without making a field goal, strong play on the defensive end allowed them to climb back into the game.
A couple of free throws by sixth-year Myles Corey with six minutes left gave URI a 55-53 advantage, which marked its first lead since 13:57 left in the first half. As the offensive struggles continued, the two teams weren’t separated by more than four points during the final 16 minutes of the game.
With the score tied at 64-64 and less than a minute left, the Rams had the ball with a chance to take the lead. However, Corey put URI’s turnover total at 21 when he had the ball stolen from him by fourth-year guard Javohn Garcia with 20 seconds left.
The Cowboys took full advantage of the costly mistake, as third-year guard Tyshawn Archie drained a step-back mid-range jumper with one second left on the clock to give them a 66-64 advantage. Following a timeout by Miller, the Rams were able to find Corey with a cross-court pass off the inbound; however, Garcia came up with the block to hand Rhody their second straight defeat.
“Well, it’s a gut-wrenching loss; a tough loss,” Miller said. “Challenging ourselves, playing teams of this caliber, is good for us. We’re finding our weak spots as much as we can, and it stinks to lose at home, but it wasn’t for a lack of great toughness and fight against a good team.”
After getting nearly a full week off, URI will look to bounce back when it hosts Canisius University at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. The game will stream on ESPN+, with radio broadcasts available on WRIU 90.3 FM and The Varsity Network.
