In an era of college basketball so defined by the transfer portal, there may be no school in the country where that is more apparent than the University of Rhode Island, who returns just one player from last year’s rotation: fifth-year forward Drissa Traore.
In a hectic offseason that epitomized the ever-changing nature of college sports—specifically college basketball—the Rams lost 10 members of their roster. Four graduated, and the other six transferred. The team employed a 10-man rotation throughout last season; nine of those players are elsewhere this year.
Traore is no stranger to the transfer portal himself, having made the move to Kingston from St. John’s University ahead of last season. He appeared in all 31 games a season ago, accounting for around 6% of the team’s total minutes.
Traore’s start to this season was delayed as he dealt with an injury suffered during the preseason. He made his long-awaited debut against Towson University on Nov. 24 during the team’s trip to Orlando, Florida, for the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational. With fellow fifth-year forward Mouhamed Sow out indefinitely with his own injury, Traore’s return came at an opportunistic time for the Rams.
“[He] saved us; completely saved us,” URI Head Coach Archie Miller said. “[He] wasn’t supposed to even play in Orlando. He just said, ‘If you want me to play one minute, I’ll play one minute,’ and that’s what we did.”
Traore officially played one minute against the Tigers, registering one block, and sat back down. His minutes ballooned to six in the following game and then doubled to 12 against Temple University before the Rams got on the plane back to Rhode Island.
“Prior to that, I hadn’t even been going full court at practices,” Traore said. “I decided when we went down there to just warm up, get my body going, get ready just to be dressed for the game. They asked me if I was ready to go and I was like, ‘yeah.’”
As his minutes have increased, so has his production. Traore registered a season-high five points against Providence College on Saturday, but his defense is what he enjoys the most.
“Defense is fun for me; I find it fun,” Traore said. “Last year, as a team, we weren’t good defensively, but I thought we were good individually. This year we made an emphasis. We have to be better as a team on defense.”
This Rams team strives to disrupt opposing offenses by registering deflections. Through 10 games of play, URI sits at 19th in the country in steals per game at 10.3 as a team. Traore’s role on that end of the floor and the impact of his leadership will continue to be notable storylines as this team attempts to make it out of the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament for the first time in Miller’s tenure.
“He’s a great kid,” Miller said. “He’s a great, great representation of what this thing is all about. As he continues to practice every day and get in better shape, he’s going to play a large role.”
