The NCAA transfer portal has been open for about a week; here are the updates as of April 14 regarding the University of Rhode Island men’s and women’s basketball teams.
The men’s team, similar to this time last year, has yet to acquire anyone from the transfer portal. The biggest moves so far have been the retention of fourth-year guard Jonah Hinton and third-year swingman Jahmere Tripp.
Hinton and Tripp finished second and third on the team in points per game, respectively. Hinton’s role as the team’s main three-point shooter is expected to continue under head coach Archie Miller.
Hinton shot 31.9% from beyond the arc last season on 238 attempts, and set the Ryan Center record in single-game made threes with nine makes in the team’s upset win over No. 18-ranked Saint Louis University.
Tripp finished the season with 12 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game, shot 41% from three and started eight of his last nine games played. Tripp was viewed as a sixth man to start the season to provide some shooting and rebounding, but after scoring double-digit points 13 times off the bench, Miller decided to put Tripp in the starting lineup.
Tripp scored 23 and 24 points, respectively, in his first two games as a regular in the starting lineup and scored 10+ points in six of his eight starts in Atlantic 10 Conference play.
The only Ram to officially enter the transfer portal is second-year guard Damone King, according to 247Sports. After taking a redshirt year in his freshman season, King started to see consistent minutes coming off the bench.
His participation peaked with a career-high 17 minutes against Northeastern University, where he dropped 12 points, the only double-digit scoring game of his career.
When A-10 play started, though, King’s minutes saw a heavy reduction as he didn’t record a single conference game with 10+ minutes played and was eventually phased out of the playing rotation altogether, with his last game being on Feb. 1 against Duquesne University.
The potential return of seven players is the most year-to-year roster retention Miller has had since becoming head coach in 2022. The previous high was six players staying on the team from the 2023-24 season to the 2024-25 season.
On the other hand, the women’s team is seeing one of its biggest roster overhauls after the departure of former head coach Tammi Reiss.
Only two players from last season’s team are slated to return and play under new head coach Colleen Mullen: third-year guard Sophia Vital and first-year guard Amori Jarrett. The Rams had five players graduate from last year’s team, while seven have entered the transfer portal.
The three biggest names to enter the portal are second-year forward Palmire Mbu, who is entering as a graduate transfer, first-year guard Vanessa Harris and second-year center Albina Syla.
Mbu finished the season second on the team in points per game and rebounds per game with 10.8 points per game and 5.8 rebounds per game.
Harris was named the Atlantic 10 Sixth Woman of the Year after averaging 10.2 points and 3.8 rebounds on the season.
Syla was named the Atlantic 10 Tournament Most Outstanding Player following the team’s first-ever Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship.
On Tuesday, it was announced that Harris would officially transfer to the University of Florida to join Reiss’ inaugural roster.
Other names to enter the portal are second-year forward Mary-Kate Tshibuabua, first-year center Aimee Michel, second-year guard Eva Agba and first-year center Lillyana Fontcha.
Michel and Fontcha both entered the portal with do-not-contact tags, and they have the chance to transfer to New Mexico State University to reunite with new head coach Adeniyi Amadou, who was an associate head coach for seven years at URI.
Despite losing a significant amount of talent, Mullen has brought over four of her former players from the University at Albany.
First-year forward Amaya Stewart averaged 12.3 points and 5.1 rebounds on her way to earning America East Rookie of the Year and Sixth Woman of the Year honors.
Second-year guard Delanie Hill averaged a team-high 14 points on 43.5% shooting from the field and 37.1% from three while earning America East Third Team All-Conference Honors.
Second-year guard Martina Borrellas averaged 9.8 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds as she was named to America East’s all-defensive team.
First-year guard Anaïs Levasseur averaged 1.9 points in seven games last season.
Both teams have less than a week until the portal closes to make any final arguments to convince players to stay or withdraw their names from the portal as Miller enters the last season of his contract and Mullen enters the first of her five-year contract.
