During the 2023-24 season, the University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team fought through highs and lows to reach the Atlantic 10 championship game for the first time since 2003. The following is a summary of the latest season for the Rams and ways they can improve in the future.
Most Valuable Players: Dee Dee Davis and Mayé Touré
One of two graduate transfers, Dee Dee Davis’ impact on the Rams this past season was displayed both in and out of the boxscore. The former Manhattan College Jasper was second on the Rams in scoring this season, averaging 11.9 points per game, while also collecting 4.3 rebounds per game.
After an inconsistent beginning of the year, Davis underwent a midseason renaissance, averaging 17.8 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game in her final 11 contests of the season. In that span, Davis also collected two double-doubles, her only two of the season.
Davis also took care of the dirty jobs on the floor, often diving out of bounds to collect a loose ball into a group of fans or cheerleaders. Davis’ versatility on the floor allowed her to stand out this past season as one of the team MVPs.
Mayé Touré’s final year in Kingston was yet another productive campaign for the French forward. A member of the All-Atlantic 10 second team, Touré’s offensive versatility shined for the Rams.
The leading scorer for two straight seasons, Touré’s 12.5 points per game ranked 18th in the A-10 and her 7.7 rebounds placed her in sixth.
Touré, who was a captain this season, led through example on the floor. Following the conclusion of the season, Touré entered the transfer portal for the first time in her collegiate career with one year of eligibility remaining.
What Worked: Defensive Dominance
Defense and rebounding are two aspects of the game that URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss has preached to her team since she arrived in Kingston in 2019. The two-time A-10 Coach of the Year produced her second-best defensive season of her head coaching career, allowing only 56.7 points per game.
In Reiss’ five seasons at the helm of Rhode Island, she has never allowed 60 or more points per game in a season. With five seasons, that means that she has used a variety of different personnel under her leadership, yet the product remains the same.
That has always been the strength of this team. This season they were able to hold dominant scorers like the University of Richmond’s Addie Budnik, Fordham University’s Taylor Donaldson and Saint Louis University’s Peyton Kennedy to under 20 points in regular season play.
What Did Not Work: Offensive Miscues
After a season in which Rhode Island led their offense by a three-point barrage from second-year Sophie Phillips and fifth-years Sayawni Lassiter, Emma Squires and Madison Hattix-Covington, a different roster look limited the Rams’ production on the offensive side of the ball.
With several sharpshooting departures, Rhody’s lone longball specialist in Phillips was at times limited in her production. Although Phillips ranked third in the country in three point attempts, behind only Syracuse University’s Dyaisha Fair and the University of Iowa’s Caitlyn Clark, Phillips only hit at a 33.7% mark, a step down from her 40.7% mark in the season prior.
The Rams only scored 70 points seven times all season, and when they were able to do that their record stood at 6-1. The issue came in games where the Rams were unable to reach that output, in which their record was 11-12.
Building Towards the Future
After not receiving any postseason tournament bids, it was announced that in addition to Davis and fifth-year Teisha Hyman leaving for graduation, Touré, third-year Sophie Sene, and fourth-year Tenin Magassa are also leaving Kingston for the transfer portal.
After taking first-year recruits Ayanna Franks and Albina Silva into account, Reiss has three roster spots to fill in the transfer portal. How Reiss and her staff decide to fill those holes is yet to be determined.
A scoring big is the first hole that needs to be filled. With Touré and Magassa gone, the highest scoring forward that remains on the roster is Annaelle Dutat, who tallied just 4.8 points per game in this most recent campaign. Finding a center who can score is priority number one for the Rams.
Secondly, a three-point shooting guard will open up the floor for the Rams significantly. With Phillips having the starting shooting guard position, Rhode Island should look for either a pure point guard or a combo guard that they could place as a small forward. This transfer should preferably be an older player with one or two more years of eligibility so then the young promising pieces like second-year Ines Debroise or first-year Eva Dechent can fill in those spots upon the veteran’s graduation.
Finally for the third transfer, a graduate student to fill out any remaining holes in the roster should round out the roster nicely. Graduate transfers have been used heavily by Reiss in her Rhode Island tenure.
Hyman, Davis, Lassiter, Hattix-Covington, Squires, Chanell Williams (‘21), Dez Elmore (‘21) and Johanna Muzet (‘20) all produced for the Rams in their final year of National Collegiate Athletic Association eligibility. If Reiss can find another piece looking for just one more year, the sixth-year head coach could just maybe finally clinch a bid to the NCAA Tournament.