The University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team finished up its season with a second-round loss to Duquesne University in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament on March 12.
Held in Pittsburgh, URI earned a first-round bye in the tournament for the first time in five years as the No. 10 seed, facing off against the Dukes as the No. 7 seed.
Rhody’s final win of their regular season was against the Dukes at the Ryan Center on March 4 in a 64-52 win. The Rams’ overall record finished at 16-16 following their tournament loss.
It was the Rams’ team-leading scorer, seventh-year guard Tyler Cochran, who ended his collegiate career with a bang, tying the A-10 Championship record and program record for three-point makes with nine.
He joined program-record holders Tyson Wheeler ’98 and fourth-year guard Jonah Hinton, who tallied his nine triples in Rhode Island’s win over Saint Louis University on Feb. 17.
Cochran’s 34-point performance accounted for over half of the team’s scoring, and he was the only Ram in double digits.
“Just trying to play Rhode Island basketball and trying to figure out a way to win anyway possible,” Cochran said. “Credit to my teammates for getting me those good looks,”
The Rams never led in the contest, with the highest Duquesne lead being 12 early in the second half.
Trailing by 11 in the first half, triples by Hinton, Cochran and sixth-year guard Myles Corey got the Rams within three points with 1:11 remaining in the half. Third-year guard Jimmie Williams responded with a three-pointer for the Dukes. A split trip at the free throw line gave Duquesne a 35-28 lead entering halftime.
Fourth-year guard Tarence Guinyard set the tone for the Dukes to begin the second half by knocking down a three-pointer in the first minute.
Back-to-back triples by sixth-year guard RJ Johnson got the Rams back within single digits, but the Dukes got to work in the paint to maintain a solid distance from Rhody.
Cochran’s seventh three-pointer of the contest once again cut the Dukes’ lead to three halfway through the half, but Guinyard and Alex Williams combined for eight-straight Dukes points to go back up by 11.
The Rams wouldn’t inch any closer to the Dukes’ lead, and the Dukes came away with a 67-61 victory to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Rams finished 15-27 beyond the arc and shot 40.7% from the field, which trumped Duquesne’s 7-24 three-point shooting and 37.1% from the field. Rhody’s three-point shooting tied for the third-most makes in program history and was their best percentage all season.
“If you’d have told me we’re going to make 15 threes, I would have said that’s probably a good sign we were going to be in business,” URI Head Coach Archie Miller said. “But, we trailed for 39 minutes.”
The Dukes scored 14 points off of 14 URI turnovers, while only committing one turnover themselves.
“With the way we play, if we don’t generate deflections, blocks, steal percentage, those things are high-level now,” Miller said. “For us to play a 40-minute game and have a team play with one turnover, that’s really hard for us to overcome.”
Finishing 7-11 in conference play, the future is uncertain for URI men’s basketball, with key players like Cochran, Johnson, Corey and several more graduating. As of right now, it will be up to Miller and his staff to rebuild a roster in time for November.
