Rhody Gets Thumped By Georgia State 96-64
Sunday, December 11, 2011
One step forward, two steps back. The 2011-2012 URI men's basketball season is spiraling downward and there does not appear to be anything or anyone who can stop it.
Saturday the Rams were embarrassed by Georgia State 96-64 in Atlanta. The loss was Rhode Island’s sixth in a row and dropped their record to a dreadful (1-9) on the season. It ties their worst start since the 1983-84 season.
There was absolutely nothing good about this loss for the Rams. They led by two, 15-13, at the 12:37 mark of the first half before the Panthers scored the next 14 points to take control of the game for good.
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Devonta White was one of 4 Panther players in double figures with 20 points. Georgia State shot 55% from the field (34-62) including 40% from three (8-20). The Panthers, like just about every Ram opponent, abused the Rams in transition outscoring Rhody 32-12 on the fast break. The Panthers scored 27 points off of Rhode Island’s 16 turnovers and outscored URI 44-28 in the paint.
Jamal Wilson led the Rams with 20 points. Orion Outerbridge had 13. But Rhody had another dreadful day shooting three’s as they went 3 for 19 (16%) from beyond the arc.
At what point does Jim Baron decide to scrap the press and go back to his philosophy of slowing the game down like when he arrived in Kingston 11 years ago? Back then, Baron knew that his team wasn’t good so he intentionally slowed the pace of play down to a half-court game with fewer possessions. His teams played solid half-court defense and kept games close giving them a chance to win down the stretch. Given this team’s inability to force turnovers with their press and instead allow opponents to convert easy lay-ups, that time to change should be now.
In addition, Rhody has proven to be a very poor shooting team from the perimeter so slowing things down and running a set offense may benefit the Rams as well.
Getting transfers Andre Malone and Billy Baron now should be of some help to this team but those two players can’t be expected to turn things around by themselves. The other players on the roster have to play much better and, more importantly, much harder than they have been to this point. And their coach needs to be putting them in a better position to succeed because what they are doing right now isn’t even close to working.
Rhode Island is off until December 18th when Yale pays a visit to the Ryan Center. Both Malone and Baron will not be eligible to play in that game as URI’s fall semester does not officially end until December 23rd.
