SOUTH KINGSTOWN — The Rhode Island men’s basketball team picked up its fourth win in its past five games on Saturday, Feb. 7, dispatching a Richmond team in total freefall.
Propelled by an unthinkable free throw discrepancy between the two schools, Rhode Island edged out an 82-77 win, making 34 of their 42 free-throw attempts. For Richmond head coach Chris Mooney, this aspect of the game was a source of frustration, as his Spiders only attempted 15 free throws, two less than Rams senior guard Tyler Cochran. For Cochran, who is currently playing his seventh year of college basketball, this game was one of his best. Cochran finished with a career-high 34 points, with 15 of those points coming from the charity stripe.
On paper this looks like Rhode Island stumbled into a win; however, Rams head coach Archie Miller would tell you getting to the line was a key part of their game plan.
“I don’t think we played perfect but from a game plan perspective our guys took to heart the physicality that we wanted to play with,” Miller said postgame. “Shooting 42 free throws wasn’t a mistake.”
Forty-two free throws is the most Rhode Island has taken in any game this season, but given they’ll be without the shot-making of junior guard Jonah Hinton for the foreseeable future, executing game plans to this degree will be a must for the Rams.
In addition to winning the free-throw battle, the Rams also won out on the boards, as they outrebounded the Spiders 35-27. While not the biggest gap, the Rams came down with crucial offensive rebounds down the stretch and, more notably, were constantly undersized thanks to Richmond’s imposing 6-foot-11 center, Mike Walz.
The Rams made up for their lack of size with unmatched hustle; it was the 6’3’’ Cochran who led Rhode Island in rebounds with 10. It was Cochran’s effort on the glass and defense that kept Rhode Island afloat when its offense was as cold as the Arctic blasts bearing down on the Ryan Center.
“Our guys, from the summer to now, took care of their bodies and did it the right way,” Cochran said. “We built ourselves for moments like this where if guys have to play the whole game, guys have to play extra minutes; we’re built for this.”
URI was also extremely active in the passing lanes, causing Richmond to surpass their season average for turnovers in a game with over 10 minutes left to play. Rhode Island wouldn’t let this defensive success go to waste, as the Rams scored 18 points off turnovers, most of which came on the fast break.
Despite the win, the Rhode Island offense still left much to be desired. After surging out to an early lead, the Rams would be utterly dominated for over 10 minutes. The Spiders went on a 22-to-5 run, forcing seven Ram turnovers in just over five minutes. Rhode Island desperately needed that seven-point run to end the first half after failing to score a field goal for nearly nine minutes.
“I didn’t think defensively that we were very good, I didn’t think that we had the energy at the jump ball,” Miller said. “We had some really poor performances defensively, we had some real coverage breakdowns at bad times and being able to overcome that was good from our stand point.”
Regardless of hot the win looked, Miller and his Rams are just happy to keep piling it on in the “W” column.
“Like I told the guys after the game, at this time of the year it’s just chalk it up, did you get it or didn’t you,” Miller said. “We’re not looking for style points, you’re looking for results and we got the result we wanted.”
Rhode Island has now won four of five; it’s the first time they’ve done so in Atlantic 10 play since 2020. What makes this run seem so improbable is not just that they’ve never done it with Archie Miller at the helm; not only have they beaten the Atlantic 10’s top teams, but they’ve done so without multiple key contributors.
Rhode Island’s second leading scorer, Jonah Hinton, has now missed three games and has yet to return to practice, according to Miller. The Rams are also without senior forward Mouhamad Sow, one of just three Rams taller than 6-foot. Following the game, Miller announced that Sow will miss the rest of the season with a leg injury, certainly a setback for an already undersized Rams squad.
These injuries have forced Miller to shorten his rotation to just seven players, something you often see in win-or-go-home games. It’s worth keeping tabs on how these injuries affect the Rams down the stretch of conference play and if the Rams can continue to overcome such obstacles.
URI heads to George Washington on Tuesday, Feb. 10, and returns to the Ryan Center on Saturday, Feb. 14 to host Fordham at noon.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island basketball beats Richmond 82-77, fourth win in five games