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By MATT SWISS
GoRhody.com Senior Staff Writer
KINGSTON, R.I. -- At the start of the season, URI senior Jamal Wilson said on a number of occasions that this year's Runnin' Rams squad were going to hit a few bump in the road. It was simply inevitable.
He recognized the fact that this year's group has five freshmen and that he and fellow co-captain Orion Outerbridge - two guys who had in large part been role players coming off the bench throughout their first three years in Kingston – would now be looked at as the team's leaders.
He knew adversity would hit at some point, but he welcomed the challenge and he stressed the great chemistry the team had. And he emphasized, time and time again, that the most important thing to consider was how he and his fellow Rams reacted when hard times drew near.
Well, hard times have officially drawn near and it's time for Wilson and company to react. With a November to forget behind them, he and the Runnin' Rams host Maine on Sunday afternoon looking to start a December to remember.
"We've got to go back to the drawing board," Wilson said following Rhody's 65-56 loss at Brown Wednesday night. "We're still coming together, still learning as a team and we've just got to start from scratch."
The loss to the Bears dropped the Rams to 1-6 on the young season, as Rhody fell to its in-state opponent for the first time in nearly ten years. The loss followed a pattern of "firsts in quite some time" for Rhode Island, as the Rams saw their 32-game home non-conference win streak snapped against Boston University on Nov. 26 before going 0-for-8 from the perimeter the following day against Cleveland State. It was the first time since Nov. 23, 2004 that URI did not connect on a long-range jumper.
"We've got to continue to do a better job of getting these guys to understand the sense of urgency, being more focused and doing what we need to do to win games," head coach Jim Baron said. "We've got to play smarter and we've got to keep working on playing together."
Partly to reward the beneficiaries for their hard work in practice and partly to light a fire under those who had previously earned the start in the first six games of the year, Baron altered the entire starting lineup against Brown.
Out went Wilson, Outerbridge, Malesevic, Powell, and Holton. In went Buchanan, Harris, Malhoit, Shengelia, and Brooks.
"We've got to continue to get leadership out of our upperclassmen," Baron said. "These guys have got to step up and understand what we need to do as a team."
That undoubtedly falls on Wilson and Outerbridge, as well as
Anthony Malhoit and
Nikola Malesevic. Those four players will undoubtedly have their hands full going forward as Rhode Island works to get over the hump.
"With the young guys and a mix of older guys, we're going to be in a lot of dog fights," Wilson said. "We've just got to find a way to get through this and I know we will."
Matt Swiss is a senior journalism major at the University of Rhode Island. Follow him on Twitter at
@mswissbeats.
