Men's Basketball 1/8/2013 12:00:00 AM

Rhody Begins Atlantic 10 Play on Wednesday Night at Richmond

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RHODE ISLAND VS. RICHMOND

Rhode Island and Richmond face off in the Atlantic 10 opener tonight for both teams.
It marks the second consecutive season that the Spiders and Rams open their respective Atlantic 10 seasons against each other.
The Spiders lead the all-time series, 12-6, which dates back to the 1959-60 season.
Last year, Richmond earned a 70-53 decision at the Thomas M. Ryan Center on Jan. 7, 2012
Rhody and Richmond began facing off annually when the Spiders joined the A-10 in 2001-02.

RHODE ISLAND IN THE ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE

Since its inaugural season in the conference during the 1980-81 season, Rhode Island has posted a 232-280 all-time record in Atlantic 10 play.
Last season, Rhody finished with a 4-12 mark in conference play, putting them in 13th place in the league standings.
On Jan. 18, 2012 - at Fordham - Rhode Island played its 500th Atlantic 10 game all-time.

RHODE ISLAND IN ATLANTIC 10 OPENERS

Since joining the Eastern Eight/Atlantic 10 conference during the 1980-81 season, Rhode Island has compiled a 14-18 (.452) overall record in league opening games.
Last year, the Rams dropped a 70-53 decision at home versus Richmond on Jan. 7, 2012.
The Rams have dropped their last five A-10 openers, dating back to the 2007-08 season.

LAST TIME OUT - RHODE ISLAND 59, BROWN 47 - JANUARY 4

Ryan Brooks played with high energy on the boards. Brooks had a team-best nine rebounds, eight of which came in the second half.
Rhode Island outrebounded Brown 48-37 for the night.
Xavier Munford topped his season average with 18 points, 14 of which came in the second half. He added four rebounds and two assists.
Mike Powell and Andre Malone and also scored in double figures, finishing with 16 points and 12 points, respectively.
Malone tallied 10 points in the first half, while nine of Powell's 16 points came via free throws.
Rhody held Brown to just 14 points in the first half - the lowest total in a half by a Rhode Island opponent this season.
For the game, Brown's 47 points were the fewest allowed by the Rams this season.
As a team, Rhode Island had 11 assists, led by Powell with six. The Rams are 4-2 when they have double figures in assists, and 1-6 when held to single digits.
T.J. Buchanan filled the stat sheet coming off the bench. He finished with six rebounds, five points and two assists in 18 minutes.
After committing 10 first-half turnovers, the Rams had just four after the break.

TODAY'S RHODE ISLAND BASKETBALL FACT(S) YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT

Today's Theme: Trends and Assorted Numbers
Rhode Island is 4-2 when it registers double-digits in the assist column; 1-6 when it does not.
The Rams are 3-2 when winning the battle on the glass. The two losses (Seton Hall & Loyola Md.) were by a combined nine points.
Rhody does not have a player averaging 5.0 rebounds per game or more. Nikola Malesevic leads the team at 4.9 rpg.
Over his last five games, Malesevic has posted a 1.60:1 assist-to-turnover ratio (16 assists/10 turnovers).
Xavier Munford is averaging 18.3 points in six road/neutral games this season.

THE DEFENSE DOES NOT REST

Rhody put forth one of the best team defensive efforts in several seasons against Brown on Jan. 4.
The Rams held the Bears to 47 points - a season-low for an opponent and the lowest point total by an opponent since the 2009-10 season (47 vs. Saint Louis, March 12, 2010).
URI held Brown to just 30.2% (16-53) shooting from the floor - the lowest single-game field goal percentage since it held Boston University to just 28.0% (14-50) on Nov. 29, 2005.
Brown's 14 first-half points was the lowest point total by an opponent since that same BU game on Nov. 29, 2005.

RAMS COMPLETE ONE OF TOUGHEST NON-CONFERENCE SLATES IN THE COUNTRY

Rhode Island finished its difficult and challenging non-conference schedule with a 5-8 mark - an improvement over last season's 3-12 OOC record.
Through games of Jan. 7, the combined record of URI opponents is 113-77 and URI's strength of schedule is 45.
The 2011-12 win-loss record of Rhode Island's non-conference slate was: 290-182 (.614).
Nine of the Rams 13 OOC opponents won 21 or more games and eight played in the postseason in 2011-12.
Three teams - Norfolk State, Loyola (Md.), and Vermont - won their conference tournaments in 2012.
Ohio State advanced to the 2012 NCAA Final Four and was one point away from playing in the national championship game.

SECOND HALF SCORING

Xavier Munford has scored in double figures in the second half of the last four games for Rhode Island.
Last time out vs. Brown, he tallied 14 of his team-high 18 in the second half.
At Saint Mary's, Munford had 11 of his game-high 20 points in the final 20 minutes of play against the Gaels.
Against Georgia State, Munford poured in all of his 17 points in the second half - including 12 straight for the Rams during a 2:40 span.
He also tallied 11 second half points against SMU at home on Dec. 15.
For the season, 10.4 of Munford's 17.5 points per game are coming in the second half.

DUNK YOU VERY MUCH

Over the last five games, Jordan Hare has been playing above the rim - dunking 14 of his last 18 made field goals.
Hare dunked all three of his field goals against Brown on Jan. 4.
He put forth the same above the rim effort against SMU on Dec. 15, with four dunks/field goals.
He had five dunks en route to a career-best 14 points at Providence on Dec. 6.
The 6-10 newcomer leads the Rams in dunks this season, with 19.

IMPROVED DEFENSIVE EFFORT IN 2012-13

A major point of emphasis for head coach Dan Hurley is improving Rhody's defensive effort from last season.
Last season, Rhody was one of the worst defensive teams in the country, ranking 321st out of 339 in scoring defense (75.5 points/game) and 324th in FG% defense (47.5%).
In 2012-13, the Rams are allowing close to 12.0 fewer points per game and have lowered their defensive FG% to 41.3%.
Through 13 games this season, the Rams have held six opponents to 60 points or fewer, including a season-low 47 points allowed vs. Brown on Jan. 4.
Rhode Island has allowed 70+ points just three times and 80+ points just once.
Last year, Rhody gave up 70 or more points 23 times in 31 games and allowed its opponents to score 80+ points 11 times, 90+ three times, and 100 once.