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University of Rhode Island

Men's Basketball

Rhody Heads to Temple on Saturday Afternoon

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Gamenotes: Rhode Island/Temple (pdf)

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RHODE ISLAND VERSUS TEMPLE

  • The Rams and Owls play their lone regular season matchup this afternoon at the Liacouras Center.  
  • Temple holds a 56-15 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to the 1940-41 season. 
  • Last season, the Rams dropped an 80-67 decision at the Liacouras Center on Feb. 5, 2011.
  • The Owls have won the last five and seven of the last 11 meetings.

RHODE ISLAND IN THE ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE

  • Since its inaugural season in 1980-81, Rhode Island has posted a 235-290 all-time record in Atlantic 10 play.  
  • The Rams earned their first conference victory of the 2012-13 season at Saint Louis on Jan. 19 - an 82-80 overtime win.
  • 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.

LAST TIME OUT - LA SALLE 72, RHODE ISLAND 65 - FEBRUARY 24

  • Rhode Island led 37-30 with 18:10 to play, but the Explorers would open up an 11-point lead thanks to a 30-12 run over the next 10 minutes.
  • La Salle would up their lead to 13 (66-53) with 5:11 left, but Rhody's pressure in the backcourt helped cut it to six - 69-63 - with 1:25 to play.  
  • The Rams struggled from the FT line, connecting on 8-of-16 overall - including going 4-of-8 during the final five minutes of play.
  • Mike Aaman tied his season-high with 15 points.  The freshman post player was 7-of-10 from the floor, while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out two assists.
  • Nikola Malesevic narrowly missed a double-double, with 15 points and nine boards.  He also added three assists in 32 minutes.  
  • Xavier Munford led Rhody in scoring for the 16th time this season, contributing 18 points.  He was 6-of-16 from the floor - including 3-of-6 from the outside.  He also had four boards, two steals and an assist in 38 minutes of play.
  • For the second straight game - and fifth time this season - the Rams were in the single-digits in the turnover column.  Rhody committed just eight turns, while dishing out 16 assists.
  • Ryan Brooks gave the Rams a productive nine minutes off the bench.  The senior forward had four points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal.  Brooks caught an alley-oop dunk off a pass from T.J. Buchanan at the 10:34 mark of the second half.
  • T.J. Buchanan added seven points and three assists off the bench in 25 minutes of action.  Rhody's bench accounted for 13 points on the afternoon.  
  • Andre Malone and Mike Powell struggled from the floor, combining to shoot 1-for-11 from the floor.
  • 34 of Rhody's 65 points came in the paint.  

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

  • Today's Theme:  Random Stuff
  • The Rams are in the midst of playing the second of three straight games versus a school from Philadelphia.
  • URI played La Salle at home on Feb. 24, followed by back to back road games in Philly - at Temple and Saint Joseph's.
  • Dating back to the 1996-97 season, Xavier Munford is the ninth URI player to score at least 450 regular season points.
  • Mike Aaman and Jordan Hare have combined to shoot 55.4% from the floor this season (97-175 FG).
  • Nikola Malesevic currently has 53 assists - ranking him third on the team.  He entered the season with 61 career assists in his previous three seasons.

RECORD BOOK CHECK

  • Several Rams are close to cracking the school's record book in several statistical categories.
  • Xavier Munford: needs 11 more 3-pointers to become the 10th player in Rhody history to tally 70 made treys in a season. It would also have him crack URI's top 10 single-season 3FG made list.
  • Mike Powell:  needs six assists to become the first URI player since Marquis Jones (2009-10 - 146; 2010-11 - 128) to register 100 or more assists in consecutive seasons.  Powell also has a chance to become the first player to reach the 100-assist mark as a freshman and sophomore since Tyson Wheeler (1994-95 - 135; 1995-96 - 203).
  • Jordan Hare: needs four more blocked shots to crack Rhody's top 10 single-season list.  He currently ranks third all-time among Rhody freshman in blocks, behind Kenny Green (63 - 1986-87) and Antonio Reynolds-Dean (59 - 1995-96).

AAMAN A+ VS. LA SALLE

  • Mike Aaman was 7-of-10 from the floor, scoring 15 points against La Salle on Feb. 24.
  • The 15 points tied his season-high; the freshman forward also had 15 points against Vermont on Dec. 1.
  • Aaman also had six rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes played in his second start of the season.
  • Over the last five games, Aaman is averaging 8.8 points and is shooting 63.0% from the floor.

SENIOR MOMENT FOR MALESEVIC AT DUQUESNE

  • Nikola Malesevic turned in his highest scoring game in almost two months, with 19 points at Duquesne.
  • The senior from Serbia connected on 8-of-13 from the floor - including a key 3-pointer with 3 minutes to play and a layup with under a minute to play which gave Rhody the lead for good.
  • Prior to hitting that layup, Malesevic drew an offensive foul with 1:13 to play, which was a momentum shifter for the Rams.
  • He also led Rhode Island with seven rebounds (3 off./4 def.) in 27 minutes of action.
  • This performance was on the heels of Malesevic's stat sheet stuffer vs. Dayton (see note "Near Triple-Double for Malesevic")

DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

  • Xavier Munford - the A-10's second-leading scorer (17.3 ppg) - dished out a career-best six assists at Duquesne on Feb. 16.
  • It bested his previous high of five - set on three occasions (vs. Vermont, vs. SMU, vs. George Washington).
  • Munford ranks second on Rhode Island with 52 assists - a 2.2 assists per game average.
  • Rhody is 3-1 when Munford has five or more assists this season.

NEAR TRIPLE-DOUBLE FOR MALESEVIC

  • Nikola Malesevic filled out the box score against Dayton on Feb. 13, tallying 13 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, two blocked shots and three steals.
  • So far this season, only one other player has registered that stat line or better in a regulation game - Kyle Anderson (UCLA).
  • Dating back to the 1996-97 season, he is the ONLY Rhode Island player to put forth that diverse of a stat line.
  • The double-double in points and rebounds was Malesevic's second in his career; the seven assists are a new career high.
  • Delroy James recorded the program's lone triple-double (22 p/11 r/10 a) against Miami (Ohio) on March 16, 2011.

MUNFORD SECOND IN THE ATLANTIC 10 IN SCORING

  • Junior guard Xavier Munford ranks second in the Atlantic 10 in scoring, through games of March 1.
  • The Hillside, N.J. native checks in at 17.3 points per game - including 17.2 points per game in A-10 play, ranking him third.
  • He has registered nine of Rhody's top ten scoring performances this season, including a 33-point effort at Auburn.
  • Munford has posted nine games with 20 or more points - tied for the second-most in the Atlantic 10 this season.

CLOSE CALLS

  • In Atlantic 10 play, URI has played 11 of its 13 games in single-digits, with an average scoring margin of 5.5 points.
  • Three of the Rams' nine A-10 losses have been by three points or less.  
  • Through its first 13 A-10 contests last year, Rhody had lost by an average of 11.5 points per game.

IMPROVED DEFENSIVE EFFORT IN 2012-13

  • Last season, Rhody ranked as one of the worst defensive teams in the country.
  • URI ranked 321st out of 339 in scoring defense (75.5 points/game), 324th in FG% defense (47.5%), and 230th in 3-point FG% defense (35.5%).
  • In 2012-13, the Rams are allowing close to 10.0 fewer points per game and have lowered their defensive FG% to 42.5% and their 3-point FG% defense mark to 33.0%.
  • This season, the Rams have held eight opponents to 60 points or fewer, including a season-low 47 points allowed vs. Brown on Jan. 4.
  • URI has allowed 70+ points just six times and 80+ points twice in regulation.
  • Last year, Rhody allowed 70+ points 23 times (31 games),  80+ points 11 times, 90+ three times, and 100 once.

WHAT'S NEXT:  SAINT JOSEPH'S

  • Rhode Island returns to the City of Brotherly Love on Wednesday, March 6 to take on Saint Joseph's.
    The game tips at 7 p.m. and can be heard live on the Beltone Hearing Aid Centers Rams Radio Network (B101 101.5 FM), with Steve McDonald and Don Kaull.
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