THE BASICS
Brown (5-4) at Rhode Island (2-6)
Tip-Off: Wednesday, Dec. 7, 7:02 p.m. EST
Coverage: ESPN+/Cox/YurView | Listen | Live Stats | Game Notes

RHODE ISLAND VS. BROWN - SERIES NOTES

• Rhode Island renews its most frequent rivalry Wednesday when it welcomes Brown to the Ryan Center.
• The Rams and Bears have played 163 times, with Rhody holding a 109-54 advantage in the series.
• The teams did not play each other over the last two seasons as a result of COVID-19 protocols.
• Brown won the most recent meeting, 85-75, in Providence on Jan. 2, 2020.
• No current member of the Rams has ever played against Brown. For Brown, Perry Cowan and Dan Friday both saw action in the most recent meeting. Both were reserves, with Cowan recording three points and four rebounds, while Friday had seven points in nine minutes.
• URI Athletics Hall of Famer Tyson Wheeler, Rhody's all-time assist leader and second-leading scorer, is in his first season as an assistant coach for the Bears.
• Former Rhode Island staff member Sydney Armand is Brown's Operations Coordinator.
• Overall, the Rams have won 22 of the last 25 games between the schools.
• Rhode Island head coach Archie Miller is facing Brown for the first time in his career.
• Brown head coach Mike Martin is 1-7 against Rhode Island.
• Rhode Island enters the game looking to stop a two-game skid, while Brown has won four straight contests.

RAMS GETTING THE JOB DONE AT FREE THROW LINE

• While Rhode Island has struggled offensively in general this season, the Rams are taking care of business at the free throw line.
• URI is shooting .722 at the stripe as a team.
• Entering the week, the Rams ranked 37th in the country in free throw attempts per game with 22.0.
• The last time Rhode Island shot .700 or better as a team at the line was the 2010-11 campaign, when the team finished the season shooting .701 (417-of-595).
• The current .722 percentage is the highest for the program in 16 years, dating back to a .722 mark for the 2006-07 season (535-of-741).
• Guards Ishmael Leggett and Brayon Freeman are Rhode Island's most accurate and most frequent shooters at the line. Leggett is shooting .804 (41-of-51) while Freeman is shooting .810 (17-of-21).
• Guard Brandon Weston is shooting .778 (14-of-18) and forward Abdou Samb is shooting .714 (10-of-14).
• Rhode Island had made at least 10 free throws in every game this season, and it has 15 or more points at the line in five of its eight games.

FREEMAN TAKING BETTER CARE OF THE BALL

• Sophomore guard Brayon Freeman has scored in double figures in each of his last five contests, including back-to-back 21-point performances against Illinois State and Boston College.
• While the Rams need Freeman to continue the scoring production, he has taken much better care of the basketball of late.
• In his first four games with Rhode Island, Freeman turned the ball over 10 times while recording just five assists.
• He had multiple turnovers in each of his first four games.
• Over his last three contests, Freeman has six assists and just three turnovers, committing just one in each game.