THE BASICS
Rhode Island (14-5, 3-4 A-10) at La Salle (10-9, 2-4 A-10)
Tip-Off: Saturday, Jan. 25, 2:00 p.m. EST
Coverage: Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: Varsity Network | Live Stats | Game Notes

RHODE ISLAND VS. LA SALLE - SERIES NOTES

• Rhode Island and La Salle are meeting for the 48th time, with Rhode Island leading the series, 35-12. 
• The series has been highly competitive in recent years, with each side winning three of the last six meetings, and neither side winning twice in a row since URI won in January of 2021 (73-60) and again in January of 2022 (56-54).
• Of the last six meetings, four have been decided by two points. URI won 56-54 on Jan. 19, 2022. The following season, La Salle won 77-75 in overtime (1/7/2023) before Rhody came back with a 72-70 win on Jan. 28. Last season, Rhody won 71-69 on Jan. 31.
• The home team has won five straight games in the series.
• All time, Rhode Island is 16-7 as the road team.
• La Salle is 7-1 at home in John Glaser Arena, which opened in November and features a 360-degree bowl with all chairback seating, state-of-the-art video boards and updated audio and lighting systems.
• Both teams enter the game looking to get back on track. Rhode Island is aiming to bounce back from an 81-57 loss to VCU, while the Explorers have dropped two in a row, falling 64-52 at Saint Louis Wednesday and 82-60 at Massachusetts on Sunday. 

RAMS LOOKING TO FIND RHYTHM

• Since its victory over Temple on Dec. 21, Rhode Island has alternated wins and losses over its last eight games, going 4-4 in that stretch.
• The Rams have not had consecutive wins or losses during the run.
• The last time URI had consecutive victories were the win over Temple, which was preceded by a win over Central Connecticut State on Dec. 15.
• In a sign of improvement for the program, Rhode Island has not lost consecutive games this season. Over the last two seasons, URI dropped back-to-back games 28 times.

RHODY OFF AND RUNNING

• Rhode Island leads the Atlantic 10 with 14.68 fastbreak points per game.
• That is a significant improvement from last season, when URI was 10th in the conference with 9.06 fastbreak points per game.
• Two areas that have helped Rhody in this area are defensive rebounding and ball pressure.
• Rhode Island leads the A-10 and is 10th in the nation with 28.74 defensive rebounds per game, which has led to more quick outlets.
• Last season, the Rams were 78th in the country with 26.44 defensive boards per game.
• Rhody also has shown a modest improvement in steals, averaging 5.9 per game compared to 4.7 a year ago. 

FUCHS FOURTH IN ATLANTIC 10 IN REBOUNDING

• Forward David Fuchs is up to 7.7 rebounds per game, good for fourth in the Atlantic 10.
• He has seven games with 10 or more boards despite coming off the bench in every game.
• With 131 rebounds in 311 minutes of play, Fuchs is averaging 0.421 rebounds per minute on the floor.
• Despite averaging five fewer minutes per game than he did as a freshman, Fuchs has increased his per game rebounds by 1.3 per game (7.7 from 6.4).