SOUTH KINGSTOWN — The University of Rhode Island knows this feeling well.
It’s a desperate St. Bonaventure team that will visit the Ryan Center on Saturday morning.
Atlantic 10 road defeats at Dayton and Saint Joseph’s have put the Bonnies (12-4, 2-2) against the wall early, and much of the good work they did in the nonconference portion of their schedule has been nullified. The Rams represent a chance for coach Mark Schmidt’s team to bank an RPI top-50 road win, the kind of which would boost St. Bonaventure firmly back onto the Selection Sunday radar.
“Coach [Dan] Hurley came to practice [Thursday] saying how desperate they’re going to be trying to make plays, trying to get this win over us,” URI guard Jared Terrell said. “They’ve had some disappointing losses. We’re preparing for their best shot.”
It was much later in 2016-17 when the Rams faced the same troubling circumstances. A home defeat against Fordham had URI clinging to its postseason dreams by a thread, and its response was the stuff of memory. The Rams found themselves within a whisker of the Sweet 16 nine straight victories later, and that momentum has extended into a dominant start to this season.
“The coaches have been intense,” URI forward Andre Berry said. “They’re a great team. We had two battles against them last year.”
URI (12-3, 4-0) is looking for its first 5-0 start in the league since 1996-97. The Rams extended program records with a seventh straight road conference win and a 12th straight against Atlantic 10 opponents overall on Tuesday, that coming in a 72-65 victory over Saint Louis. Saturday presents URI with a chance to set a Ryan Center mark with 12 consecutive home victories and hand Hurley his 100th career triumph at URI.
“They know how hard you have to work if you want to be good at something,” Hurley said. “It’s a focused group.”
Hurley arrived at his office at about 8 a.m. on Thursday and saw a welcome sight. Terrell, Berry and a handful of teammates were already out shooting hours ahead of their scheduled practice. URI has won 21 of its last 25 games since that 53-43 nightmare against Fordham.
St. Bonaventure was one of those victims in last year’s conference tournament. The Rams stifled the Bonnies’ potent offensive attack in a 74-63 win in the quarterfinals, holding down guards Matt Mobley (0-for-4, eight points) and Jaylen Adams (8-for-18, six turnovers). Mobley and Adams were both preseason first-team All-Atlantic 10 selections this season.
“We’ve obviously got to focus on those two guys to start with,” Hurley said. “They’re such a prolific tandem. We’ll have to do it maybe a little bit differently.”
URI had Hassan Martin and Kuran Iverson to protect the rim last season. This time the pressure will be on the Rams guards to stop penetration, particularly Terrell. He controlled Mobley in two meetings last season, limiting the Worcester product to a combined 1-for-14 from the field. St. Bonaventure figures to be hungry to live up to its preseason billing, as the Bonnies were picked behind only URI in the preseason poll.
“We have a bigger goal later in the season,” Terrell said. “We want to make a run during the postseason. But that starts now making sure we’re doing the right things in these games and learning from them.”