SOUTH KINGSTOWN – About to be snowed in, Rhode Island basketball fans got in and out of the Ryan Center in time to see their team’s best victory of the season on Saturday.
Continuing their climb out of a rough start to conference play, the Rams beat Atlantic 10 contender George Mason 74-65 at the Ryan Center. The Patriots came in at 18-1 and 6-0 in A-10 play, but their perfect conference mark is no more.
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“It just shows that we stay connected,” URI’s Jahmere Tripp said. “When we lose, we don’t get down. We just do everything we can to make sure the next one’s ours. This is the first team – I’ve been on many teams, losing teams – where we just have great energy in the locker room. We don’t get down, we don’t get mad at each other. It’s showing. We’re not giving up. We’re getting better every game.”
The win capped a strong week for the Rams, who won at Richmond in dramatic fashion on Wednesday. They’ve now won three of four since starting their conference schedule with three straight defeats.
The Rams opened the game on a 17-4 run. They hit a familiar drought later in the half, going 7:29 without a point, but regrouped and got to halftime in a one-point game.
Rhode Island’s Jahmere Tripp scored a career-high 23 points and added seven rebounds in URI’s 74-65 win over A-10 leader George Mason on Saturday at the Ryan Center.
Out of the break, URI scored the first eight points, highlighted by a Tripp dunk. George Mason did not lead in the second half as the Rams avoided the usual dry spells.
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The Patriots had a chance to take the lead in a 60-59 game around the five-minute mark, but URI got a stop, then held the Patriots without a field goal for more than four minutes. In the meantime, the Rams upped the lead to seven and nursed it to the finish line.
Tripp scored a career-high 23 points and added seven rebounds. Tyler Cochran matched a season high with 20 points. Jonah Hinton joined them in double figures with 13.
Here’s a look at what stood out from the victory.
Home sweet home, finally
URI’s A-10 struggles in recent years have been most pronounced on the road, but this year, things haven’t gone well in Kingston either. URI was 0-3 in A-10 home games.
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“Felt great in the arena. Happy for our fans, happy for our players to be able to play in front of our fans and get a win,” coach Archie Miller said. “It means a lot to our guys. Just being able to play well at home and get a win for everybody is a little bit of a sigh of relief.”
Delivering the breakthrough against one of the best teams in the league was the cherry on top of the sundae. George Mason had won nine in a row since its only loss of the season on Dec. 6 against Virginia Tech. The Patriots’ 6-0 start to the conference slate included a victory over fellow contender VCU.
“Playing them 2½, three weeks ago probably helped us a little bit, just because of the familiarity,” Miller said. “But our kids played really hard. We’re battling the elements right now in terms of injuries. I’m just super proud of the way they stay with it. They don’t get too high. They don’t get too low. They sort of stay right in the groove. It was a great week for them in terms of being able to pull off two wins in two tough, hard-fought games.”
In a Jan. 3 meeting with the Patriots, URI did some good things but struggled from the field and scored a season-low 50 points in a 61-50 loss. The Rams were better at both ends in the rematch, shooting 46 percent from the field and playing steady defense throughout.
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Oddly, this was URI’s first Saturday afternoon home game of the season, and 4,487 came out for it. Regardless of what happens from this point forward, they had to be happy to see the result.
“Just happy to get one at the crib,” Cochran said. “We’ve had a couple of losses here. You always talk about protecting home court. Happy to get one here. All it takes is one, so we’re ready to get going.”
Stopping the ball – and keeping the ball
The Patriots have averaged 73 points per conference game, and URI held them below that by a solid margin on Saturday. The Rams forced nine turnovers, blocked seven shots and limited the Patriots to 25% shooting from beyond the 3-point arc.
Tyler Cochran (23) drives to the basket on Saturday against George Mason. He matched a season high with 20 points and delivered clutch play in the second half.
At the other end, the Rams executed well against a Patriots squad that ranks fourth in the A-10 in scoring defense. They committed a season-low four turnovers and shot 46% from the field.
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Their previous low for turnovers in A-10 play was 10.
“We’ve talked to them long and hard about how that’s just been such a hard thing for us to overcome,” Miller said. “In particular at home, if you singled one thing out on why we’ve struggled at home, it’s been turnovers.”
Rams have come back to life
Seventeen days before Saturday’s win, the Rams fell to 0-3 in A-10 play with a loss to La Salle. It felt like rock bottom – and perhaps it was, because the Rams have been moving up since then.
“Maybe it’s just because of the character level we have, but there’s very few guys on our team that don’t show up the right way, who aren’t responsible in terms of doing what we’re asking them to do,” Miller said. “Usually that wins out over time. But when you’re struggling at home, man, can things go south quick. They feel bad. Pressure from the outside makes you point fingers. They don’t do that.”
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URI has fought through despite being banged up. Mo Sow has been out since December, Alex Crawford and Drissa Traore are playing despite limited practice in recent days, and Hinton left Saturday’s game in the second half with a lower leg injury.
Tripp and Cochran picked up the slack with some of their best basketball of the season. Tripp started with a bang and didn’t stop, scoring both inside and outside. Cochran, fresh off an 18-point showing against Richmond, was clutch in the second half, with drives to the basket and trips to the free throw line helping the Rams avoid the kind of scoring droughts that have plagued them this season.
At 3-4 in the A-10, the Rams are a couple of rungs up the ladder from the likes of St. Bonaventure, Fordham and Loyola Chicago, who are 1-6. That’s a low bar, but the Rams were certainly in danger of landing under it not too long ago. The season will be defined by how much they can keep climbing.
“Basketball’s a long, long season,” Cochran said. “It’s far from over.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island men’s basketball beats Atlantic 10 leader George Mason
