Men's basketball match 77-year record in eighth straight win to open season

Photo courtesy of URI Athletics

Only two men have led the Rhode Island Rams men’s basketball team to an 8-0 start, the legendary Frank Keaney and Archie Miller. 

Rhode Island took down the Yale Bulldogs 84-78 on Monday night, their toughest test of the young season. 

“I can't tell you how proud I am of our guys,” Miller said. “Number one, because the quality of the opponent is, we have so much respect for them, they're a perennial, not only conference champion, but not only to be able to make the tournament, they win games in the [NCAA] tournament. And to watch what [Yale Head Coach James Jones’] built over there, the respect we have is incredible.”

Rhode Island entered Monday as one of the top teams in the nation in terms of scoring, the first half was not representative of that stat. 

“First half offense, I thought they really bottled us up, we didn't share it,” Miller said. “We weren't spraying the ball around like we needed to, and we struggled offensively. Dave's [Green] two threes to finish the first half really saved us.”

Fourth-year Sebastian Thomas echoed the words of his head coach.

“I mean, I feel like we played awful in the first half, you know what I'm saying,” he said. “But we stuck together. Hats off to this guy right here [Green], he carried us offensively, and then a couple guys got going in the second half. Shout out to [Jaden] House, Ty [Farrell], for stepping up and playing defense on [Bez Mbang].”

Fourth-year David Green knocked down a triple and a buzzer beater three before the halftime break that cut the Bulldogs lead to 35-34. He totaled six three pointers on the night and tallied 26 points, just three shy of tying his personal best. 

“Dave's phenomenal in terms of being able to create space as well,” Miller said. “And Dave, fearless in terms of letting it go, so big shots.”

Rhody got the best out of Thomas in the second half, totaling 18 points and two assists in the final 20 minutes. He also surpassed the 1,000 career point mark, an accomplishment he earned back in his home state. 

“It's a blessing, I'm excited,” Thomas said.”I knew going into the season I was gonna hit my 1,000 point mark, but I wanted it to be at the Ryan Center so I could be in front of friends and family and stuff like that, and so far this has been the biggest game we had.”

The Rams now prepare for their most anticipated matchup of the season, when Providence College comes to town on Saturday. 

“There's a lot of intensity,” Miller said. “I just know this, for these 40 minutes on Saturday, man, we wanna be of our best effort, and we wanna be at our best.”

Rhody and PC tip off at noon and the game is available to be streamed on CBS Sports Network with radio broadcast available on WRIU 90.3FM and The Varsity Network.