Men's basketball starts 4-0 for the first time in nine years with Wednesday night triumph over Lafayette.

Photo courtesy of Shane Donaldson

A red-hot start outshined a mid-game stumble to boost the Rhode Island Rams over the Lafayette Leopards 86-72 on Wednesday night.

A start to the game that gave Rhody fans inside the Ryan Center something to cheer about right off the bat, the Rams were atop the Leopards 14-0 on the scoreboard just four minutes into the contest. It was not until 15:55 left in the first half when Lafayette scored their first points of the game when second-year guard Mark Butler converted a pair of free throws.

Although the Rams never surrendered their lead in the game, the Leopards still took advantage of a few offensive droughts from Rhode Island in the middle portion of the contest to claw their way back to a respectable deficit. Lafayette outscored the Rams by 13 points from 11:03 in the first half to 11:36 in the second half.

“[In] the second half we were lackadaisical in terms of identifying shooters,” URI Head Coach Archie Miller said. “[Lafayette] didn’t have a whole lot of rhythm opportunities in the first half, they were way more comfortable in the second half facing the basket with very little resistance in terms of pressing up.”

Although the Rams only controlled a five-point lead with just over 11 minutes to go in the final half, they found their scoring touch back and were able to win the contest by 14 points.

The scoring touch throughout the game came mainly from senior guard Sebastian Thomas, who led all players on the floor with 23 points. Thomas also helped others score the ball as well, dishing out nine assists with just two turnovers.

“I felt like I did a good job at [getting my teammates involved],” Thomas said. “I think that is one of the best things that I bring to the table…I like to get a lot of guys involved, I have a bunch of players around me who can put the ball in the basket and shoot the ball so it’s my job to find them.”

One of the players that was able to score the ball alongside Thomas was fifth-year forward David Green, who tallied 17 points, second on the team behind Thomas. Although the main impact that Green had on the game came off the glass, collecting a career-high 14 rebounds, with three coming on the offensive end.

“[Green] is playing his tail off right now for us,” Miller said. “We need him to rebound in particular like that, but he stepped up in a lot of big moments in the game. I thought Dave was fantastic.”

While the Rams were victorious, posting a 4-0 record to start a season for the first time since the 2015-16 season, a ghost of their past struggles reared its ugly head for the first time this year: free throw shooting.

In the 2023-24 season, Rhode Island shot 64.7% from the line, ranking dead last in the Atlantic 10. This season though, the Rams have been efficient from the free throw line, making 77.5% of their attempts through the first three games.

On 40 attempts from the stripe against the Leopards, the Rams were only able to cash through on 24, a significant drop from their rather positive production as of late.

“For the first time all year we didn’t really connect at the percentage that we had from the line,” Miller said. “[If] you shoot 40 free throws that is a lot of foul shots, and to leave as many as we left on the board, I thought [it] probably left the game dangling a little bit too much.”

Up next for Rhody, they host the College of Charleston in a game that stacks up as the best competition that the Rams have faced thus far, coming in on the KenPom rankings at 123rd place. The game tips-off on Sunday at noon and can be streamed on ESPN+, or listened to on WRIU 90.3 FM and The Varsity Network.